First Class
FOR YOUR
EARS ONLY
When you think of a musician
practicing on the road, you
probably think of someone
like Eddie Van Halen plugging in his amp, rattling hotel
rooms. But concert violinists
can be just as annoying
when you’re trying to get
some shut-eye.
Yamaha’s Silent String
series, which includes
violins, violas, cellos and
basses, was created
in Japan “because
people live like
10 feet away
from each other
there,” says Ken
Dattmore, a marketing manager in the Yamaha strings department.
Mobile virtuosi can plug
in their headphones and
play them anywhere—at
home, in a hotel, even on
an Amtrak train, if
their seatmates
don’t mind
holding the
sheet music.
Prices range
from $845 for
a basic violin
to $4,000 for
a bass. Find a
dealer at yamaha.
com and you’ll wish
you had practiced
every day as
your mom
said you
should.
Learn about other
tools for traveling
troubadours at
arrivemagazine.com
Mod hatter: Evetta
Perry leads a return to
old-school elegance.
Here’s Your Hat.
What’s Your Hurry?
There’s a theory that there are two kinds
of women in this world: women who
can wear giant, glorious, look-at-me
hats, and women who just can’t pull
that off. Evetta Petty, owner of Harlem’s
Heaven Hat Boutique, however, would
beg to differ. She believes that there’s
a hat out there for every woman. “You
just have to find the right shape with the
right brim,” she says.
And she can help you do just that.
With a degree in textiles and marketing
from Fashion Institute of Technology
and 17 years as owner and head designer
of Harlem’s Heaven, Petty supplies
drop-dead headwear for those “fabulous
ladies who lunch, women who go to the
Kentucky Derby, the divas and the first
ladies of churches—ladies for whom the
worst thing in the world that could ever
happen is that someone in church has
the same hat as you.”
But she can also help beginners—
women who are just getting into wearing hats—take their first baby steps.
And she’s noticed her clientele getting
younger and hipper. “Young women
always seemed to be in love with their
hair and didn’t want to cover it up. But
now, if they see Alicia Keys wearing a
fedora, they call me up: ‘Can you make
me that?’ ” This return to old-school elegance, particularly among the typically
relaxed younger set, is a good thing,
says Petty.
For summer, Petty says, every woman
needs a wide-brimmed straw hat like her
Off-Face Hat ($89, various colorways
available at harlemsheaven.com). “It’s
a staple,” she says. “It’s easy to travel
with, very flexible. Every woman should
have this in her wardrobe.”
Harlem’s Heaven is at 2538 Adam
Clayton Powell Blvd., N. Y; 212-491-7706.
Open Tuesday through Saturday, noon
to 6, and offering free shipping within
the 48 states.
