royal wedding hat fever

ink fashion hats illustration by sandra santa lucia/4/2011

let the Royal Wedding begin…1980s to 2008 hats
The last of my three illustrations are complete…just in time for the Royal Wedding. Expect to see  hats of all shapes and sizes, this wedding will be the main headline for all fashion magazines and outlets throughout the world…let the Royal Wedding begin. Below are hats from the 1980s to 2008.

• 1960s: Left: A  pillbox hat is a small woman's hat with a flat crown and straight, upright sides. Jacqueline Kennedy, First Lady of the United States from 1961 to 1963, well-known for her 'signature pillbox hats' in the 1960s, designed by Oleg Cassini. The sixties boosted of a great many glamorous hats.
• 1980s: Top centre: small hat with a slightly shallow crown and a round brim accented with lace vail surfaced during the late 70s and 80
• 2000s: Right: There have been fans of floppy hats for as long as women have wanted to shade themselves from the sun. But over the years the style has grown out from its roots as the hat of choice for not only lounging by the pool and digging in the back yard garden but the floppy is back in the fashion magazines. Hats have taken on a new younger look. Our soon to be Royal Princess, Kate Middleton is setting the pace with very stunning hats. 

hats…a fashionable essential

ink hat parade from 1789 to 1912 illustrated by sandra santa lucia/04/2011 

Hat parade…1789 — 1912 
Through the ages one sees a wide variety of hats. Initially the headwear offered protection from the elements, injury from falling rocks, weapons or masonry. Later head coverings became symbols of status of authority. Soon after hats progressed to become not only a uniform, but also an art form. 
On the day of the Royal Wedding the world will be treated  to an extraordinary range of couture millinery.  Continuing on with a few more hat sketches I choose, researched and sketched three very different hats. The vast numbers of hats between 1789 to 1912 was phenomenal.

• 1789:  Centre: Large brim hat in the shape of a mushroom and made with white muslin, trimmed with large bows of velvet.
• 1808: Left:  Riding hat: A version of the masculine top-hat which replaced the Directoire jockey hat. Fashioned with silk or coloured beaver, often had a gauze veil which floats behind in the breeze.
• 1912: Right: In 1900 the Edwardian period was not as universally wide as is sometimes thought. The new century began with a continuation of art nouveau influence in fashion  and as skirts swirled around the feet of women forming in fans like bell flowers, so did hats swirl and swoop around the head as in the 1912 felt hat illustrated above. This felt hat was ornamented with swirls of fine silk and worn well over the head with the left side higher than the right.  
• Watch for more hats to come from mid-1900 to 2011

Note: reference material from "The Illustrated Encyclopaedia of Costume and Fashion" by Jack Casin-Scott          

period hats making a statement…1300 - 1600

hats from 1377—left, 1500 — centre, 1678 right ink illustration by sandra santa lucia/4/2011 

The Royal Wedding, Friday, April 29 will soon be upon us.  The women whom will be in attendance will no doubt be wearing the very latest and most stylist of hats.  A real Hat parade! — designs of which may  have had a link to the millinery delights of the past.

Just for the heck of it I thought I would sketch a few hats from the 1300 —1600 century.  Who knows one just may catch a glimpse of a design which may have inspired a hat designer to one of his/her creations at the wedding.

• 1377 :  Left:  depicts a  Caul, which is a historical headdress worn by women that covered tied-up hair. The drawing below shows the hair completely hidden and covered by a decorative gem and  gold embroidered Caul over which was attached an ornamental padded roll.
• 1500:  Centre: The German/Swiss mercenary soldiers known as Landknecht, also created a mixture of fashion which included a flat (platter hat) felt brimmed hat which was slashed and decorated with feathers. Soon women were adapting the men's Landknecht hat to suit themselves. They covered their hair with a jewelled Caul and attached colourful feathers to the flat felt hat.
• 1678:  Right: Headdress (Hennin) was the 'cornet' — a lawn cap which had a standing frill in front and long lappets falling behind the shoulders, or tied in front under the chin. More hats to come — watch for more sketches from the 1700 to 1900 centuries
• Note: the rendered drawings were from The Illustrated Encyclopedia of Costume and Fashion by Jack Cassin-Scott.

life is like riding a bicycle…albert einstein

 "wagging tales" book illustration by sandra santa lucia/ink/2010 

"I taught him to walk on a leash and he (buddy) was always game to run after me when I was on my bike".  — dorts stafford author of wagging tales a book about a Banff family and their love of dogs.
April 22 -28's Illustration Fridays topic is "bicycle" chosen by glenda baker. "Life is like riding a bicycle…in order to keep your balance you must keep moving" — albert einstein, won the nobel prize in physics 1921.

painting eggs…a fun-filled easter journey!

"bunnies little" ink sketch by sandra santa lucia, 24/4/2011

Bunnies Little were having so much painting the Easter eggs that they completely lost track of time! …Big Bunny needed these eggs now for the annual Easter Egg Hunt .

"big bunny" pen and ink illustration by sandra santa lucia/ 4/2010

Big Bunny, although understanding the creative journey which the bunnies little were on realized that he needed to hurry them along! Once the need of urgency was established, the decorated eggs were gathered up and dropped into Big Bunnies huge magic basket. Off he ran— ever so fast. His Easter Egg deadline completed for another year! Illustration Friday's April 15 - 21 topic was journey which was suggested by botanick. "Focus on the journey, not the destination. Joy is found not in finishing an activity but in doing it."

 HAPPY EASTER everyone!

bottled up emotions?…get help dude!

bottled up emotions pen and ink illustration by sandra santa lucia

Bottled up emotions — such as illustrated above: joy, surprise, happiness, panic, anger, guilt, acceptance lead to wrong conclusions and a lot of crap one doesn't need. Recognizing and describing our emotions helps shape the brain. Not recognizing and describing them, I believe, stunts the brain. - Philip Hartland

Illustration Friday's April 8 - 14th topic was bottled suggested by norma jay.

"Our names are labels, plainly printed on the bottled essence of our past behavior".  

- Logan P. Smith

musical chefs…a duet

Pen and ink "Musical chefs…a duet" illustrated by Sandra Santa Lucia, Banff, Alberta

"Duet" — this week's Illustration Friday's topic fit well with a freelance logo which I had designed and illustrated for a restaurant in Jasper, Alberta back in the early 90's