Hat Ladies dress to impress while helping community
By Jessica Johnson
Archie Burkel, an Illinois native, says she pulled a women's service group out of a hat, and she means that literally.
Burkel of James Island, Top Hat of the Charleston Hat Ladies, started the group simply by wearing hats.
"When I wear a hat, people talk to me," Burkel says.
The Post and Courier
Archie Burkel (left), Top Hat of the Charleston Hat Ladies, started the women's service organization after retiring to Charleston in the 1990s. Carol Niemeyer of Summerville looks on during the group's annual luncheon at Garrett Academy.
They interrupt her while pumping gas to say, "Hey, lady, I love your hat," she says.
Burkel moved to the Charleston area from Atlanta with her husband in the mid-1990s. They had visited Charleston while her husband prepared for the 1996 Olympics and decided that when his job ended, they would make Charleston their new home.
The retired English teacher and guidance counselor knew no one, but she wore hats that attracted attention.
"People talk to you. People open up to you," Burkel says.
She attracted women who liked the same things: wearing hats of many colors, dressing up and helping others.
The Charleston Hat Ladies officially formed in September 2001.
Today, the organization is 200 members strong, drawing hat ladies ages 13-88 from across the Lowcountry.
Their motto is to do good and look good doing it. For the most part, they assist nonprofit groups, but the family of one hat woman allowed them to start an independent project.
When Hazel France of Hanahan died of cancer in April, her family auctioned her hat collection, raising enough money to create a scholarship in the Hat Ladies' name.
At a Hat Ladies luncheon at the Garrett Academy of Technology in North Charleston last week, Burkel said each woman in the room, dining on a meal prepared by the school's culinary arts department, smiled at herself in the mirror before leaving her house and it was the hat that did it.
Burkel says she chose a cream-colored hat with a white bow and pheasant feathers covered in rhinestones and wore a suit to match.
Burkel says it's fashion with compassion.
"Wearing a hat has become the most meaningful thing I have ever done," Burkel says.
Reach Jessica Johnson at 937-5921 or jjohnson@postandcourier.com.
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