(ALMOST) EVERYONE LOVES A PRETTY HAT
Late-1890s outfits are almost impressively NOT crazy, by the standards of what came before and after. No huge bustles like the 1880s…no painful S-bend corseting like the early 1900s…and no insanely large hats, as the 1910s would bring. But hats were still quite a thing!
Reporter Hetty MacNaughten may not enjoy writing about it, but a lot of ink and energy was spilled on millinery at the time, and her editor was probably right to insist on regular articles about the latest hat trends. Women spent what seems to us like a truly insane amount of time on their wardrobes and accessories, so they would have happily snapped up Hetty’s latest articles.
And, even though Hetty considers it well beneath her journalistic dignity, there was actually a lot going on with women’s hats. Some of it, of course, is just the desire to follow the current fashion and wear something that looks nice.
But, in copy on hats, as with most other things at the time, there’s often the description of “correct” styles. That’s not just an extra word. In an era full of immigrants and poor people on their way up the social ladder, whether through education or entrepreneurship, “correct,” or “appropriate” looks are a key piece of that mobility.
A lady dresses the part.
So women studied those articles about fashionable hat shapes and appropriate trimmings with considerable intensity. No one wanted to walk into a room and stand out as someone who didn’t know what the fashion was – or what was correct. They didn’t call them mean girls then, but there were plenty of female gatekeepers ready to slam the door on anyone who didn’t meet their standards.
Worse, a woman’s style and behavior reflected on her men. A man who is “making something of himself” needs a woman at his side to match. All of those melodrama plots about men who leave unsuitable women behind one way or another (often murderously!) carry a grain of truth.
But back to hats! The styles of the late 1890s had another big social twist: they were the very early beginnings of the menswear trend. The straw boaters that Hetty and Ella wear for cycling are just about indistinguishable from a man’s. They might be a little smaller – or not, considering that the ladies need room for their hair and men don’t.
More, by 1899, those boaters are coming off the bicycle and onto the beach, and even the sidewalk – often without so much as a bit of extra trim. Women had borrowed styles from men before, of course, but the difference is that this time, they don’t feel the need to girl up the hats.
Though sometimes they do – and often for practical reasons. Another key summer accessory in the time before sunscreen was the veil. A lady might add a veil to just about any hat in hot weather, to provide a little extra protection from sun damage.
Still – even with a veil, a boater is still very clearly a masculine style.
And so, with apologies to Miss MacNaughten of The Beacon, hats were actually a pretty serious topic!
Got a #ThrowbackThursday idea? Drop it in the comments!
Reporter Hetty MacNaughten may not enjoy writing about it, but a lot of ink and energy was spilled on millinery at the time, and her editor was probably right to insist on regular articles about the latest hat trends. Women spent what seems to us like a truly insane amount of time on their wardrobes and accessories, so they would have happily snapped up Hetty’s latest articles.
And, even though Hetty considers it well beneath her journalistic dignity, there was actually a lot going on with women’s hats. Some of it, of course, is just the desire to follow the current fashion and wear something that looks nice.
But, in copy on hats, as with most other things at the time, there’s often the description of “correct” styles. That’s not just an extra word. In an era full of immigrants and poor people on their way up the social ladder, whether through education or entrepreneurship, “correct,” or “appropriate” looks are a key piece of that mobility.
A lady dresses the part.
So women studied those articles about fashionable hat shapes and appropriate trimmings with considerable intensity. No one wanted to walk into a room and stand out as someone who didn’t know what the fashion was – or what was correct. They didn’t call them mean girls then, but there were plenty of female gatekeepers ready to slam the door on anyone who didn’t meet their standards.
Worse, a woman’s style and behavior reflected on her men. A man who is “making something of himself” needs a woman at his side to match. All of those melodrama plots about men who leave unsuitable women behind one way or another (often murderously!) carry a grain of truth.
But back to hats! The styles of the late 1890s had another big social twist: they were the very early beginnings of the menswear trend. The straw boaters that Hetty and Ella wear for cycling are just about indistinguishable from a man’s. They might be a little smaller – or not, considering that the ladies need room for their hair and men don’t.
More, by 1899, those boaters are coming off the bicycle and onto the beach, and even the sidewalk – often without so much as a bit of extra trim. Women had borrowed styles from men before, of course, but the difference is that this time, they don’t feel the need to girl up the hats.
Though sometimes they do – and often for practical reasons. Another key summer accessory in the time before sunscreen was the veil. A lady might add a veil to just about any hat in hot weather, to provide a little extra protection from sun damage.
Still – even with a veil, a boater is still very clearly a masculine style.
And so, with apologies to Miss MacNaughten of The Beacon, hats were actually a pretty serious topic!
Got a #ThrowbackThursday idea? Drop it in the comments!
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