2015 has proven to be a very exciting year, as I ventured into new projects. In cooperation with the St. John School of the Arts I interviewed four West Indian matriarchs about their hats. Wearing hats is an old tradition in the local community. This project was inspired by Kim Wild, Director of the School of the Arts. I interviewed each woman and then wrote their stories according to what they told me. I then visited each one to take a photo of them.

The photo of Miss Blake was taken by her daughter and accentuates how the hat is the finishing touch on a well-planned and executed outfit. Once the stories were written and approved by the ladies The School of the Arts put together a dance performance based on the stories. I hope you enjoy their stories. It was a real honor for me to get to know these wonderful women.

Chats About Hats

told to Cristina Kessler

Mrs. Andromeda Childs

Today I like to wear a hat with a wide brim so I can wrap a scarf around it. I have many scarves and many hats. I wear the same ones a lot until I go to the back of the group and pull out something I haven’t see for awhile. Sometimes I put it aside and sometimes I look at it and then just put it back. When I was up north I had hats with plumes or feathers, but not anymore. I like Panama hats because you can shape them. My hats for church are dressier.

Sometimes when I wear a hat it just makes me feel better. You can tilt it to match your mood. It says a little more about the way you are feeling. I usually wear a hat when I leave the house. It depends on my hairstyle. Usually I have a hat to protect me from the sun. Also a hat does something special for me sometime so I like that. A nice hat can make you feel better, more together.

I’ll never forget when I wore a hat to my first opera. I had it on to finish my outfit because I was dressing up. What I didn’t know is that you aren’t supposed to wear a hat to the opera. There was a man mumbling behind me but I didn’t know it was about me until a young man tapped me on the shoulder and asked me to remove my hat. I did and I never made that mistake again. It’s hat etiquette.

We go on cruises now, and if I see someone wearing a fine hat some place we stop, I get one there. If I don’t buy one my husband might ask, “Not getting a hat this time?” I got my Panama hat in Ecuador. It came rolled up in a small box it is made so fine. And when I’m in New York if I see a hat store I go in and try hats on. If I’m in Macy’s or Gimbles I go to their hats departments and try hats on.

Times change with generations. When I was growing up all girls and women wore hats. Not all women wear hats to church now. Young women will wear a hat to church sometime. I think that hats will always be around. Hats definitely have a future.

Mrs. Reubenia V. Hill

I wouldn’t say I have a lot of hats, but the ones I have are old. They don’t fit so well because my hair is less full than it used to be. But every once in a while I see them, love them and leave them. Now I can crochet some for myself. I learned to crochet from when I was young, but then a cousin taught me to read it recently and that helped me a lot because now I can take up a pattern and try to follow it. Maybe I don’t get everything a 100%. I can make my own hats and I can read a pattern now.

I admire a woman that looks very nice. Some wear hats to match their clothes and that finishes the outfit. I look and I say, “That person looks really nice.” I feel more completely dressed with my hat on. Some places I go don’t need a hat, but mostly at night with the weather I wear a hat to keep the cold off my head and in the day to keep sun off it too.

Sometimes I watch different worship programs on TV, and some of the hats they wear are out of this world! I might be able to help someone if they put on a hat and asked me, I could say that one looks better than the other. For me I look in the mirror and if it’s ok I just wear it. I don’t know any secrets about choosing a hat. I just look in the mirror.

Today is not like when we were growing up. Not so many hats, and sometimes not worn right. Pastor George says baseball caps on backwards are bad boy style or bad girl style. Not good. In church I don’t see so many hats, like when growing up, but I can tell you – I still like mine.

Miss Daisy Callwood

I was about 10 years old when I got my first hat. My mother was in St. Thomas and she sent me and my sister nice white hats for Easter. It is a family tradition, wearing hats to church. You wear a hat to show respect for God in his house.

My grandmother never went to church unless she had her head covered. When I was growing up, if we didn’t have a hat for church we wore a mantilla to cover our heads. My grandmother never kneeled to pray unless her head was covered with a mantilla, so it was a sacred something we did in our family. It’s a tradition that was handed down to me from my parents and my grandparents.

I haven’t passed this tradition onto my children because they think it’s old fashioned, so they don’t wear hats. But, they give me a hat for Christmas most every year. Some I have never worn because they don’t fit my face. I have to fit the hat, no one can tell me what hat fits my face. I have more hats than I can count, stuffed in closets and boxes and bags.

The hats I wear most are custom-made. I have my own hat maker, on St. Thomas. She comes with hats and if I like one I say, “I’ll take this one, but in a special color.” When I was being honored at Frenchman’s Reef I didn’t have a hat for the night. I told her I needed a silver hat, to go with my outfit. She made a fine one.

Not all hats are right for me. I may not like the shape, and it has to match my face or I don’t wear it. I feel comfortable in a hat, like I am ready for whatever I am going to do. Without my hat on I am not ready to go. I feel like part of me is missing – the hat makes me complete. My image is very important to me, since I was a child, and I’ve passed this onto my children. There must be a difference between how you look at home and how you look outside. You don’t need to be rich, but be clean and neat.

There are not so many hats in church anymore, in fact one Christmas a lady gave me a hat and I wore it to church and the minister mentioned my hat. He encouraged others to wear hats, and now they do. I have received many comments about my hats over the years. One lady asked me if I there is any color hat I don’t have, and I told her, “I don’t think so.”

Mrs. Helena Blake

A hat makes a statement. I have green, gold, tan, purple, red, white, black and black and white hats. I love all my hats, but my favorite hat is this black and white one. My friend Millicent made it for me. She bought the hat plain, then added the lace and flowers and made this beautiful hat for me. The green rose hat is number two. It’s the latest one that I got in Florida.

I probably wore my first hat when I was about 10. I grew up on Nevis and the British like to wear their hats, just like the Queen. I was an Anglican when I was there, and was in the choir. We never, ever went to church bare-headed, we had to wear a hat. I still do. I have been in the Virgin Islands for 67 years and 8 months, and I am happy to see all the women in church with their hats. If I see a well-dressed woman, with a nice hat, I gawk at her – not look, but gawk – she looks so good.

You feel good when you have a dress, hat, shoes and bag that match. I pick the dress first, then choose the hat from a color or stripe or something in the dress. I love hats and shoes and I feel very confident when I am dressed-up. I went to a funeral on St. Croix, and after we went into a shop and the woman there said,

“Oh my! Aren’t you gorgeous! Look at that hat!” It’s the same black and white hat that is my favorite one. It was good to have the woman appreciate my hat.

I have a sister named Elaine Hill, who loved the hats, but not to wear. So when she sees a nice hat she bought them for me not herself. She would see a hat and say, “This looks just like Lena.” And then give me that hat. My daughter bought me a dress and shoes to go with a hat I have.

A hat says something about the person wearing it. You can fit it just right, and tilt it or not, it is up to you. I prefer hats with rims and brims. I pick a color from the dress and match it up. I never lend my hats, no, no, no! I have many, and they are all well-preserved in the top of my closet.

I see lots of women, mainly my age, wearing hats in church. The younger women not so much, but the older women yes. I love my hats!