Toe Huggers Shoes

W hen Mamie Coleman gets ready for church, first comes out the outfit, next the shoes and matching purse, and then comes the final touch.</p><p><em>The hat</em>. </p><p>After carefully arranging it on her head, &#x93;I feel totally dressed, complete and confident,&#x94; she said. </p><p>&#x93;I feel a lady should be well-dressed when she goes to serve the Lord,&#x94; said Coleman of Kansas City, who wears a hat to church every Sunday she doesn&#x92;t usher. </p><p>&#x93;And it tells us in I Corinthians, Chapter 11 that ladies should cover their heads. So in keeping with that, I feel that if we are honoring God that is what we should do.&#x94;</p><p>There is a long tradition of African-American women wearing hats to church, which is being honored this month at a photo exhibit at the Bruce R. Watkins Cultural Heritage Center. The exhibit, &#x93;Crowned in Glory,&#x94; opened in May.</p><p>The exhibit features Kansas City-area women from all walks of life, ages and religious denominations wearing all sorts of hats, from simple designs to the flamboyant.</p><p>Wide brims, small brims, some dipping to the side; decorations of bows, rhinestones, feathers, flowers and tulle can be seen. More than a few can elicit a double take. </p><p>The photographers were J. LeRoy Beasley and his wife, Michelle Beasley, of Kansas City.</p><p>Jesse B. Barnes, executive director at the center, said he thought it would be &#x93;really great to have the exhibit around this time of year. When I chose the dates, I didn&#x92;t think of all the hoopla with the hats at the royal wedding,&#x94; he said. &#x93;There were Easter, the Kentucky Derby and Mother&#x92;s Day, when a lot of women wear hats.&#x94;</p><p>&#x93;I grew up with hats and hat wearers,&#x94; he said. &#x93;At my church (Boone Tabernacle Church of God in Christ), a lot of women wear hats, lavish hats. And my mother, Sandra Barnes, is a connoisseur of hats.&#x94;</p><p>Coleman said she usually buys a new hat every year.</p><p>&#x93;The same gentleman who made Aretha Franklin&#x92;s hat at President Barack Obama&#x92;s inauguration made the blue hat I&#x92;m wearing in the exhibition,&#x94; she said.</p><p>Coleman said she has so many hats &#x97; about 75, all in boxes and labeled &#x97; that her husband built a closet just for them and for her shoes.</p><p>Cheryl Townsend Gilkes, professor of African-American studies and sociology at Colby College in Waterville, Maine, traces the hat-wearing tradition back to slavery.</p><p>&#x93;There was a Muslim element in the slave communities, and many African women would cover their heads,&#x94; she said. &#x93;Even when Christians got baptized, they had on white robes and often their heads were covered with cloths.&#x94;</p><p>In the late 19th and early 20th century, many African-American women opened millinery shops, she said. </p><p>&#x93;You wanted to be a lady, and white America didn&#x92;t want you to be a lady,&#x94; Gilkes said. &#x93;You may have washed floors all week, but on Sunday, you were a lady. You dressed up, and you put your hair up and wore a crown (hat) on your head.</p><p>&#x93;Today, when African-American women wear their hats to church, they have a &#x91;hattitude.&#x92;&#8194;&#x94;</p><p>Many women in the exhibit told me the tradition was passed down to them from their mothers and grandmothers. That was true for me, too.</p><p>In my childhood, my mother and her sisters wouldn&#x92;t think of going to church without their Sunday clothes, including matching dress shoes and pocketbooks, hats and gloves.</p><p>I wanted to be like them, and my mother dressed me in prissy dresses. For Easter I always had a new dress, hat and purse, and patent leather shoes. Nobody thought about wearing hats as a tradition; it was just done.</p><p>But African-American women are worried that the hat tradition is dying out among the younger generation. The Rev. Shirley Fletcher, pastor of St. Peter C.M.E. Church in Kansas City, Kan., said besides older women, not many women wear hats at her church, as they did when she was growing up.</p><p>&#x93;I think there are trends in fashion,&#x94; she said. &#x93;In the past, we used to really dress up when going to church. Now more people dress down, so the dressy church hats don&#x92;t go with the casual styles.&#x94;</p><p>Patricia Jackson, who is featured in the exhibit and is co-owner of the Paj Women&#x92;s Boutique, 2126 E. 12th St., sees more younger women starting to buy hats.</p><p>Jackson traces her hat-wearing habit to her mother, conceding that at first she was made to wear them.</p><p>Her mother, Birdella Jackson, used to buy hats from thrift stores and decorate them. She also made her own hats. Even today, in addition to matching shoes and pocketbooks, her gloves have to match. If she can&#x92;t find gloves in the right color, she dyes them.</p><p>Older women will wear their hats and matching shoes and purses.</p><p>&#x93;They have it all put together,&#x94; she said. &#x93;Younger women are more into hairstyles. But a lot of times after they try on hats and like the way they look, they want to buy one.