Welcome to Roxann's of Fort Langley
In one of the great ironies of the Twentieth Century, Jack Kennedy made hats passe for men, while Jacqueline, his first lady, kept women's hats alive, with a little help from the Queen Mum. Hats are back, says Roxann McKamey, dubbed the Hat Lady.
"I have always had a keen interest in fashion. I liked hats, and I knew they were coming back in style," said McKamey, explaining how she opened Roxann's of Fort Langley.
McKamey says hats never really went out of fashion. Princess Diana "looked absolutely fabulous in a hat" - but there was a big push a few years ago to bring hats into the fashion mainstream.
Her store has caused quite a stir with her customers, who range from little girls to Hollywood stars, and balding boomers to swing kids. People are impressed by the store because it is exclusively hats and accessories.
Hats do attract attention, said McKamey "That's one of the reasons to wear them." I say to women, even when they buy a wool hat, scotchguard it. In B.C., hats make a great hands-free umbrella. McKamey looks upon hats as an accessory, like a scarf. "I look at it as a picture frame. It may be just a denim hat but it is sort of like putting on a scarf, it just sort of finishes (the outfit)", she said.
Now hats are much more "user friendly." Rules are less rigid, as are the hats. "They don't bend and break like they used to", said McKamey. "I do a great line of waterproof leather hats, they fold up, you can put them in a pack for hiking, or golfing." She has every possible imaginable style of women's, men's and children's hats, and most are fitted.
Hats are like shoes, they require the right fit to be wearable, she said. Her hats range in price, from around $40 for a man's wool felt or fur felt, up to $200 for high end women's hats, suitable for a wedding.
She has several "wonderful" milliners. One of them is an architect. "The designs are unbelievable, they are almost pieces of art." Some of her customers fall in love with the hats, and buy them as part of a collection.
A very large group of customers are young men and women from 18 to 35. The young guys buy suits at the Salvation Army, and the fedora finishes the "Frank Sinatra look." Pork pie hats are bought by another group of young men, who are into swing dancing.
People buy them to cover up a bad hair day, while golfers are abandoning golf hats for wider brims, mainly for protection against sun rays.
Roxann gets her hats from all over, many from the U.S. such as the Pendleton, and a bundle from Montreal. "I carry a line of Panama hats, Panama hats are actually made in Ecuador."