Past Fashion Passion: Photos of Elegant Ladies’ Hats

In recent months, I have had too many occasions to visit the doctor’s office. It is just a minor problem, but reoccurring, which requires me to sit in the lobby of his office, waiting to be called in for a consultation. This means that I am reading more magazines than I generally see in a six month period. Many of the magazines are about ‘current fashions’ and some of them are pretty far out. Featured are runway type outfits that models wear but us mere humans cannot fit into and would certainly have nowhere to wear them if (through some miracle) we could! Slinky dresses are in, animal prints hot once again, but nowhere in my perusals did I find any hats! Years back, they were “The Thing” and many ladies were proud to have photos taken in them. Some were pretty bizarre.

I went to check out the old cabinet photos we had in our basement Often, the ladies appear to be pretty well off. Some hats were a combination of cloth, beading and feathers and were a delightful match to their cape or cloak.

Some hats were quite large and dramatic and were actually bigger than the lady’s head! Bows all over the place and once again, large bird feathers, some draping over the sides of the brim.

In the 1920s, fashions were quite distinctive. The ‘flapperesque’ look was in and the popular hat was called a ‘cloche.’ This hat’s design was created by Caroline Reboux. Cloche is French for Bell and it is shaped like one, fitted to the wearer’s head. (Hairstyles were actually designed around these hats – Josephine Baker wore the Eton Crop, short and slicked down.) I have learned that there were different ribbons on the hats with a subtle message about the wearer. For example, an arrow-like ribbon meant she was single but her heart was spoken for, a knot indicated she was married and a bow shouted “single and interested in mingling.” These were actually quite attractive and one was recently worn by Angelina Jolie and featured in the movie “The Changeling.”

It was quite common for the female attendants in a wedding to have wonderful hats as well. Wide brimmed and beautifully ruffled with lace and ribbons, they were definitely attention getters. They not only kept milliners busy but also makers of hat pins!

Of course, there were some instances where you would have probably left a social event and said to yourself “what was she thinking?” Some were pretty unique.

I suppose I am a bit old-fashioned and would love to see the elegance of hats return. Although I am well-aware of their impracticality. The vision of a well-dressed lady struggling to wear her huge hat while in her Mini-Cooper does make me chuckle.