JUDITH Bell studied fashion at London's School of Art. Now, after some
years designing exclusive made-to-measure womenswear and for high street
stores, she has turned her skills to making highly original, not to say
unconventional, headgear.
Her unisex hats are made from machine-washable polar fleece, the sort
of material normally found in expensive ski jackets and in winter
climbing gear. This lightweight material is ideal for warming; winter
hats are a world away from those woolly caps that make the wearer look
like a menacing car thief or be-pomponed train-spotter.
''One of the problems with a woollen hat is that the wind can go
straight through it. My hats are made with a thermal fabric that is
windproof,'' says Judith.
The inspiration comes from the standard deck of playing-cards: the
kind of hats worn by the King, Queen, Knave, and Joker. Judith uses the
colours found on the cards like bright red, yellow, green, and blue.
''But I can do self-coloured hats, too.'' The most popular so far is,
undoubtedly, the most outrageous. The Joker hat has crazy bobbles that
come with optional bells. Judith says that her warm, witty, and
cost-conscious hats are hugely popular on the ski-slopes.
She does other polar fleece hats named Glacier and Arctic Circle
(circular and triangular-shaped respectively). They are a bit more
subdued and don't have quite the same riotous effect at apres ski
revels.
* ADULTS' hats are #15, children's #12. For more information contact
Judith M. Bell Designs, 52 Abercorn Road, Edinburgh, EH8 7DP (tel/fax:
031-661 1688).
Why are you making commenting on The Herald only available to subscribers?
It should have been a safe space for informed debate, somewhere for readers to discuss issues around the biggest stories of the day, but all too often the below the line comments on most websites have become bogged down by off-topic discussions and abuse.
heraldscotland.com is tackling this problem by allowing only subscribers to comment.
We are doing this to improve the experience for our loyal readers and we believe it will reduce the ability of trolls and troublemakers, who occasionally find their way onto our site, to abuse our journalists and readers. We also hope it will help the comments section fulfil its promise as a part of Scotland's conversation with itself.
We are lucky at The Herald. We are read by an informed, educated readership who can add their knowledge and insights to our stories.
That is invaluable.
We are making the subscriber-only change to support our valued readers, who tell us they don't want the site cluttered up with irrelevant comments, untruths and abuse.
In the past, the journalist’s job was to collect and distribute information to the audience. Technology means that readers can shape a discussion. We look forward to hearing from you on heraldscotland.com
Comments & Moderation
Readers’ comments: You are personally liable for the content of any comments you upload to this website, so please act responsibly. We do not pre-moderate or monitor readers’ comments appearing on our websites, but we do post-moderate in response to complaints we receive or otherwise when a potential problem comes to our attention. You can make a complaint by using the ‘report this post’ link . We may then apply our discretion under the user terms to amend or delete comments.
Post moderation is undertaken full-time 9am-6pm on weekdays, and on a part-time basis outwith those hours.
Read the rules hereComments are closed on this article