Love it or hate it, Aretha Franklin’s “church hat” during President Obama’s inauguration ceremony has been the talk of the net worldwide, with the hat being placed on random victims, here, there and everywhere, even spawning a Facebook group. But did you know that the designer is a Korean American from Detroit?
Luke Song, designer of his family owned business, Mr. Song Millinery, is a Detroit native and graduate of Parsons in New York, and has been shocked by the response from seeing Aretha’s hat worldwide. According to the Detroit Free Press, within minutes of Aretha’s performance of “My Country, ‘Tis of Thee,” the phones began ringing nonstop at his hat store with people calling over the county and all over the world. A store in Dallas that carried the same style sold 500 similar hats made by his store within hours of the inauguration.
Mr. Song Millinery’s business is 90% African American churchgoing women but given the response to his hat, it looks like this will diversify very quickly.
Personally, I look horrible in hats–and I’m not even going to try wearing Queen Aretha’s.
