AIKEN - Before you're off to the Triple Crown events, ladies, don't forget your hat.
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Natalie Bass of London, England laughs with friends during last year's Spring Steeplechase. Besides horse racing, the Steeplechase is also known for the variety of hats and clothing worn by some spectators.
Chris Thelen/The Augusta Chronicle
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"Some people thought hats went out. But it was just that women had bouffant hairdos that they didn't want to mess up," said Sissy Brodie, who was born in this horse-centered town and is savvy to the tradition of wearing a colorful hat to the annual Aiken Steeplechase, the second and swankiest Triple Crown event.
Mrs. Brodie said hats are the "icing on the cake that make the ensemble complete."
While she doesn't make her own hats, she embellishes those she has with colorful ribbon, hat pins and flowers.
Terry Maurer, 86, started wearing a hat to Sunday brunches and is credited with reviving the tradition. From straw hats to velvety felt hats, Mrs. Maurer admits her hats have become a passion.
Some hats are bought at local boutiques, while others are purchased from antiques collections or at national hat shows. But the "hattitude" of being properly dressed for the most formal event of the Aiken Triple Crown is almost as important as the event itself, Mrs. Brodie said.
"If you're going to a tea in New York, you wear a hat, and you're starting to see that more and more here," Mr. Maurer said.
Hats became fashionable toppers and show stoppers at horse races in the 1800s. The more outlandish the hat, the better it was, be it a straw hat topped with dried flowers or a felt hat adorned with dark, floppy feathers.
Although men wear derbies and straw hats, they never got into decorating them the way the ladies do.
"It's fun and it's frivolous. There's enough seriousness in the world. We try to reincorporate The Great Gatsby look," Mrs. Brodie said.
While there isn't a hat competition at the steeplechase, one does take place in the fall for fabulous and flamboyantly festooned hats. Hats are part of the annual Aiken Steeplechase Ball, which has been replaced by the Horseplay Gala and Auction at 6 p.m. March 19 in a tent near Ford Conger Field, where the steeplechase event is held.
Tickets for this event, which includes an auction of the playful horse statues that are now scattered around town, sold out in less than a week and there is still a waiting list for tickets. Proceeds from the auction will go to Aiken Center for the Arts.
When ladies have a hat crisis, they turn to local hat adviser Janie Paige Thompson, 33, who grew up in the horse country of Middleburg, Va., and knows how to help ladies find the perfect horse-event hat.
While hats can be colorful, Mrs. Thompson said, there are rules of hat etiquette. If a lady is wearing a large hat or one with ornate decorations, it is appropriate to take the hat off when she is crossing the track because it could startle a horse, she said.
Mrs. Thompson said a hat must be worn with confidence.
"A hat has to have character and must be worn in the middle of the brow, square on the top of the head," she said. "The bigger the brim of the hat, the smaller my hips look."
Reach Karen Ethridge at (803) 648-1395.
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