Feathers Make Everything Better: Exclusive Guide to Hat Junk

My first favorite hat was a tan/brown Akubra. I remember walking around in New York City feeling like the perfect mix of New Yorker meets Aussie. I was representing Australia with my vintage Akubra and blended in to the New York scene wearing a fashionable hat. 

The real reason I began wearing hats was because I actually had some serious hair malfunctions. I had messed my hair up with bleach and the top of my hair all broke off leaving me with a raging mullet. The crazy hair-do worked for rock and roll concerts but not for everyday life. So from this mishap, my hat collection was born. 

I really love wearing hats because they feel like they are a creative expression of my personality and they show how I am feeling on any given day. I often feel I embody the the old expression “she wears many hats.” I love feeling edgy and cool in my black hat with the porcupine needle or my “Sound of Music” hat that feels like being in nature’s pastures and fields. My every day go to is still the Akubra. 

Part of what makes hats so much fun for me is finding Hat Junk to design my hats. 

I think of finding Hat Junk as a treasure hunt. I set out with an intention and vision of what my ideal is and then I let myself me led and guided. Vintage shopping is often an experience of serendipity and synchronicity, it’s less about finding something and more about that something finding me. The outcome always ends up being better than what I originally imagined or set out to create. 

As I mentioned, vintage shopping is a great way to find hat junk but you can really find great pieces everywhere. Reeds, dried flowers, grass and of course feathers are all around us in nature. Jacket badges are great for hats, old clip-on earrings, sticks, fabrics, are great too. I often will repurpose an old headband or belt and cut it up to suit my hat. I love to find things while I am traveling and sourcing different markets wherever I go. 

My hats become art and I love to hang them around my house or the walls displaying their uniqueness and beauty. Hat’s are fun, creative, expressive and fashionable so they truly check all the boxes for me. So if you feel like you want to express yourself and be the coolest kid on the block then jump on the Hat journey and discover yourself some good junk.