making beautiful hats for more than 30 years and she the unusual colours. Some of the old tweeds might
is one of the few Scottish hat-makers still in business. look a little dull, but if I fray the edges I soon see
Her delightful shop at 13 Cowgatehead in the that the component yarns are actually made up of
Grassmarket is a treasure trove of the most wonderful really bright colours like turquoise or mustard and
headgear. There are hundreds of hats here for both green all mixed up. That means I can use flashes of
men and women. The collection includes fedoras, the colour woven through it. Harris Tweed is a fabric
bowlers, tricorn hats, cloth-caps and beavers, top hats with integrity and it presents endless possibilities for
and tams, Balmorals and berets in all colours and hats and caps.”
sizes. Many of them were made by Ms Reid and her Most of Fawns Reid’s customers are content to walk
talented 19-year-old daughter, Iris, in their workshop in off the street, try a hat on and make a purchase on
downstairs. the spot. Others enjoy the bespoke process in which
Fawns (it’s an old family name) Reid started they consult Fawns on the fabric and discuss the
making hats when she was 17. Why? “Well,” she said, shape and fit they want. Like an artist with a palette
“my granny always wore hats and so I had a chance of paints, Fawns sometimes uses multiple layers of
to look closely at the way they were put together. My lightweight fabric to builds up special colours for the
father was an architect and I’ve always been interested picture hats worn at weddings or race-day outings.
in design. I enjoy the creative challenge and I’ve always Most of her hats tend to be for women although she
made things. In the early 1980s I made hats and all says she does have a dedicated male clientele who
sorts of clothes and lo and behold, I no sooner made come to her for trilbies and the eight-panel paperboy-
them than they were out the door, sold. I suppose I style cloth caps in tweed.
had a natural, intuitive feel for design and so even “I’m afraid Scots men still resist the idea of
without the benefit of any formal training, I found wearing hats,” she said, “because they don’t want
myself in business. It’s gone on and on from there.” to be drawing attention to themselves. Men seem
As global manufacturing took hold and imported to have this notion that by wearing a hat they’re
clothing became cheaper and cheaper, Fawns decided somehow adopting airs, making themselves out to
to focus entirely on making hats. “People would go be better than they are. Forty years ago in Scotland
out and buy heaps and heaps of cheap clothing,” everyone wore hats and it was possible to tell a lot
she said, “but they’d still be looking for something about the social status of an individual by his or her
special to personalise their outfits. The result was headgear. Lairds and posh people wore certain types
that I found myself selling more and more hats and of hats that would never ever be worn by working
accessories.” Fawns Reid says she enjoys “pushing people and vice versa. It was a way of signalling: ‘I am
materials to their limits”. “I like recycling things,” she from this or that socio-economic group’.
said, “finding new ways to use old things. My parents “Then, in the sixties, there was a great social
grew up during the war when it was all make-do-and- levelling in Scotland in which Jock realised he was
mend. That’s actually a very old Scottish tradition in as good as his master. People thought, ‘I’m not going
which absolutely nothing is wasted. I’ve always been to be kept in my place by wearing a hat! I’m going to
taught that materials are incredibly valuable and demonstrate by freedom by going bare-headed.’ As
so we never, ever throw anything out. My parents muddle-headed as that might seem to people outwith
drummed that into me when I was growing up and Scotland, that was the prevailing social attitude and
it’s been an important part of my life ever since.” to a degree it’s an attitude which is still with us.
Fawns still haunts Edinburgh’s jumble sales and “In a way men are frightened to wear a hat in
second hand clothing shops searching for wonderful case others think they’re getting above their station.
old Harris Tweed jackets. She snaps them up, Some fear that if they wear a hat they’ll be leaving
sometimes for as little as £5. “The old tweed might themselves open to be taken down a peg or two.
be a wee bit faded and worn on the outside,” she Some men come into the shop and say, “och, I could
said, “but once you cut away the lining, you very never get away with wearing a hat like that. It would
often find the fabric as good as new on the inside. be so pretentious.’ ‘Rubbish’, I tell them, ‘What do
It’s just a matter of turning the jacket inside out to you think is going to happen to you? I’ll tell you
re-make it. Then, with the buttons on the other side, exactly what will happen. You’ll be warm and dry’.
a man’s jacket becomes a lady’s jacket.” ‘Oh, aye,’ they say, but often they’re not convinced.
I was delighted to find that Fawns and I share It’s hard work selling hats to Scotsmen.”
a passion for Harris Tweed, the heavy, thick and
For further details visit
www.fabhatrix.com
scratchy woollen fabric uniquely hand-woven in
the Western Isles of Scotland. “Harris Tweed is one
of the world’s great fabrics,” she says. “I’m drawn to
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