Mad Hatter Tea Party
Saturday, March 21

Off with their heads and on with your hats!

Join us in the Wonderland of Edie Hats from 10am to 7pm for a Mad Hatter Tea Party.

Celebrate the arrival of spring with music, tea and treats.

Bring your best riddle and win a prize!

Edie Hats
Net Loft, Granville Island
Vancouver, BC
(604) 683-4280
http://ediehats.com/

Edie Hats invites you to step back into the past for a very special fashion experience.  On April 11th, join two renowned fashion historians and collectors, Ivan Sayers and Klaus Jahnke, for an interactive, dramatic evening of fashion and history.

Ivan Sayers is well known for his eloquent, entertaining presentations illustrated with period examples modeled from his vast private collection.  He will focus on what the passengers on the Titanic would have brought with them for the journey and how they would have dressed while aboard the great ship.

The famed, elegant venue, Edie Hats, will be magically transformed into an interactive performance space.  Costumed staff and crew will take on the personalities of people who were on the ship, and each guest will receive a boarding pass that will give them an identity for the evening.  Will you survive the voyage?  Find out at the end of the event

Delicious food and drinks, inspired by the original first class menu on the Titanic, will be provided by Culinary Capers.

Come and be entertained, edified, and inspired!

Tickets are $45 and include food and drinks.

East coasters and west coasters alike loved the jovial, down-home party!

Live fiddle music was provided by Elise Bouer.

Elise was joined by Neil Burnett, a local harpist, penny whistle, and boron player and together they brought the sounds of the Maritimes to the Netloft. All hosted by the Edie Hats staff in Souwesters and Nova Scotia Tartans!

Thank you to Goorin Bros. and Nobis for providing door prizes. Look out for Nobis in store, spring 2008.

And now we understand why the final door prize – a brand new 8GB iPod Touch – was won by our dear friend Brian, a cherished member of our Granville Island community. A photographer and music buff, he was so excited and thrilled to have won this strange new device. He passed away several weeks later, and though he will be very much missed we are grateful to have been able to share with him the excitement and good fortune of our Thanksgiving celebration.

Here’s a collection of photo galleries of the event.

So once again, we toast our cups of Red Rose Tea to another magical Edie Hats Event, Edie’s beloved homelands, and the down-east hospitality that can warm even the dampest days.

“Imagenes del Oriente” is Magical!

“A multicultural smash, Café de Chinitas is an unforgettable East-meets-West spectacle.” – Gail Johnson, Georgia Straight

Moving through the crowded candlelit street “Calle Chinitas” in front of the café, it was hard to ignore the
buzz of excitement and expectation. Already a highly acclaimed show in the theatre, Café de Chinitas was
coming home to the intimate ambiance of a café setting
where Flamenco belongs. Finally, this vibrant nuanced
work would be performed where it could really sizzle,
where audience could truly share the same space as the performers and feel the floor tremble. Flamenco at its
best is an interactive art form that involves both the performers and audience emotionally and physically, inviting participation in the form of “jaleos” or shouts of encouragement.

As the guests squeezed into the café, the sense of anticipation became even more palpable.

We were not disappointed. The performance was outstanding. The audience response was immediate and enthusiastic. Dancers weaved through the audience to reach the stage where they performed with breathtaking fluidity. The melodic, ethereal strains of The Orchid Ensemble combined with the plaintive earthy flamenco music to create an uncannily beautiful musical pas-de-deux. The performers were so close to the audience that we could reach out and touch them. Instead, they touched us with their polished yet accessible performance. We could not help but be caught up in this sensuous net.

For more information on the event, the numbers performed, and those involved please view the program.

Thanks to the vision of Café de Chinitas director
Kasandra La China and producer Edie Orenstein, and
the collaboration of Mozaico Flamenco Dance Theatre (Artistic Director Oscar Nieto, Guitarist Peter Mole), the Orchid Ensemble and the Mozaico Dancers, the audience was spellbound from beginning to end. Mozaico Flamenco engaged the audience from its dramatic theatrical opening of Café de Chinitas to the traditional pure Flamenco forms performed by directors Kasandra La China and Oscar
Nieto, including the intense Petenera and fiery Solea por Buleria. The program took on a kaleidoscope of colours in vignettes infused with Cuban, Arabic and Andalucian influences, showcasing a surprisingly varied artistic vocabulary. The evening was characterized by challenging, innovative choreography performed with passion and integrity. Mozaico Flamenco has a long history of multicultural experimentation and continues to chart new territory in the relationship between dance and music by unexpectedly fusing Oriental music with contemporary Flamenco sounds. The Orchid Ensemble enchanted the audience with haunting Asian melodies rooted in ancient Chinese tradition. The original score, composed by
flamenco guitarist Peter Mole, provided a rich background upon which the Orchid Ensemble could weave a tapestry
of oriental melodies and harmonies to set a sultry mood to create the atmosphere.

Photo Gallery of the Café de Chinitas Event

Café de Chinitas Videos

Edie is pleased to invite you to an evening with one of Canada’s top blues musicians in the intimate setting of “Fedora’s Cafe”. Blues legend Jim Byrnes will be joined by Michael Kalanji on piano and vocals in an evening titled “Paris Blues” – in honour of the many blues and jazz musicians who made Paris their home from the early twenties until the sixties.

Here’s another chance to dress up and wear a hat inspired by the times and the music. Jim’s a hat man in that fine blues and jazz tradition. The extraordinary transformation of the retail hat shop into a setting with an atmosphere resembling a beautiful European cafe is part of what makes this such a unique and a special evening.

Tapas style snacks will be provided, and the first drink will be complimentary.

The event starts at 8:30 pm on Thursday the 14th of July (the day they stormed the Bastille in 1789).

Edie Hats once again transformed itself into Fedora’s night club to celebrate “Kansas City- 1933”.  It was indeed the ‘Paris of the Plains’ for the night of February 10.  The setting was intimate, reminiscent of a vintage speakeasy.  Jim Byrnes backed up by Michael Kalanj on piano delivered a masterful performance with some great anecdotes about life in one of the great cities of Jazz and Blues.  The crowd loved the music and devoured the southern ‘Bah-be-que’ (ribs, chicken etc), catered by the Memphis Blues restaurant.  

The vintage décor of the store was supplemented by donated props from the Arts Club Theatre (see their special offer to Edie Hats events fans at right) and created a true sense of being transported into another time and place.  The audience completed the tableau in their array of cloches, fedoras, pork pies and feathered hair decorations.

Join us on for Tapas, Sangria and Flamenco as Edie Hats transforms into a smoky, music-filled hangout for artists and bohemians…

Time: the 1930’s. Turmoil in Europe. Spain in the throes of civil war. You enter Café Fedora to the sound of laughter and clinking glasses. Jazz and cigar smoke drift through the room. In the dim light you spot Gertrude Stein, Zelda and F. Scott Fitzgerald, Henry Miller, deep in conversation. The men sport fedoras and berets; the women, elegant sculpted creations.
A guitar is pulled from a canvas sack. Chairs are moved aside. The proprietor steps forward to eject them but a patron intervenes offering to buy them wine, bread and stew. The cacophony subsides at the first strains of the guitar and the mournful voice of the cantaor. Everyone gathers around; more come in from the street. Some can’t fit in and watch through the window .

Visit this world for an evening – dress inspired by the times and atmosphere. Enjoy the food , the music and some fantastic Flamenco performers. You may even encounter a famous poet like Anais Nin, Collette or…

Date: SATURDAY JUNE 4TH, 2005.