&#x94;</p><p>Patricia Jackson said she owns 300 hats. Her hat-wearing mother lives with her, so the shelves in the closets and basement were filled with hats. Finally, they built a storage unit for them. </p><p>The hats in Jackson&#x92;s shop range from $100 to $400 and come from vendors all over the world. She meets many at church conventions. There are no hat trends, she said.</p><p>&#x93;The trends are who you are,&#x94; she said. &#x93;You make your own trend. Some women don&#x92;t want a lot of bling, and some do.&#x94;</p><p>And like a classic suit, some hats never go out of style, Jackson said. She prefers her hats in fabrics that can be worn year-round.</p><p>The first lady &#x97; the term used in many African-American congregations for the pastor&#x92;s wife &#x97; often is the trendsetter in her church.</p><p>&#x93;It&#x92;s like Michelle Obama brought the dresses back,&#x94; Jackson said. &#x93;A lot of first ladies wear hats. Usually you can tell which one is the first lady by the hat.&#x94;</p><p>Marjorie Williams, superintendent for the Hickman Mills School District, said she is seeing a trend toward women being more feminine, even with their hosiery.</p><p>Hats give a woman class, she said, and for the well-dressed woman, it&#x92;s from head to toe.</p><p>When she turned 40, she threw a ladies-only party with the requirement that everyone wear a hat.</p><p>&#x93;I thought people would come with their church hats,&#x94; she said. &#x93;A cousin came wearing a baseball cap, and a friend came with a baby cap.&#x94; She laughed, conceding she should have been more specific.</p><p>She attended the opening of the hat exhibit with a group of friends, who went to dinner afterward. </p><p>&#x93;One friend had to borrow a hat,&#x94; she said. &#x93;Then that next Sunday was Easter and she borrowed a hat from her mother. When she walked downstairs, her husband had a surprised look on his face and said how good she looked.</p><p>&#x93;He hadn&#x92;t seen her in a hat in a long time. And she told me, &#x91;I know I looked good.&#x92;&#8194;&#x94;</p><p>Yvonne S. Wilson, a former Missouri senator, was reared by a grandmother who loved hats, and in the 1950s Wilson modeled hats designed by African-Americans.</p><p>Not many women at Wilson&#x92;s Catholic church wear lace head coverings or hats. But she does.</p><p>&#x93;It is respect for God to wear a hat, and respect for my upbringing,&#x94; she said. &#x93;This is what my grandmother (who was a Baptist) would want me to do.&#x94;</p><p>Margaret McGilbray of Kansas City, Kan., said she wears a hat every Sunday</p><p>&#x93;My grandmother used to say she felt undressed if she didn&#x92;t have on her hat,&#x94; she said. &#x93;It gives me an attitude and makes me feel like somebody. I feel good. Can&#x92;t <em>nobody</em> touch me.&#x94;</p><p>She owns about 100 hats, mostly bought in Kansas City. She especially likes shops where one can buy an entire matching outfit.</p><p>McGilbray accidentally learned that some hats can be worn many ways.</p><p>&#x93;One Sunday I went to church with my hat on backwards. And nobody noticed,&#x94; she said. &#x93;I discovered it after I got home.&#x94;</p><p>She also describes herself as a hugger. She&#x92;ll take her hat off, hug someone and then put it back on. Hats can hinder hugs.</p><p>Lyde Doston of Lee&#x92;s Summit is trying to bring hats back to her church and gradually is seeing more women wearing them. She took her daughter to the photo exhibit, who declared that she was going to get one that flops to the side. Even though her daughter hasn&#x92;t been wearing hats, she buys them for Doston.</p><p>&#x93;Usually when I walk into the church, the greeters start smiling and bowing, &#x91;Here she comes!&#x92; Some of the younger ladies say, &#x91;When I grow up, I want to look like you.&#x92;&#8194;&#x94; </p><p>Selena Ealey, a teacher and pastor&#x92;s wife, wears hats only on special occasions but &#x93;I will probably venture into it more.&#x94; </p><p>&#x93;When I wore the hat for the exhibit, it was fun,&#x94; she said. &#x93;I felt sophisticated. It&#x92;s a confidence you have. You don&#x92;t care what anyone else says. I felt very ladylike, very prim and proper.&#x94; </p><p>Being in the exhibit revived memories for Arzelia Gates, who recalled her grandmother&#x92;s era. &#x93;It was a classy time. If you would have asked my grandmother, a lady must have lotion and tissues and always wear your gloves and hat.&#x94; </p><p>&#x93;If we all remember from where we came, we could bring that tradition back,&#x94; Gates said. &#x93;The only drawback, if someone with a big hat sits in front of you, you can&#x92;t see the pulpit.&#x94; </p><p><strong><span class="infobox-head">Fancy hats </span></strong><br /> &#x93;Crowned in Glory&#x94; photos will be on display at Bruce R. Watkins Cultural Heritage Center through July 2.</p><p>The Center is at 3700 Blue Parkway in Kansas City.</p><p><strong>Hours:</strong> 10 a.m. to 6 p.m. Tuesday through Saturday</p><p><strong>Admission:</strong> Free