By Linda Pescatore

Stop by the Village Hat, find something you love, and you’re off to the races.

Just in time for the July 20 opening day at the Del Mar Race Track, the newly refurbished 5,000-square-foot Hillcrest store will open its doors to two of its most cherished design houses and scores of hat enthusiasts, especially those looking to make a splash at the track.

For the uninitiated, opening day at Del Mar is as much about hats as it is about horses. Ladies jockey for attention, each wearing a headpiece that rises higher, reaches wider or looks fancier than the next.

“Opening day is the day to wear that big hat. [The day] there’s no other occasion to wear it to,” said Bernadette Ramirez, assistant buyer at Village Hat Shop.

“It’s an homage to the old traditions of wearing hats and looking your best, because that’s how it used to be all the time,” said Andrea Zeidell, marketing and social media coordinator for the shop. “People were so glamorous all the time, and we just don’t dress like that anymore.”

Women try to outdo themselves as their confidence grows each year, Zeidell said.

“Her first year, my friend bought this cute little black straw hat. The next year, she said, ‘I’m ready. I’m ready to go a little bit bigger.’ You see what other people are able to do and you think, ‘Oh gosh, I could do that. I’m prettier than her; I could totally do that!’”

Ramirez said the hat becomes more than an accessory to the clothes; it sets the tone for one’s entire look—whether traditional glamour or modern whimsy—and it also decides your color palette. In fact, Ramirez suggests picking a hat before an outfit.

Trunk shows are free events that allow shoppers to see more styles than the store normally carries.

On July 16, Los Angeles milliner Arturo Rios showcased his collection of avant garde headpieces, especially the so-called fascinators and cocktail hats that are particularly popular now. Crafted one at a time in the U.S., Rios’ bold and whimsical styles, meticulously handmade with fine fabrics and embellishments, have adorned the heads of celebrities such as Paris Hilton and Daisy Fuentes, according to Ramirez. Price range, $90–$180.

On July 17, the trunk show featured pieces from Betmar, a New York company in business since 1933. Betmar’s designs tend toward more traditional dress hats in a wide variety of styles, Ramirez said. The company’s head designer (no pun intended), Natalya Nikitina, was present. Prices started at around $40.

Ramirez said both design houses brought at least 30–50 hats, many of which were pieces unavailable elsewhere, even online.

“The designers … bring in preview pieces from the season before, so you’ll be the first person to be able to get one,” Zeidell said. “Sometimes they’ll bring sample pieces.

“At Arturo’s last trunk show, he brought some of his couture pieces that he doesn’t have on his website. In the past, Betmar brought pieces that never went into production, and only four exist.”

Aside from the two featured brands, shoppers were also able to browse all the regular merchandise that Village Hat Shop offers, Zeidell said.

Although the show’s main focus will be on women’s hats, it will also feature fedoras, flat-topped ivy caps and straw skimmers that men wear on opening day.

“We [had] one [skimmer] this year with a black band, so [we kicked] it up a notch,” Ramirez said. The black band says more “Bing Crosby” and less “barbershop quartet,” she explained.

Even if your plans don’t include opening day, coming to a trunk show is worthwhile for both hat lovers and wannabes, Zeidell said.

“The big benefit for coming during the trunk shows—when the designers are there, there’s more [sales] people on the store floor and there’s a lot more selection—is that you have people who don’t want you to walk out the door without a hat that really fits,” she said.

“You could talk to the designer and ask, ‘How do you feel this is supposed to fit on my head?’ Because sometimes hats look better tilted; sometimes they don’t. So you would be able to talk to a designer, who knows their entire collection, and maybe they would say, ‘Wait, that looks good, but let me go grab this.’

“The benefit here is that there are people who are really dedicated to making sure you look awesome.”

For more information, call (619) 906-4440 or visit villagehatshop.com.