I bought a hat like this...

… in a vintage shop. It’s so 60s and it reminds me a lot of my grandmother.

She didn’t actually have a hat with this shape, but all of her winter hats were made of angora like the one I bought and also the color reminds me of her (she had some lilac and purple ones, mine is more grey-ish but it’s still the same color scale).

I think that my grandmother is my biggest style model ever. 

For some is Brigitte Bardot, for some Grace Kelly and some other Jane Birkin.

For me it’s my grandmother.

There are three main reasons for this (put aside that she was like a mother for me and I totally love everything she was and did).

The first one is how she was combining colors. She was one of the most down-to-earth and practical women I’ve ever know and totally the opposite of what you can call an artist but somehow she had a perfect, instinctive idea of complementary colors and shades.

Plus, she was a coordinate-freak. You would always see her with color-paired hat and gloves, or belt and shoes.

Result: at three years old I was already like her and I was freaking the hell out of my mother when she was trying to dress me in the morning. If my stockings were not OK with the color of my skirt it was a tragedy. You could understand that this is not really nice at 7 a.m. on a January Monday morning, let’s say. Poor mom.

The second reason is her attitude.

My grandma had the most beautiful posture and way of walking. She really looked like a queen.

She looked perfectly straight and elegant, she was always keeping her chin up and therefore she always had this beautifully proud and strong look (she tried to teach me too… I think it has been her biggest teaching failure: I walk like an elephant).

Her hair were always short, well cut, healthy and smooth and of the brightest white I’ve ever seen (she didn’t even have to use that terrible anti-yellow stain). Her only pieces of make-up were a pink-ish red lipstick (an under-toned, antique fuchsia I would say… fuchsia shades with white or light blonde hair is perfection in my opinion) and Nivea simple cream. Her clothes were always perfectly ironed and her shoes always polished, even if she only had to go buy fruit and vegetables at the market.

Result: even the cheapest dress bought at the market looked on her incredibly stylish. It’s a capacity that only a few women have, and that I can just dream of.  And her simplicity mixed with her proud attitude were really filling the space around her, she had an amazing charisma even only by standing still or walking, without even speaking or doing anything.

The third reason is her way of buying new clothes and accessories.

She was really careful for quality and value of what she was about to buy, you can say she would never spend her money unwisely.

But at the same time, she had this playful attitude to buying clothes; going out for an afternoon of shopping in Florence or window-shopping in our town was really able to give her some pleasure. And she passed it to my mother too. Playful shopping, but wise.

Result: I got the playful attitude to shopping so I spend like crazy but unluckily I totally miss the wise part, which is actually the one that gives that rare and chic taste to the game but yeah, I think you already understood that I am not that cool (but I have the luck to be surrounded by some cool people, at least).

In the end, if I think about it, she really built up my idea of elegance. I was very lucky to grow up with a woman like her, she was unique and she was really one of the main reasons, I think, why I am so addicted to beauty and the harmony of colors (my mother is the other model of course ;-) she's the modern version of grandma).

I am sorry for this very long post, but when I think of her, as always when I think of a subject that is dear to me, I get carried away in the memories and the feelings.

I close my eyes and I float in the past, it’s a peaceful, warm and pleasant feeling.

Al

PS: I am actually thinking now of how crazy you should be to get out all of this from a 5 euros hat… Should I start to worry???

PPS: In this wonderful Gent museum, Huis van Alijn, there was this hair drier in the room dedicated to 50s and 60s household appliances. It is EXACTLY the same one my grandmother used (and that I used to dry her hair until three years ago), so I definitely had to take a picture. I immediately called my mother to ask her if it was still somewhere, but she told me they trashed it when they emptied my grandma's house. Shit, these middle aged people, born in the 50s and grown up among all those 70s treasures, don't have any sense for vintage!! (ahahah sorry mom... but it's true!)

Isn't it super cool?