Show us your vintage hats!

[olive bleu]

lovin' those feathers.They seem to be in beautiful condition

 

[Vintage Betty]

:eusa_clap WOW that green hat is stunning on you!
When do we get to see you model the lovely straw hat?
It really does seem to be in great condition.

 

[fortworthgal]

I've been MIA from this forum for a while, but am back now and I am vowing that this evening I WILL take photos of my hat collection and post it here!

I am green with envy over everyone else's collections - you all have such lovely hats!

 

[Mojito]

Thank you for showing us those older examples from your collection, Vintage Betty! I do love the Victorian pieces - and of course the blue cloche! You make me want to frantically google the ABE and find one of the books about headwear. I'm rushed for time, but am going to do a write up on my blog with some of my diamante bandeaus and a 1930s Juliet Cap.

 

[Miss 1929]

I finally got this one dusted off enough to take a picture:

I don't know how to crease it though.

You wouldn't crease it - it's from the late. 60s/early 70s and they wore them sticking up like a bobby helmet. But if your head is small enough to pull it down snug to the head, it can pass for the 20s. It looks like ti was an expensive hat originally!

 

[fortworthgal]

Okay, at long last, here is my hat collection. I'm not 100% sure of the exact dates, but I generally lean towards buying 1930s-1950s.

I'll start with feathers. lol

Paid $5 for this one at the local flea market:

My husband bought me this one for my birthday last year:

This one was $10 at an antique store:

This is a Hattie Carnegie I picked up at a local antique mall:

More next post...

 

[fortworthgal]

The rest came mostly from estate sales, usually $3-$5 each (although my large-brim black one was $1). I almost never pay more than $5 for a hat!

As I am also somewhat into reenacting and collecting WWII women's militaria, these are some of the exceptions to my $5 hat rule - I paid a pretty penny for each of these! The Army Nurse hat in the center is a modern reproduction, it was the least costly of the three.

 

[texasgirl]

fortworthgal, Great to see you back!!! Love all your hats, so cute!

 

[deadpandiva]

Vintage Betty, What an impressive hat collection you have.

I just received my first Hatblock in the mail today. I am so exited.

 

[fortworthgal]

fortworthgal, Great to see you back!!! Love all your hats, so cute!

Thanks, I'm glad to be back after my little hiatus! I'm less involved with reenacting now and more into just the vintage lifestyle, so I'm hoping there'll be a DFW FL get-together sometime this summer...

 

[Laura Chase]

ShrinkingViolet, the feathers are guinea fowl, "perlehøne" in Danish. I've actually reshaped this straw hat a little, it was a tad too small and I wanted the top to be different, so I soaked it in water and shaped it and put it on my head while wet, and now the shape is just perfect for my head. That's the good thing about straw hats! I don't find them more wearable than felt hats, though, I love felt hats, I was in dire need for some straw ones for summer because I always fall in love with felt. Speaking of that, I wore this one today and remembered to snap some pictures:







It's nicer with pincurls!

 

[cherry lips]

fftopic: Please excuse my little lipstick obsession, but what are you wearing here? It looks like a discreet rose to me. Please bring it on the 26th!

 

[Laura Chase]

fftopic: Please excuse my little lipstick obsession, but what are you wearing here? It looks like a discreet rose to me. Please bring it on the 26th!

It's MAC Vegas Volt.

I just saw that Vintage Betty asked for me to model the straw hat, I will remember to do that soon, now that it finally fits better.

I also reshaped the green one, does anyone know what the period correct way to shape the crown would be? If there is one such. But, it shouldn't bob up, right?

 

[Vintage Betty]

Forworthgal, thank you for taking the time to photograph your hats! They are wonderful.

Can we see a picture of you wearing the Hattie Carnegie hat?

It's MAC Vegas Volt.

I just saw that Vintage Betty asked for me to model the straw hat, I will remember to do that soon, now that it finally fits better.

I also reshaped the green one, does anyone know what the period correct way to shape the crown would be? If there is one such. But, it shouldn't bob up, right?

Can you show us a picture? I can pull reference material if you want it to be period correct...but I always think a lady should go with her gut. You are sooo pretty in your photos! Those eyes! That skin!

Bartender, we seem to be missing page 11 of this thread. Can you recover it?

Vintage Betty

 

[Miss Neecerie]

We just did the recovery -thing- and no additional page was added on my count.....

Sorry

 

[MK]

test

 

[Vintage Betty]

Here's another hat from my collection. I lightened all the photos so you could see the detail, but the hat is actually jet black. It is supposed to be worn tilted on the head over the large Victorian hairstyles, but I couldn't show that with the glass head I pulled for display.

I believe this is a Victorian Mourning Hat, circa 1890, meant for full mourning.
I thought it was a toque, but apparently toques have no brim, so that guess is wrong.

 

[Vintage Betty]

We just did the recovery -thing- and no additional page was added on my count.....

Sorry

Boo hoo! Thanks for trying!

 

[Laura Chase]

Vintage Betty, that one is spectacular. Do you collect any specific era hats and do you wear many of your hats yourself?

I was wondering if perhaps you know a good link to a page with a hat glossary or a book or something, I really need to get my hat terms down.

 

[Vintage Betty]

Vintage Betty, that one is spectacular. Do you collect any specific era hats and do you wear many of your hats yourself?

I was wondering if perhaps you know a good link to a page with a hat glossary or a book or something, I really need to get my hat terms down.

Yes, that is easily the best hat of my collection. But I'm sure Ms. Mojito will disagree, seeing as she has a different favorite era. I seem to have a lot of hats from the 1800's, 1920's and 1940's. I never set out to collect hats from these eras, but hats, as I'm sure the gentlemen of the Lounge would agree, are like popcorn. You can't just have one. It's weird, I have a large batch of 1800's hats, but I never looked for them intentionally, they just keep falling into my lap. The green hat in my Avatar and the hat shown above were purchased from dealers for full price, so not everything in life is free.

I just like hats, and whether they are cheap or expensive doesn't matter, as much as I like the hat itself. I don't really wear the older hats any more, since I'm not doing costuming events currently. I like to wear some of the warmer hats during the Fall/Winter, but I do get strange looks around town, so I tend to wear the tamer hats.

I actually looked around the internet before posting that hat for a good hat resource, and didn't find anything that was really comprehensive with pictures. Maybe someone else has a favorite site? I do, however, have a favorite book that is in many reprints.

The book is The Mode in Hats and Headdress, by Wilcox. I'm sure that someone will state it isn't the most accurate of books, because all the images are drawings and not everything is exactly correct. They are correct, that this isn't the best possible book ever. However, the book itself has proven to be a great resource to me over 20+ years, and I have spent countless hours using it as a resource and studying the information. I should add that I own the 1946 edition, which is a library discard.

Before you buy your own copy (they start at $50-$100+) ask at your local library, to see if you can check a copy out, as the book is not to everyone's taste.

Do you need more referrals to good ladies hat books?

Vintage Betty