This off topic posting is here because I want to show my full support to my mother, Loli de Prada, who has been sued by my two uncles (with one of my cousins as the lawyer). First you will find the Spanish text, followed by the English text, if you so wish to read it.

Este escrito (no relacionado con sombreros) está aquí porque quiero mostrarle todo mi apoyo a mi madre, Loli de Prada, a quien mis dos tíos -hermanos de mi padre- (con una de mis primas como abogado) pusieron una demanda judicial.

Pusieron esta demanda porque escribió un precioso y dulce libro llamado Joaquín y Loli. Un encuentro de cine. Un libro acerca de mi padre y de la época en que eran novios a finales de los años cincuenta.

Mañana, 31 de Octubre 2008 es el día del juicio.

Por si acaso estos que se hacen llamar “familia” tienen dudas acerca de lo que yo (y mis hermanos) pensamos acerca de toda esta historia, quiero decir aquí que APOYAMOS COMPLETAMENTE A MI MADRE. Ella ha escrito un MARAVILLOSO LIBRO acerca de una época muy especial de su vida. Es un libro precioso, lleno de cálidas memorias y fotos muy bonitas de la época en que está centrado y algunas fotos de la infancia de mi padre y de mi madre.

Parecería que algo que mi madre menciona en el libro, o quizás la simple idea de que haya escrito un libro cabreó a la “familia”, y en lugar de comportarse como gente NORMAL, y llamar o visitarla para expresar su desacuerdo (lo que habría sido una novedad, ya que desde el funeral de mi padre hace 17 años no se han dignado a visitarla una sola vez), en lugar de hacer eso decidieron ponerle una demanda judicial, a ella y al editor de este maravilloso libro.

Aparentemente (por lo que puedo deducir), la idea era (y es) hacer daño a mi madre y obviamente a todos aquellos cercanos a ella (sus hijos y amigos). Como no pudieron encontrar ninguna otra base para la demanda, la demandaron basado en unas fotos en las que ellos (mis tíos) aparecen (junto con mi padre) cuando eran niños, diciendo que el uso de esas fotos viola su derecho a la propia imagen. Asimismo dicen y repiten que mi madre ha escrito el libro con el único propósito de hacerles daño. OBVIAMENTE, NO LO HAN LEIDO, ya que el libro va de mi padre y de mi madre, de su vida de novios y de nada más.

Para resumir. Estamos DOLIDOS, ASQUEADOS Y DISGUSTADOS con toda esta historia y con el comportamiento de nuestra “familia”. Estamos asqueados de que puedan ser tan crueles, insensibles y sin corazón. Asqueados de que no se den cuenta de lo mucho que ya hemos sufrido al perder a nuestro padre (y mi madre, a su marido). Joaquín de Prada fue un GRAN HOMBRE, trabajador, respetado en su profesión, marido amante y padre cariñoso. Perderlo tuvo un efecto devastador en nuestras vidas y es una pérdida de la que todavía nos estamos intentando recuperar.

Mi madre le quiso y todavía le quiere con todo su corazón. Mi padre, esté donde esté, la sigue queriendo.

Quiero mucho a mi madre y la respeto por haber logrado lo que parecía una tarea imposible, escribir un libro, y la admiro por hacerlo con tanto talento y buen gusto.

En lo que a mi concierne, todos aquellos involucrados en este pleito ya no son mi familia. Para mi han muerto y nunca les perdonaré el dolor que nos han causado, a mi Madre, a mis hermanos y a mi.

A aquellos que no tienen nada que ver con esto siento el haberos involucrado, pero esto era algo que había que decir, y esta es una manera como otra cualquiera de decirlo, ya que se que esas personas de vez en cuando visitan mi blog.

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Here follows the English text.

My Mom was sued over a perfectly sweet and beautiful book that she wrote. A book about my father and about the period when they were dating in the late fifties.

Tomorrow, 31st October 2008, is the day of the trial.

Just in case my so called “family” have doubts about what I (and my brothers) think about the whole thing, I want to say that WE FULLY SUPPORT OUR MOTHER. She wrote a WONDERFUL BOOK called Joaquín y Loli. Un encuentro de cine about a wonderful time in her life. It’s lovely and full of heart warming reminiscing and beautiful period pictures.

