Aretha's hat in Smithsonian!?
Aretha's hat in Smithsonian!?
Broadway Legend Joined: 3/26/04
Aretha's hat in Smithsonian!?#1
Posted: 1/31/09 at 6:47am
The Smithsonian Institution has asked Aretha Franklin to donate her hat to their permanent collection of inauguration memorabilia. The press release says "The Inaugural ceremony of President Barack Obama on January 20 had the world talking -- about the official oath of office, the President's Inaugural address, the record breaking attendance, the adorable First Family, Aretha Franklin's gospel-infused rendition of the anthem "My Country 'Tis of Thee," and "the hat." The Smithsonian Institution has now asked Franklin if she will donate the now iconic Inaugural hat to the museum to become a part of an exhibit of President Obama's Inauguration, joining other items scheduled for display including First Lady Michelle Obama's Inaugural night gown."
Aretha says she's "mulling it over".
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mamie4 5/14/03
Broadway Legend Joined: 6/3/05
re: Aretha's hat in Smithsonian!?#2
Posted: 1/31/09 at 7:27amI'd like to think that this is our government's way of ensuring that she never wears that horrid thing again.
re: Aretha's hat in Smithsonian!?#3
Posted: 1/31/09 at 7:58pm
re: Aretha's hat in Smithsonian!?#4
Posted: 1/31/09 at 8:05pm
I love that hat! And all the millinery madness that followed.
She should donate it.
blocked: logan2, Diamonds3, Hamilton22
Broadway Legend Joined: 3/26/04
re: Aretha's hat in Smithsonian!?#5
Posted: 1/31/09 at 8:06pmOoops - that's Natural History. The hat would go next door - at American History!
A click for life.
mamie4 5/14/03
re: Aretha's hat in Smithsonian!?#6
Posted: 1/31/09 at 8:16pm
But that big, flat American History Museum doesn't have that nice little dome that's just made for hats. And Aretha says she feeeels like a "Natural" woman.
re: Aretha's hat in Smithsonian!?#7
Posted: 1/31/09 at 8:23pm
"I'd like to think that this is our government's way of ensuring that she never wears that horrid thing again."
LOL-that hat was a laugh but I think it suited Aretha for some reason.
Broadway Legend Joined: 3/26/04
re: Aretha's hat in Smithsonian!?#8
Posted: 2/1/09 at 12:17amI thought it was fabulous. Very few women could have carried it off and Aretha did it with pizzazz. Bravo!
A click for life.
mamie4 5/14/03
Broadway Legend Joined: 11/3/05
re: Aretha's hat in Smithsonian!?#9
Posted: 2/1/09 at 12:19am
I absolutely think it belongs there - especially after all the publicity it received!
And for the record, I loved it on her.
Broadway Legend Joined: 4/7/04
re: Aretha's hat in Smithsonian!?#10
Posted: 2/1/09 at 1:42amIt is obviously not going IN the Smithsonian. It's going ON the Smithsonian.
http://www.roches.com/television/ss83kod.html
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re: Aretha's hat in Smithsonian!?#11
Posted: 2/1/09 at 10:21am
I loves me some Aretha, but let's face it, she's always been known to make her own kind of fashion statement. So that hat makes sense!
Stand-by Joined: 3/6/06
re: Aretha's hat in Smithsonian!?#14
Posted: 2/5/09 at 2:45amI was a little... hmmm, not "offended" but maybe "annoyed" by the hat hoopla. Having come up in the black church, such hats are par for the course. When she first appeared on screen I didn't even blink, maybe a, "Go 'head, I see you 'Retha", but I don't get people acting like a UFO landed on her head. Or, 'Only Aretha could have pulled it off'? I beg to differ. :) Millions of women pull it off every Sunday. If anything, I was surprised that she didn't wear fur on that frigid day like she did when she sang for Clinton's inauguration. She raised P.C. eyebrows strutting around in her golden sable coat.
re: Aretha's hat in Smithsonian!?#15
Posted: 2/5/09 at 2:59amThey can't have mine!
re: Aretha's hat in Smithsonian!?#16
Posted: 2/5/09 at 9:44am
No, no, NO, BFB!
It goes on the side at a tilt. Part of the world of hatness is knowing how to wear it. Remember Rhett jerking Scarlett around in GWTW over that green hat from Paris? Women and men alike used to spend ages in front of mirrors trying to get just the right tilt.
blocked: logan2, Diamonds3, Hamilton22
re: Aretha's hat in Smithsonian!?#17
Posted: 2/5/09 at 10:23am
Sandy, I had the flip side of your reaction. I LOVED that she wore a black-lady-going-to-church crown for the inauguration of our first black president.
(And I love "Go 'head, I see you 'Retha"!!)
re: Aretha's hat in Smithsonian!?#18
Posted: 2/5/09 at 10:54amAretha has money problems. She's "mulling" over how much it can fetch on Ebay.
Stand-by Joined: 3/6/06
re: Aretha's hat in Smithsonian!?#19
Posted: 2/5/09 at 3:48pm
Thanks Reg. 
But don't get me wrong, I loved that she wore the hat, I was just annoyed that people acted like it was some revelation, as if they'd never seen such a hat before (even more annoyed if they actually hadn't!).
Broadway Legend Joined: 7/10/04
re: Aretha's hat in Smithsonian!?#21
Posted: 2/5/09 at 4:12pm
From the book Crowns: Portraits of Black Women in Church Hats by Michael Cunningham...
Countless black women would rather attend church naked than hatless. For these women, a church hat, flamboyant as it may be, is no mere fashion accessory; it's a cherished African American custom, one observed with boundless passion by black women of various religious denominations. A woman's hat speaks long before its wearer utters a word. It's what Deirdre Guion calls "hattitude...there's a little more strut in your carriage when you wear a nice hat. There's something special about you." If a hat says a lot about a person, it says even more about a people-the customs they observe, the symbols they prize, and the fashions they fancy.
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