Early Easter hat stack…
Hello everyone
I’m excited to invite you to join me with my eponymous hat makers AXEL MANO on SATURDAY 29 MARCH at their QUEEN STREET SHOP during the frivolity of the three day WOOLLAHRA FESTIVAL. I’ll be taking along the ESSENTIAL DRESS in all sizes (and colours) so for those who find it difficult to make a trip to Glenmore, here is an ideal opportunity to try one on for size! While I’m thinking to upload some new information about the dress in the coming week, here’s a link to a story I posted about its passage over time last year.
A couple of years ago, I tried to persuade the AXEL MANOS (as I like to call them!) Susie and Graham, to come to Glenmore for an Easter Hat Extravaganza…a kind of garden-hat-parade-cum-autumn-lunch…and we got so close to making it happen! Alas…the lives of makers-cum-shopkeepers are not well-equipped for outings – either well planned or at the drop of a hat, and sadly we just had to let the fun idea slip by. Which is why I’m so delighted this time around to accept their invitation to join them more conveniently, which may just prove to be the case for you too.
Of course while you’re there…you may (like me) be tempted to try a hat on for size as well as a dress! It’s many years now since I flirted with the idea of having a garden hat made especially for me (and subsequently for so many of you). I remember being filled with a combination of both excitement and trepidation, on first venturing into the tiny Axel Mano shop (then on Ocean Street) for the possibility of what could lie ahead…
To my absolute delight, it was right there and then I realised that at last...I had indeed met my makers! Ever since that day, the Glenmore House Hat has been the one for me: with its wired brim (so you can manipulate to suit…up at the front/down at the back or vice versa). The brim is such a handsome shape and size…wide enough to shade the face but not so wide you can’t see where you’re going (low hanging tree branches can be a hazard for gardeners and garden visitors alike!). How I love the seamless transition from crown to brim – a sweep of fluidity and simplicity. Raw and unadorned, it’s elegant and timeless; but so easily jazzed up with a ribbon or scarf for a celebratory occasion…should one of those happen to arise!
I literally put my hat on my head every time I step off the verandah…whether I’m off to water, to pick, to hang the washing or do some serious gardening. Although I admit to having well-worn-in a second and have a third in the wings; over more than a dozen years (on reflection, maybe 15!) for a hat worn every single day for light as well as heavy duties, I reckon that’s a pretty good run! Those couple of hats have been around the world, visited many a garden, been to Chelsea several times and even the odd wedding (where perhaps a scarf tied ‘twixt crown and brim created a certain je ne sais quois, I know in reality it was hiding the inevitable telltale gardener’s sweat mark!). Mine goes to the beach too, on those very rare occasions I manage to slip down to the coast and a dose of seasalt air and hair seem to do no harm.
Hats for me, have been a lifelong thing. I grew up surrounded by them, for hats…were at the centre of my maternal grandparents’ realm. A small team of milliners and seamstresses flourished under my grandfather’s guidance, in one of those sturdy warehouses that occupied the once tailoring and fashion district of Surry Hills. Situated in Elizabeth Street, opposite Central Station (ideally located for shipping hat boxes around the country and department store distribution); sadly that building whose huge, light-filled windows and wide timbered floors I remember so well as a child, was bowled over in the early seventies and replaced with an ugly monstrosity. How I adored my regular visits to that hive of activity – a world of whirring sewing machines and labelled cardboard boxes that housed a haberdashery of ribbons and bows, silks and velvets, hail-spot tulles, bunches of handworked flowers, beads, hair combs, hat pins…a space filled with happy chatter. I guess I was about six or seven when that world came to an end – by the late sixties, hats were no longer de rigeur and my grandfather decided it was time to go fishing! There were still plenty of hat boxes stacked in the corner of my Mum’s old bedroom though, whose contents I regularly raided for dress-ups and…the inevitable Easter Bonnet Parades of primary school years that created such a flurry of excitement. It’s no wonder I so enjoy my regular visits to Axel Mano...and especially if I’m allowed out the back…where a microcosm…a distillation in a way, of my childhood memories linger.
Thinking of distillation – if you’d like to collect a Botanical Water or two on the day, please give me early warning (by Wednesday next week) and I’ll be sure to bottle a Rose Geranium, Orange Blossom or Lavender Water for you. You can pre-order here.
So…along with all the events associated with the Woollahra Festival (from design and literary conversations through historic walks, orchestral and jazz performances, a long lunch and more over three days) you’ll find me with HATS & DRESSES & BOTANICAL WATERS at AXEL MANO, 46 Queen Street, Woollahra. But only on SATURDAY 29, 10AM – 5PM. I might even find a dahlia or two take along and of course…this time of year is just perfect for wearing the Essential Work Dress out and about!
If you have any questions, do drop me a line- I can be sure to take your dress size and colour…to put one aside for you, ready to try on. You’re very welcome to bring your gardening questions along too…afterall, it’s crop rotation time and I’ll be more than happy to share any know-how I can. How Susie, Graham and I will look forward to seeing you then.
With warmest wishes,
Mickey
ps since I was last in touch I’ve had the most frustrating time with my longtime email address – through no fault of my own, Google decided to suspend the account for a whole eight days, meaning I have no access to any correspondence attempted with me during that period and many peeps received messages to say the address was not valid. It is indeed valid, and back in working order. So if you were trying unsuccessfully to contact me I apologise…I am still here!
