Unorthodox Ideas Are Coming to a Head

For her “world tour” concert series a while ago, Bette Midler wore a globe on her head. On a tour to promote her autobiography, she wore an open-book hat. By now, Midler’s hat bar includes typewriters, snowmen and Japanese fans to wear. And most of them come from Los Angeles designers Ricky Castro and Michi Tomimatsu of the I Love Ricky firm.

The Divine Miss M may be their most famous customer. But everyone who wears Castro and Tomimatsu creations has an eye for the unconventional.

Easter Bonnets

This spring, their Easter bonnets include one shaped like an upside-down flowerpot and one made from an old satin purse. There is a turban with tails that was crafted from long johns and a fringed skullcap modeled after a car-wash curtain. “You could wear our hats anywhere,” says Castro. “But I don’t know that too many people would.”

The designers say they find their materials in toy stores, party and pastry shops and the forgotten places in military-supply outlets. Castro calls the end results “un-hatty.” Tomimatsu sees them as “spontaneous.”

She says she is inspired by Archie comic strips, Dr. Seuss drawings and sentimental portraits of teary-eyed children. (She collects Walter Keane’s work.)

He has other sources. “I’m inspired by the Surreal artists,” Castro says. “Man Ray put a tree branch on a head. That inspired me. I think of hats as objects to wear.”

The two designers with the compatibly offbeat tastes happened to meet about half a dozen years ago when they were working as salesclerks at a local boutique. Castro had studied fashion design at Otis Parsons and L.A. Trade-Technical College. Tomimatsu had a degree in costume design from UCLA. They started making their own designs by hand, on a small, home sewing machine. They still work that way. Recently they began making costume wardrobes for rock videos, as well. But, Tomimatsu says: “Hats are our favorite thing.”

Hats in Some Boutiques

Aside from custom orders for performers, such as Midler, they sell their hats through boutiques. But Castro admits: “Our designs aren’t in a lot of stores, and it’s really our fault. It’s such a drag to make a hat more than once. It takes a long time, because it’s all done by hand. We don’t want to keep refilling store orders.”

There aren’t any I Love Ricky hats exclusively for men. But Castro says he likes to see men wearing leather motorcycle caps or hoods. He buys most of his personal hats in stores, and he says: “I might wear the same one for weeks at a time.”

Tomimatsu whips up a hat as she needs it. The other night on her way to a party, she made one that looks like a spider’s web. No one at the party had anything like it.

Castro and Tomimatsu are showing their newest I Love Ricky designs at the Black Salad boutique on Melrose Avenue.