Lakewood to get mesmerized with exotic headwear expo

Lakewood to get mesmerized with exotic headwear expo June 09, 2008 (USA)
Radius Gallery at Heritage Center of Lakewood is all set to hostone of the most unusual and extraordinary exhibition ofheaddresses, helmets, hats and a variety of other head wears ownedby Dr Beverly Chico.

The exhibition scheduled to get commenced tomorrow will extend tillOctober 8, 2008 and will display some 225 headpieces from thecollection of Dr Chico and made from fine materials like yak hair,straw, wool, metals, plastics, silks and felts.

The most mystifying thing about these fabulous head wears is thatthey represent over 100 countries and belong to such tribalcommunities like Philippine Kalinga and Amazon Basin Yanomami whofashioned reed and animal skull headdresses. There are others thatrange from exotic bamboo or silk headwear of nineteenth-centuryimperial China, and leather plumed helmets of Victorian Europe, tofancy twentieth-century fashion toppers.

As for the exposition, the items to be showcased have beenassembled from five continents and are organized into three basiccategories.

To start with headdresses, there are exquisite gilded templedancer's headpiece from Thailand; a penitente's hood from Seville,Spain; headrings from Rwanda; and a Bedouin woman's head and faceveils from Egypt.

The section of helmets encompasses exotic combat styles of variouscenturies from a seventeenth-century, iron-and-gold-leaf Japanesefeudal protector, a leather and beaver Napoleonic-era shako withits silver crest and plumes, to a nineteenth-century admiral'sbicorne and Scotch highlander's feather bonnet and a U.S. NavalAcademy hat.

The hat category is mainly organized on the basis of fabric likesilk, woolen tams or berets and cotton turbans. With suchenthralling relics coming from such diverse cultures andcontinents, the exposition is not only likely to be called theforemost of its kind but is sure to attract a huge crowd ofspectators.