1911 - 1919 The Teens
While King Edward VII died in 1910, the Edwardian Era is often referred to as the time leading up to the beginning of WWI in 1914. The remaining years of the decade can be divided into The Great War Era, 1914 - 1918 and the Post-War Era, which is essentially 1919 but is also used in reference to the 1920s.
For this article, I will refer to the decade as the Teens. For fashion and millinery, we can divide the time into three periods: before, during and after the war.
Pre-War:
In 1910, hats were still lush and full of ornament, and the picture hat was still desired (see previous post, the Edwardian Era). Throughout the first years of the teens, into 1913, the ‘S’ shape silhouette slowly disappeared and was replaced by narrower, tapering fashions.
The Empire or Directoire fashions introduced by Poiret in previous years finally gained
popularity and acquired a level of universal favour.
In 1911, the fashion of skirts shifted from the flaring hem that closed out the previous decade and narrowed into what has become known as the “Hobble Skirt”. This trend for narrow hemmed skirt
This trend for narrow hemmed skirt shapes took hold and continued until 1914, when it reached its peak. This movement confining style adopted by the trend-setting elite and other fashion-conscious women was mercilessly mocked in magazines and papers.
These first few years of the decade also saw the emergence of the Art Deco movement in Paris, which introduced a new bold aesthetic. However, its stylistic influence did not take hold of the public’s imagination until the mid-1920s and early 1930s and subsequently, it would take many years for it to create noticeable change in the millinery world.
The hats during the pre-war period started as large as they were at the end of the Edwardian period but became smaller in width and height leading up to the war, no longer encompassing and overwhelming the head. The head size remained larger than the actual head size to accommodate the still-large, romantic hairstyles. The brims of these hats also slowly shifted in design, becoming flatter for many styles and stopped dipping down slightly.
This dip was a popular detail of the oversized picture hats of the previous decade. It was used to create a sophisticated and alluring framing of the face as women could peek out from under the dipped portion of the brim positioned strategically over an eye.
These smaller brimmed hats stopped protruding well past the still voluminous hair and became covered in flowers, often of just one kind of blossom.
1911 was also the year that saw the introduction of large Panama hats made of toquillia straw or mimicked in heavy-weight cotton.
The toque continued to be worn and grew in height to match the fashionable tall collars, while a closer fit around the head became more common as hairstyles became smoother.
A micro-trend in 1913 of two long, narrow plumes called Mephisto feathers had fallen away and a more vertical, structural style trimming on small hats as the pre-war years passed.
More hats from the pre-war period:
During The War:
During 1915 - 1918 military influences were seen, but hats related to and styled after uniforms will be discussed at another time.
Tricorn and bicorn hats appeared in a small way and continued to be worn into the 1920s, and again during the second world war, reflecting a long history of women’s hats being influenced by war.
During the Great War, milliners cleverly manipulated fabric to sculpt the hat and create the trimmings and decorations used. This shift from using an excess of material was a reflection of war austerity but also the desire for creative change that moved away from the styles people were used to.
The smaller brimmed hats often had a picture hat shape and sported sheer brims for summer while solid fabrics coordinated to outfits for cooler weather.
Year-round flat sailor hats had an endurance in fashion during these war years. The simple shape and minimal decoration complimented the wool suits in their changing trendy shapes.
Winter hats in 1915 were often trimmed in fur with a single flower or buckle type of decoration. Occasionally, whole birds made an appearance but were not nestled into the maximalist ornamentation of decorations as in previous decades.
Winter hats during most of this decade were smaller, warmer versions of summer wear, but a more casual hat was popular. Close-fitting hats with smaller turned-down brims helped with the development of the cloche.
Floppy berets in velvet and knitted berets were common for the working class, younger set and winter sports activities.
Single plumes, as well as simply using wide ribbons, started to be common decorations.
1915 also saw the continued use of wire frames to make the up-turned brims of the previous years, but the shape was narrower, and the folded brim showed more on one side of the head with jaunty angles.
This new preferred hat shape also had an effect on the sporting hats, as shown by the tall crowned bowlers and homburgs with narrow up-turning brims.
It took eight years for the cloche to be firmly established in the millinery world and a few more years for it to be more widely accepted.
First introduced in 1908 in Paris, the cloche took a much firmer hold with the fashion world in 1916 but it's execution is not what is commonly thought of as a cloche. That shape would come to define the 1920s.
My research unearthed a trend of the Lewis Chinese Cap. I haven’t been able to find out why it’s called that, but it is a brimless cap made of 6 panels of velvet or heavy satin with a tassel in the center of the crown.
I also couldn’t find a picture or further reference of this hat but it seems like a version of the Victorian smoking hat.
I have a theory that it's called that because of a popular vaudeville performer of the day. I have no evidence of my theory but it seems plausible if not a little fantastic. If anyone can give me other ideas or have any evidence of the reason for it's name please write me. This image is of a similarly crafted hat but not listed as a Lewis Hat.
Post War
In 1919, following the end of the war, a tall square crowned hat with small to medium brims began to appear.
Today, we may feel like these medium brims are fairly wide, but in comparison to the enormous hats seen over the previous 20 years, these almost austere hats were considerably smaller.
There was also a firm movement into the brimless hat trimmed in felt to create dimension and decoration. This time had less dramatic changes in fashion but created the foundation for the 1920s
In researching the hats of this decade, I found myself struggling to bring cohesiveness to the information. I imagine the interruption of WWI in British and Commonwealth life is the reason for this since the focus of the world was on the battlefield and not the fashion elite. This was still a time before the fashion runway was commonly used to display new styles and clothing to be sold.
Hats were produced and photographed to be sold either directly to clients or to shops as wholesale. Millinery shops where original hats, wholesale hats, and hat-making supplies were located in nearly every town.
Many of the biggest fashion designers of the 20th century, such as Chanel, had started designing and making hats using an on-staff milliner or with their own millinery shops.
Most dress shops had on-staff milliners to create hats for their customers and designers to copy the latest fashion plates.
Large department stores like Eatons in Canada and Selfridges in Britain had millinery designers creating new styles each season. The influence of Edwardian consumerism and the success of catalogue buying in previous decades through companies such as Eatons and Sears Roebuck brought a slower change to millinery as the most common customer was not necessarily the upper-class woman. I do think this shifted back to the upper class driving the changes in fashion after the war.
However, there was still a permanent change for lower-income women in terms of access to cheap, fashionable hats or hat-making supplies through catalogues and discount department stores.
Millinery and its supplies have always been available through catalogues since their introduction as women were the main focus of them. Still, the massive social change and access to consumer goods brought on by WWI made these women far more fashionable than their predecessors.
For this reason we see a slower change during the decade in hat design as most women did not have an enviable millinery budget. This slow pace of change still happens today, though the reason is that companies and its board members and not creatives decide what to produce for the consumer, and the driving force behind decisions is profit and not design or creativity.
I feel as if this decade became a foundation for a massive shift in fashion as well as millinery which kept changing right up until the early 2000s.
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