Feathered fascination at TIFF

Fellow grungers, forgive me, I did not wear the poly maxi dress everyone loved so below.

But when I was invited to the Hats On For Awareness party Friday night benefiting the Centre for Addiction and Mental Health in Toronto, I knew two things: I had to wear a hat, and the hat offered me was never going to go with a 1960s poly maxi dress, alas.

Pal and artisan Victoria Feistner has recently launched her custom handmade hat design biz, The Emporium Esoterica, and these gorgeous "fascinator" hats are only part of the heady pieces she has in the offering.


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HGTV singled out my hat as one of the TOP THREE, but alas I didn't get my chance to parade on the stage as the live auction was taking a long time and they needed to move things along.

But that doesn't change the fact that Victoria's hats rock and this one truly was one of the best toppers in a party where over 500 people attended, and $40,000 was raised for CAMH!

Alas I have some pics from the fete but I need to find out how to get them off my internal memory ... will post Twitter link soon to my media follow up on event.

And my maxi dress may have its day in the sun - or spotlight? - as I'm considering going to another bash next week ... stay tuned!

P.S. The dress IS thrifted - a black empire waist cocktail dress by MEXX found for $6.99 at Goodwill!