A HANKERING FOR HATS

Spring is a season of contrasts, sometimes shy and elusive, often bold and shining, forever timeless in its appeal.

Thoughts turn to strolls in the country, baskets of fresh flowers and children gathering brightly colored eggs. Parents shop for bow ties and Easter bonnets.

However, the fun of wearing hats is not relegated to one age category or gender. Indeed, hats -- often associated with springtime -- also enjoy many characteristics of the season.

Pam Sparks of Jackson and daughter Kelly share an appreciation for head wear. Mother and daughter each dictates her own style. Both say there is a hat for every mood.

"We have a lot of hats at our house, from baseball caps to blossom hats," Pam Sparks said. "When we go shopping, that's one of the things that we do, try on hats."

Observations vary among spokespersons for several ladies' clothing shops in and around Cape Girardeau regarding the local level of hat popularity.

However, Janice Hill of Hartford's said activity at the South Broadview shop indicates there is renewed interest in hats. "We're seeing more and more people come in and request hats and try them on," Hill said. "More hats are being used as accessory pieces to enhance the clothing."

Styles are abundant this season, Hill noted. Among Hartford's selections are straw hats with brims of varying sizes adorned with scarves or bands made of anything from chiffon to gauze. Floppy hats, reminiscent of the 1960s styles, are also making a return.

Purchasing a hat, Hill said, is akin to selecting jewelry: "People buy it to fit their personality."

Kelly Sparks, an eighth grader at R. O. Hawkins Junior High School in Jackson, sees the casual look as best reflecting her style. "Sometimes I do what other people do, sometimes I like to do my own stuff too," she said. As does her mom, she enjoys the diversity a hat can offer.

"I have a tendency not to be too splashy with it," said Pam Sparks, "yet if I see something that's really cool, I'll go for it." With a chuckle, she added that most any hat she might wear wouldn't surprise her friends. "It's just a fun thing I like to do. As a kid, I always enjoyed dressing up, it has just carried on from there."

Her hats range from the old-fashioned and feminine netted look to a fedora. "I like something that has a unique look to it," she said.

Overall, Kelly Sparks noted that her mother "likes to wear more dressy hats than I do." For instance, the teenager noted, "I just bought my new fishing hat, I love it."

Indications are that more and more teens along with the even younger set are getting into the habit of wearing hats.

"Hats are bigger than they've been since I've been in business," said Judy Wilferth of Children's Bazaar. She's seen two decades of styles flow through her shop. "They are the number one accessory item this year," Wilferth said.

She named reversible hats, casual to dressy bonnets, fishing hats and baseball caps for girls and boys among the variety of popular children's head wear. "You name it, they make it in hats now," Wilferth added.

Along those same lines, Mary Kirn of Kidstop noted that "We have more hats this year than we've ever had."

"They are popular," Kirn said of hats, "especially the floppy hat." The floppy hats are often made of denim, chambray or twill fabrics, she said, and are available in styles ranging from very dressy to casual. Many will sport lace or dried flowers.

The sunflower is cropping up as a most favored flower this season, Wilferth and Kirn agree.

While youngsters' hats are selling fast in many shops, parents can even include their youngest children in the trend. "This year, quite a few infant things come with hats," Kirn noted. Berets are particularly popular in the infant sizes through about kindergarten age, she explained.

Though hats this season are popular for reasons largely based on style, there is another side to the subject. "They are more practical for children than people may think," Wilferth pointed out, "especially for summer, for shade protection."

Protection from the elements can also be a determining factor in an adult's decision to wear a hat. Caps, in particular, may be deemed necessary for persons who spend much of their time outdoors. But for the most part, people wear hats simply because they enjoy the look.

A hat will often reflect a man's personality, his attitude, observed Rodney Bridges of Garber's Men's Wear.

"Nationally, hats are more popular than they've been in a number of years," Bridges said. That trend has also been reflected at his shop. "The hat business, in general, is very, very good," Bridges said. "It was better this fall than it has ever been. I expect that to carry over for spring."

Dress hats, such as straws, Panama hats and the fedora styles are favorites among men 35 and older, while younger men often opt for the more casual fun-type caps, Bridges said.

Caps have become so popular in the last few years that "we actually had to make more room" for them, said James Green, store manager of Howard's. Licensed head wear is high on the list of types of caps that are gaining attention.

Adults tend to like the collegiate caps while children often choose hats featuring "the big stars," Green explained. Side by side with the timeless styles of the baseball cap and golf cap, rests a new cap gaining in popularity -- this one with no crown. The slouch cap "just fits on the top of your head," Green explained, describing the cap as sporting the "pre-beat-up look."

Whatever the style, for whatever the age or gender of the wearer, hats can add that extra spark.

Kirn, who enjoys wearing hats, noted, "Hats can just really pull an outfit together. A hat can really add a great effect."

"Whatever the outfit is," she said, "a hat just adds more class."

There was a time not so long past when hats were practically a fixture in every wardrobe. "Used to be you simply did not go to church unless you wore a hat," Kirn said.

Judy Sander of Judy's in Jackson speculates that hats are not likely to enjoy a resurgence that would push them into the spotlight they once held locally. "I don't see them ever taking hold like they did before," she said. However, Sander noted, hats have garnered considerable renewed interest in many large cities recently.

"There are a few people who have always worn hats, who will always wear them," Sander said, "and there are a few of the more daring women who try them."

Regardless of fashion trends through the years, the Easter Sunday tradition had a lasting impression on Pam Sparks. Even when hair styles heightened hair to hat-like size, she knew she still wanted to wear real hats.

While a hat will oftentimes complete the outfit, she joked, "it has a real plus to it if you're having a bad hair day."

During a time when hats were not the rage, "I finally got up enough nerve and started wearing them once in a while," she recalled. Since those days, her hat collection has grown dramatically.

The key to wearing a hat successfully, Pam Sparks observed, is "being comfortable with it yourself," whether the hat is worn for fun or for a special occasion.

"Sometimes," she reflected, "you just have to step out and go with how you feel."