Dear Fashion Police ...

Traveling with hats

By Jeannine Stein
Los Angeles Times Syndicate

July 5, 2000
Web posted at: 2:19 p.m. EDT (1819 GMT)

Dear Fashion Police: Now that I've bought all those beautiful (and delicate) hats with broad brims, just how am I supposed to travel with them?

Let's say I'm going to a wedding by plane. Packing a hat in soft-sided luggage is courting disaster. The other option is to put it into an overhead bin and hope it isn't crushed by someone's laptop.

Luggage makers used to have hard-sided hatboxes you could check, but I can't find one anywhere. Do any companies still make such a thing? -- Mad about hats

Dear Mad: Yes, they do, but they're a little tough to find, since hats aren't the popular accessory they were in the 1940s and 1950s.

You have a few options. You can put your hat in a cardboard hatbox (found at department stores and some general merchandise stores) and try to fit that in an overhead bin.

The box will protect the hat, but, depending on its size, the box may be too big for the overhead compartment. And if you're like us, you'd rather chew off your foot than tangle with airport security or flight attendants about oversized, carry-on luggage.

Your next option is to get some hatbox luggage that you could check or hand-carry. There are a few companies that still make such pieces, including Mulholland Bros. and Louis Vuitton.

But they'll both set you back quite a bit. A square Mulholland Bros. hatbox at El Portal is about $695 (http://www.el-portal.com; they also have stores in the West). A box from Louis Vuitton is ... well, if you have to ask, forget it.

Less expensive hatbox luggage is available at Drea Kadilak, a Los Angeles milliner (323/931-2051). Prices range from $79 to $99.

We also called the Proper Topper, a catalog and Web site that carries men's and women's hats (http://www.propertopper.com or 888/842-3055). Owner Anna Fuhrman said she hasn't had much luck traveling with cardboard hatboxes, although the company sells them.

Instead, she suggested drum cases.

Found at music stores, they're made of heavy plastic and are sturdy enough to check, she said.

She said her catalog also carries packable hats that can be rolled up and stuffed in a suitcase.

If none of these ideas is making you dance with joy, we have one more: Try online auction sites, such as eBay, and search under "hatbox luggage." We saw some from the '40s and '50s that seemed to be in pretty good shape, and prices were not outrageous. The size and condition of the luggage will determine if you should check it or carry it.

Send letters to Fashion Police, Los Angeles Times Syndicate, 145 S. Spring St., Los Angeles, California, 90012. (Questions and observations of general interest will be addressed in the column.)

(c) 2000, Los Angeles Times. Distributed by Los Angeles Times Syndicate

Dear Fashion Police...
June 26, 2000

El Portal
Proper Topper
Louis Vuitton
Mulholland Brothers

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