'Hats Off to Eugenia Kim'

Eugenia Kim and her collection of hats

Just when you thought that women’s hats were dépassé, along came Eugenia Kim.

Today, the milliner is the focus of Stylecaster video series titled “Stay Extroardinary,” which takes a look into the success story of the designer who put hats on the fashion radar.

Kim, 35, designs quirky hats in a variety of trendy styles, available in retail stores such as Barney’s New York, Neiman Marcus and Bloomingdales. Earlier this year, Kim partnered with Target to launch an affordable collection of hats inspired by ‘Old Cuba’ from the forties and fifties. Her fedoras and cloche hats have been spotted on all kinds of celebrities, from Jennifer Lopez and Britney Spears, to Paris Hilton and Gwyneth Paltrow.

Eugenia Kim SS10 Collection

Before all she "thought about and dreamt about were hats," Parsons School of Design alum Kim started out as an assistant at Allure magazine. Later fired from Allure and a victim of a bad haircut, Kim took decided to shave all her hair off. (Kim now credits the shaved head as her brand logo.) The designer took refuge underneath a feathery hat of her own creation.

Pretty soon, Kim had hat orders trilling in from New York based boutique Bond 07 after the store owner spotted her shopping in Soho, and after Barney’s New York viewed the hats in the Bond 07 shop window and wanted its own.

This was the start of the building of an empire.

Kim as seen on Stylecaster

An ‘East Village’ girl at heart, Kim reaches out to customers who have a bit of that downtown flare. Kim admits that she never ventures north of 14th Street in New York, with the exception of shopping trips to Barneys. Her hats reflect her hip personality, cleverly embellished with bows, prints and funky add-ons.

The designer admitted to New York Daily that she didn’t always dream of being a designer. Born into a family of doctors, Kim first studied medicine at Dartmouth. “Then I broke my back and was in the month for a hospital,” she said. “I thought, ‘This is so depressing, I don’t want to be a doctor.’”

Hats off to Kim for becoming a designer instead. Otherwise, what would I wear on my head?

-S. Gonzalez

*Photos courtesy of nydailynews.com; stylecaster.com

'Accessories Gone Mental'

Is that Victoria Beckham wearing boots with no heels?!

Like almost any other female 20-something my age, I have a shoe fetish. Not a compulsive, buy-every-shoe-in-sight shoe fetish, but an appreciation for designer, quality shoes.

Working for a multi-brand fashion firm doesn’t help either, with my collection expanding to include Prada booties, Marc Jacobs ballerina flats, Costume National sandals and Stella McCartney caged heels. And this is just the beginning, I promise.

But my shoes, statements that they might all make, bear no resemblance to some of the more flamboyant creations seen on the runway recently. From oversized helmet gear to visionless sunglasses, Stylecaster brings us an interesting look at some of the wackiest accessory trends.

Here is my take on my favorite ‘crazy trends’:

Head over no heels?

I can’t say that a heel-less shoe would catch me by surprise. Several seasons ago, Marc Jacobs toyed with the idea of a surrealist shoe – more like a shoe flipped upside down and then backwards, with the heel jutting out from the bottom and the ankle taking the place of the toes.

Antonio Berardi sandals sans heels

Designer Nina Ricci and others have introduced their own variations of a heel-less shoe. Then Victoria Beckham took the fashion leap, appearing at a red carpet event with Antonio Berardi heel-less boots. Take a closer look at the boots and you will see a small heel that does anchor the foot to the ground. So the boot might not be completely heel-less, but Beckham’s balancing act is impressive nonetheless.

Sunglasses that block out the sun… and everything else.

You might have seen Beyoncé, proving just how much of a diva she must be in her jeans, booties, tank top and sunglasses in her recent “Diva” music video. The only question I had from watching the music video was: “Can she actually see in those sunglasses?” In place of the lenses was a curtain of tiny chain links that swung with as much attitude as Beyoncé does with her walk.

Beyonce in her vision-less shades in "Diva"

Looks like Beyoncé is not the only celeb sporting shades that make seeing nearly impossible. Rihanna, Paris Hilton and especially Lady Gaga have been found wearing sunglasses covered in everything from rhinestones to cigarettes. Seeing is overrated anyways.

Gargantuan Headgear

When riding a motorcycle, moped or bike, you should always wear a helmet. Right? And the bigger the helmet, the more safe you’ll be. Right? For some designers, this holds completely true.

Helmets that rule the runway

Oversized helmets that resemble the Pac Man’s head or Darth Vader’s mask were all the rage at the Karl Lagerfeld and Giles Deacon shows, proving that taking fashion risks sometimes require a little (or a lot) of added protection.

*Photos courtesy of playingthedozens.files.wordpress.com; cottoncadycupcake.files.wordpress.com; stylecaster.com