In the age of the ubiquitous baseball cap and beanie, traditional millinery is sadly a dying trade. Thankfully, Finnish artist-turned-hat-designer Mimosa Pale is putting her training in fine art and sculpture to good use: she’s creating one-of-a kind pieces to inspire Berliners to wear beautiful, whimsical headwear.
Mimosa opened her shop on Neukölln’s new hipster street Weserstraße just over a month ago, and the name “Himo” – the Finnish word for passion shows her dedication. “I am against the idea that hats have to be exclusive and expensive. I design pieces for people to wear and have fun with during the day and at parties, but that are ultimately disposable.”
All her handmade hats cost between €10 and €40. They range from the divine (a small velvet box hat with a bird perched on top), to the outrageous (a Marie-Antoinette-style headdress made entirely of plastic shot glasses!) What unites the great contemporary milliners such as Philip Treacey and Stephen Jones is their refusal to be limited by convention or practicality when it comes to hat design, and Mimosa – who is also a performance artist – shares this quality. She creates theatrical headpieces that challenge any conception of what belongs on one’s head; at the shop’s opening party, she made hats out of small cakes from a local bakery, “most of which were eaten rather than worn”.
So why blow your accessories budget on some generic bangles from H&M when you can make a real statement with a martini glass on your Kopf? Head to Himo!
