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Just in time for Easter: Hats that are head-turners
Sunday, April 16, 2000 By Cristina Rouvalis, Post-Gazette Staff Writer
Don't tell Kokin that you aren't a hat person.
That will send the millinery designer rummaging through the racks of his bright crushables, his dramatic silk chiffon ones, his outlandish chicken-feather numbers until he plucks a lid for you.
Then Kokin will pull the straw hat onto your head, adjusting it with the brisk efficiency of a nurse strapping on a blood pressure cuff. And then you either will smile broadly or wince at the newly hatted you.
"There is a hat for everyone just like there is a lid for every pot," says Kokin, a one-name wonder who was at Saks Fifth Avenue recently, selling gobs of his hats to women buying in preparation for the Pittsburgh Parks Conservancy Spring Hat Luncheon on May 6.
Though fewer women are dashing out to buy an Easter bonnet per se, many start hat shopping this time of year.
Wearing a hat is as much a state of mind as anything else, and this spring, the mindset is bold. Hats go beyond basic straws topped by a tepid cluster of flowers.
Hats in bright colors -- neon oranges and pinks -- and dreamy pastels demand to be noticed.
Even Kokin, a theatrical man who wears a top coat over black leather pants, is surprised by how much color American women are putting on top of their heads. "I didn't think it would happen in this country, but it did. Paris, of course, is a riot of color."
Maxalto, 5426 1/2 Walnut St., Shadyside, carries some flamboyant hats by both Kokin and designer Eugenia Kim.
"You have to be a dramatic person to wear this," says Marta Minic, owner of Maxalto, in a bit of understatement as she points to a big brimmed, screaming-orange straw by Kim. "Color is really in."
Also hot are packable hats, anything you can scrunch up into a ball, throw into your suitcase and watch pop back into shape.
"Just because you are traveling doesn't mean you have to look like Gilligan," says Kokin, pointing to one of his Chinese paper hats that looks like straw.
Another Shadyside store, e.b. Pepper, carriers an Eric Javitz cowboy hat with a python band. This casually chic hat combines two of the hottest trends -- packable and the cowboy motif, a carryover from last year that is still hot.
"Usually people buy a hat for when they go away," says Monique Steinhauer, manager of the shop at 5411 Walnut St. "Especially when they go on a cruise. The sun is beating on your head."
The hat-buyers at Cheryl W in Squirrel Hill are also looking for crushable hats. "Even if it's sticking it in their pocket, they want to be able to crush it," says Cheryl Weissberg, owner of the accessory store at 5817 Forbes Ave. "They want to travel with it anywhere."
Traditional straw hats with flowers are still here, but they have been tweaked in a modern way. Adornments, 1303 E. Carson St., South Side, has a broad-brimmed Panama that stands out.
Kokin, who has created hats for movies including "Clueless" and "Four Weddings and a Funeral," infuses drama into his straws. Upsweeps. Asymmetrical ones. Wide-brimmed hats adorned with his signature clusters of hand-painted flowers and fruit. There is nothing tepid about these floral arrangements.
Some of his creations at Saks are a marriage of haute couture and whimsy. Like a traffic-stopping number that has chicken feathers jutting out of it. "This is for the girl who is really shy," Kokin says. "It is called the millennium chicken."
Kokin calls hats "one of the greatest cosmetics."
Many of his hat-hungry customers agree. These women buy hats and more hats. Hundreds of them. They can't get enough.
Like most addictions, this one has a dangerous side.
"My hats have broken up marriages," he says. "What happens is a woman has to have more hats. They have to, they have to, they have to. He either builds her a hat room or throws her out. Or she wears a very seductive hat and ..."
Well, we all know the ugly ending to this hat story.
But for every hat-aholic, there are probably many more women who buy a hat and then are too shy to wear them.
"People walk out of here, and they look so cute in hats. They feel so good," Weissberg says. "Then they will come back and say, 'You know that hat I bought, I never wore it. It's in my closet.'
"Hats are attitude. If you don't have the attitude to wear a hat, then don't wear it."
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