The overwhelming majority of ladies lunching in the garden today chose big, splashy hats. Everyone looked elegant, but the European trend towards teensy hats seems not to have taken hold yet here.

At the fashion vanguard was Madison Avenue milliner Suzanne Newman, who wore a pink print suit with a contrasting topper of red feathers. Ms. Newman outfitted more than sixty, including, notably, Carol Levin who sported a show-stopping red coil.

Other boldfacers in boldly small hats (purchased in London) included Jane Cooney (in Herbert Johnson’s pink feathered confection) and Marilyn Miglin (in a navy Peter Bettley picked up at Harrod’s). She lunched amongst the Chanel-clad crew at the table of Noelle Nikpour who flew in from Arkansas for the event.

Among the male minority in attendance was milliner Eric Javits, who was pleased to find dozens of his classic straw creations in the sea of hats visible from Fifth Avenue.

And no one could miss Ivana Trump’s pal Princess Ildiko Varga’s colossal chapeau a cascading fountain of shocking pink feathers.

These “air-kiss” crowd did kiss the air today, the brims of their hats too broad and too wide for actual cheek contact. Also, Karl Lagerfeld’s spring collection for Chanel which featured jackets in pale yellow, mint green, and candy pink – all adorned by pinned-on flowers and letters worn by so many ladies that genuine embraces presented a very real brooch-entanglement danger.

— Daphne Matalene for NYSD

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