Somehow, something that my mother said in the book, or perhaps the simple idea of her writing a book, pissed off the “family”, and instead of behaving like NORMAL people and calling or visiting and expressing their views (well, that would have been a new thing, considering my dad died 17 years ago and since the funeral they have never paid her a visit ), instead, they decided to sue her and the unsuspecting Publisher of this wonderful book.

Apparently (as far as I can gather), the idea is was (is) to hurt my mother and obviously everyone else close to her (namely her sons and daughter and her friends). Since they couldn’t find any other base for their lawsuit, they sued based on the few pictures where they (my uncles) appear (next to my dad) as children, saying that violates their rights. In addition, they say and repeat again and again that my Mother wrote that book with the only purpose of hurting them. OBVIOUSLY, THEY HAVE NOT READ THE BOOK. This book is about my Father and my Mother, their lives as boyfriend and girlfriend, and nothing else.

So, to summarize. We are HURT, APPALLED AND DISGUSTED at this whole business and at my family’s behaviour. We are appalled that they can be so callous and so heartless. Appalled that they don’t realize how much we’ve already suffered from losing our dad (and my mom, her husband). He was a GREAT man, hardworking, respected on his profession, loving husband and caring father. Losing my dad had a devastating effect on our lives, and it’s a loss from which we’re still recovering.

My Mother loved  and still loves my dad with all her heart, Father, wherever he might be, is still loving her.

I love my mother and respect her for accomplishing what seemed like an impossible task, writing a book, and I admire her for doing it with such talent and good taste.

As far as I’m concerned those involved in this lawsuit are no longer my family, they are dead to me, and I will never forgive the pain they have inflicted upon my Mother, my brothers and me.

Sorry to impose this upon you all, but this had to be said, and this is as good a way to say it as any other, because I know they occasionally drop by my blog.

A short while ago my friend Nina and I took off to Germany  in order to be there for Kopka‘s special Sunday sale (I believe they do this twice a year).

Kopka is a wonderful supplier of straw and felt hat bodies. They have a wide range of felt and straw finishes and what I love the most, they have a huge array of luscious colours available.

Their special sale day was the perfect excuse for a trip there, and as a result we bought some wonderful stuff at very good prices, as well as some stuff from the current collection because the colours were simply irresistible and had a 10% discount if paid in cash.

We were the first ones at the door on Sunday, some ten minutes before the opening time which was 9am, but they invited us in, offered us a cup of coffee and showed us some wonderful hospitality.

They were delighted that we had boarded a plane just to visit them!

The shop/warehouse is very welcoming, and for the occasion they had set up a long table with coffee, tea, chocolates (mmmhhhh…), cake, and later on the day also quiche. That meant that we had no trouble spending 3 hours there shopping to our hearts (and bellies) content. Note the fun flower and felt arrangement on the background.

The special sale products were on the inner part of the shop, neatly stacked and colour coded. The stuff I bought from the sale ranged from 4,95 to 25 Euros. The stuff that was not on sale had a 10% discount, which made it also very attractive.

Here below is my loot piled up on the grass. My favourite item is the green cone, it’s from the current collection and it’s gorgeous:

I totally lost it by buying two beaver fur capelines at 58 euros each, I hear they make the ultimate hat for a gentleman because they are extremely light and very sturdy. Kopka only recently started carrying them again and they only come in black and grey (I bought one of each). The top quality gentleman and cowboy hats back in their heyday, were made of beaver fur. Here is a picture of the beaver fur felts I bought:

I don’t really know how I will go about working with them… possibly I will try to work them without stiffener, if they end up too soft I will add some afterwards.

The current collection of straws and felts is in a special room, very beautifully displayed:

Not all colours change with the season, Kopka has seasonal colours and standard colours that are different depending on the material (fur felt, peach bloom, wool, etc.). Most of the colours cards can be seen on their website, although it’s only an approximation to the real colour as it depends very much on the monitor displaying it.

