Marilyn Feldman – United States

Alice in Wonderland’s Gardening and Tea Party Hat ( 12″ x12″ x 6 ” )

Category: Modern

Description

The symbolism and metaphors of this hat are many: At Alice’s gardening party, she will need to protect her face from the sun so the hat has a very wide width and somewhat oval shape. The tulle & shape of this hat are meant to resemble that of a bee keepers hat in case Alice gets too close to bees while doing her gardening. The ballet pink color and satin fabric is the same color as some of the ballet type slipper shoes Alice wears in the story. The element of blue ribbon is meant to match the blue bows in her dress. The butterfly winged shapes are there to resemble the wings of a butterfly who is coming out of the cocoon and undergoing a metamorphoses as does Alice as she grows in wisdom and knowledge after loosing some of her innocence but maintains a spirit that is forever changing yet remaining the same. This is the paradox of Alice Through The Looking Glass & the mirror images she sees of herself that are both familiar and yet unknown to her. The peach & green rosettes represent the green colors of vegetables in her garden and the peach color resembles the peach and fruit trees she maintains in her garden. The braided embroidery thread circumference coverings are there to remind us that she is still a young girl whose hair is most likely styled in braids. The hat is elegant but simple & easily takes her from an outdoor gardening adventure to a formal tea party. It serves many purposes & many personality traits at once.I think the quotes from the story that best illustrates my vision of Alice Kingsley’s Gardening and Tea Party hat is her conversation with the Mad Hatter: “Alice Kingsley: Sometimes I believe in as many as six impossible things before breakfast.

The Mad Hatter: That is an excellent practice.”

Materials

This hat can be removed from it’s respective frame and worn

I have utilized design techniques including the use of vintage garments, restyled/resized with new textiles/fabrics, modern techniques such as laser cutting and 3D printing, garment reconstruction in order to fit most/all head sizes and body types using both garment repair and new design and construction materials  to meet the requirements of this challenging contest.

A list of materials used is: buckram, wire hangers in different sizes and widths, satin ribbons, lace embroidery threads, beads, white chiffon, tulle, millinery wire in different sizes, millinery needles in different shapes and sizes ( curled and straight ), 3D laser printed gold frame to allow me to wear the hat and place myself inside the frame while hat is still attached to fame and on my head to create a 3D use of the space around me, gold plated/painted electrical wire with lights attached, batteries, battery pack with on/off switch to allow for hat to light up in the dark.

Techniques

“A vintage buckram base which I cut into a circle/oval shape.
The outer edge of the circle is 11″” w and the inner opening of the circle is approx. 21.5 in diameter which is the head size -small.
Since the underside bottom/back of this hat will be visible when worn, I covered it in a garden green color woven fiber that resembles grass.( There is no photo of the inside/back of hat due to restriction of 3 photos.) Since the underside front will not be seen when worn, I did not cover that in urderside so as not to distract from the plastic mother of pearl/pink color flower shaped eye covering “”face veil””.

Only if Alice raised this hat above her forehead, would her eyes be visible. This is meant to underscore her autonomy, privacy and her humanness which separates her from the other anthropomorphized animals in the story who have human like qualities but are not human.

Around the underside base, I also covered the wire that shapes this hat with a satin ribbon that matches the original vintage brim. The topside of the brim on both the outer and inner edge is covered throughout with pink and gold braided lace embroidery threads. The front of the top side of the brim is covered in white chiffon with two hand rolled flowers made out of ballet pink satin fabric. The rhinestone pin with a plastic flower center is followed up the center front of the hat with turquoise flower buds with pink stamens. The very top flower is made out of white tulle with another bud and pink stamen effect. However, it is embellished with turquoise beads to make sure that the whole front and center of this hat has all the signature elements located at the very front of the hat.

There are four hand rolled chiffon green and peach colored rosettes situated around the hat and they are complimented by four butterfly winged shaped elements. These were formed by taking gauged millinery wire, shaping the form, covering the wire in ballet pink colored satin ribbon and filling the inside of these shapes with an iridescent tulle which changes color in the light. The brim has a few wired turquoise /white/pink leaves for balance. The crown is made of white tulle placed in the front center of the crown. There is a baby blue colored ribbon which flows down each side for an under the neck tie which keeps the hatin place. This neck tie ribbon is forged in place so that it moves freely in the wind and as she moves her head but will never be untied.I formed bows at the base of this ribbon and surrounded it with baby pearls

The millinery wire around the entire brim of this hat can be bent and reshaped in any way wanted.

The hat incorporates a battery pack so that Alice can have her party from dawn till dusk and into the nighttime so that she can see her way around her garden and so that others can see her hat in the dark.

This added element of mystery is part of the allure of her vintage to modern hat.