Thu Aug 16, 2018, 04:55 PM
Star Member babylonsister (158,081 posts)
Luke Song: How I Made Aretha Franklin's Famous Obama Inauguration Hat
https://www.thedailybeast.com/luke-song-how-i-made-aretha-franklins-famous-obama-inauguration-hat?ref=home
Luke Song: How I Made Aretha Franklin’s Famous Obama Inauguration Hat
Luke Song made hundreds of hats for Aretha Franklin. The most famous was for Barack Obama's 2009 inauguration. He recalls her memorable store visits, soft voice, and love of bling.
Tim Teeman
08.16.18 1:55 PM ET
It was the hat that reigned triumphant at President Obama’s first inauguration in 2009.
That day, Aretha Franklin performed “My Country, 'Tis of Thee,” and the world went wild for her grey felt hat with an extravagant bow that perfectly framed her face, and which was dotted with Swarovski crystals.
The hat’s designer, Luke Song, told The Daily Beast that hearing of Franklin's death, aged 76, on Thursday had made it “one of the saddest days. She was an amazing woman.”
snip//
Song laughed softly again. “Then the inauguration! She just walked right on in as usual and said, ‘I need a hat for the inauguration!’ And, of course, you’re kind of floored about that. What do you do on such an occasion? It left me scrambling, but I think the result speaks for itself. She just gives you a task and you just do it. It just came to me.”
Franklin bought the coat she was wearing on the day, and Song “just went from there.” He prepared three different hats for Franklin to wear for the occasion, he told The Daily Beast: one with fur, one with a topper, and the one that Franklin ended up wearing.
“That one was chosen because of the cold and because of the sun. You just leave everything in the lap of the fashion gods. Everything was out of my hands. It was chosen by the circumstances.”
The base of the hat is a structured beret made out of felt, he said. The bow is a long piece of felt, made into a bow and adorned with crystals.
“Something I know she loves is bling,” Song said, chuckling warmly. “Oh yes, she’s known for her bling of course. Go bling or go home. She didn't say that, but you know. She just loved her bling. All I wanted to do, knowing Miss Franklin, was know what she usually likes and then best represent her and her personality, and follow how she would like to be represented. We had very little time. She was off to Washington, and it was as simple as that. It was nothing really complicated.”
Franklin was concerned about her voice, singing on such a cold day.
“She wanted to be warm,” said Song. “That was a big concern, so she had a tall collar and she wanted the hat to be warm as well, so I used really thick felt. I made sure she was warm, and she said she was warm.”
Song stayed in Detroit, and Franklin drove from Washington to Detroit with the hat.
“The rest is history,” said Song softly. “When I saw her wearing her it, I probably had two minutes of appreciation and then my phone started ringing. It was an incredible moment. I still can’t grasp what happened even to this day. I shared in one of our country’s biggest events, and I’m so privileged to have shared it with Miss Franklin.”
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https://www.thedailybeast.com/luke-song-how-i-made-aretha-franklins-famous-obama-inauguration-hat?ref=home
https://www.democraticunderground.com/100211010144Response to babylonsister (Original post)Thu Aug 16, 2018, 06:39 PM
Star Member a kennedy (15,915 posts)
4. I bawled at that inauguration and I've been bawling hearing it again today.
and I loved that hat, and coat to match. Loved her.
She bought a coat that day and needed a hat to go with it. One would think that a woman of means like Aretha would already have plenty of nice coats and wouldn't need to buy one special, even for a historic inauguration like Barry's. I can throw a little light on this subject.
In January of 1993 I was in Norfolk, VA for my two week annual training with the Navy Reserves. The middle weekend of the two week period was a three day weekend because of the MLK Jr. holiday. Three of my shipmates and I decided to head up to Washington DC to see the town--it promised to be a big party weekend in the run up to Bill Clinton's first inauguration on Tuesday. We were walking along a sidewalk when we saw a large, angry mob coming towards us across the National Mall. We stopped and waited to see what was causing all the commotion. We stepped off the sidewalk and waited behind a parked car. Coming off the Mall and cutting across the sidewalk and right in front of the parked car that we were standing behind was none other than Aretha Franklin herself being pursued by an angry leftist mob. She appeared visibly shaken and her bodyguards looked to be earning their money. It seemed kind of odd to my young self that white democrats would mob up on a black icon like the Queen of Soul but later that night I saw on the evening news what it was that had the leftist mob in such a rage against Aretha: She had been up on stage singing to honor President Elect Clinton and she had the audacity to wear a fur coat for the performance. That's all it took to set the shitgibbons off.
I was there. I saw it with my own eyes.
It's no wonder she bought a new wool coat for Barry's inauguration. I know that wool is made from sheep hair which is similar to the pelts of fur bearing animals but democrats are stupid so maybe they don't know, or maybe wool just doesn't agitate them the same way mink fur does.