If you decide to pay them a visit, or to buy something from them because you saw it here, please let them know! I had an interesting conversation with Wolfram Kopka  (the owner) about how some professionals choose to share what they know, and some prefer to keep what they know a secret… he reckons success will be for those who share. Let’s hope so!

I would like to share with you some wonderful web finds I’ve come across lately.

First of all, not to miss, is this LuxeTV short feature (click here) about the famous Parisian Maison Michel.  The following information about Maison Michel comes from the website “Enterprises du Patrimoine Vivant”, a website that lists artisan enterprises from France:

In the 19th century, women didn’t go out with their heads uncovered. Yet will there be a place for hats in the 21st century? The answer is yes – but in other forms. While broad-brimmed hats may remain reserved for the races and the Grand Prix, weddings and ceremonies, caps, toques, turbans, cloches, berets, baseball caps and eyeshades are all to be seen parading the catwalks. And walking the streets.

Founded in 1936 by Auguste Michel, the House was set to become the appointed purveyor to the great fashion brands with the arrival, in 1968, of two experienced milliners, Pierre and Claudine Debard.

In 1975, Pierre Debard had the idea of having those marvellous straw-sewing machines, the Weissmans, repaired to make a new generation of sewing machines, and offering new designs in stitched straw to the great fashion houses. Pierre Cardin was the first to adopt them. Dior, Givenchy and Yves Saint Laurent would follow.

Kenzo and many others knew where to turn to ask the impossible : an extremely rare straw, a devilish drape, a mastery of satin, velvet, felt or leather. At Maison Michel, like nowhere else, we know how to finish a taupé or shear a boater for you.

The House has preserved over three thousand forms, sculpted in a soft wood, lime, which we use to produce the most beautiful – and often the most unexpected – hats. Our drawers are overflowing with an impressive stock of antique straws and felts. All the secrets of the trade are concentrated in the hands of a small cluster of specialist, complementary craftsmen: it is the chapelier (‘hatmaker’) who forms the hat, while the modiste (‘milliner’) sews, trims and finishes it. This unique expertise has been preserved by Chanel, since taking over Maison Michel in 1996.

A particular type of clientele appreciates the beautiful workshops of the Rue Sainte-Anne. They always come back, with wishes that require both dexterity and originality : cache-chignons, mink pillbox hats, pearl-beaded boaters, feather-trimmed capelines, felt cloches…

Also on the web site  Enterprises du Patrimoine Vivant there is a (different) short video about Maison Michel. Click here to go there (once there click on the play sign to see it). You can also click on “know-how” to see beautiful pictures of the hat making process, and on “products” to see pictures of finished hats. If you feel curious, browse through the web site in search of other milliners and you will find little jewels like a link to the web site of Chéri Bibi milliners. There is a slide show of superb pictures on the main page, showing milliners at work, as well as details of machinery and materials, and it doesn’t stop there, browse through their web page and find the “guided tour” video (and don’t forget to click to see the other videos, like straw sewing machine, caps making and hat moulding, as well as their links page).

At a time when small specialized ateliers are disappearing, Chanel under the guidance of Karl Lagerfeld, has taken over, to ensure their survival, seven fashion specialized ateliers from Paris, one of them being Maison Michel. Lagerfeld also organized a special show for these artisans called “The Métiers d’Art collection”. The other artisans take over by Chanel are Desrues (costume jeweller and button maker), Lesage (embroiderers), Lemarié (feather artisan), Massaro (boot making), Guillet (flower maker), and Goosens (silversmith).

Not to miss is also this LuxeTV short feature about Belgian milliner Fabienne Delvigne.  She makes hats for Belgian Royalty and talks about the profession and her beginnings.

Another interesting link is this snippet from a french documentary about hat making: click here to get there (they sell the full documentary about apprenticeships of artisan jobs… and I bought it, I will let you know about it when it arrives).

If all this has left you thirsty for more hats, now it’s the time to visit Jody’s wonderful blog about vintage fashion called Couture Allure, featuring now some fun comments and gorgeous hat pictures.

I hope you have also enjoyed the scanned pages from L’Officiel de la mode, showing Chanel hats from 1935.