Meaghan Armstrong- Milliner/Millinery Historian The 1940s were a remarkable decade for millinery. Hat styles exploded with variety and creativity. Since the beginning of the century, advances in technology and faster global travel had steadily expanded the range of materials available to milliners, and even during the second world war this remarkable variety continued. In the first half of the decade especially, hats became a creative counterpoint to increasingly practical clothing. Bright accessories were often viewed as morale boosters, bringing colour and individuality into daily life during a difficult period. During this time, many milliners embraced the idea that hats should brighten both the face and the spirit. Hats became far more than simple accessories. In a time shaped by hostilities, uncertainty, restrictions, and enormous social change, they offered women a means of expressing individuality, optimism, glamour, and even defiance. Yet this atmosphere also created the conditions for extraordinary creativity among some of the most celebrated milliners in history. Working with limited supplies, these innovators produced hats in an astonishing range of shapes and designs. More broadly, these changes in millinery also reflect a wider transformation taking place across society. The serviceable, day wear of dark coloured suits, the narrower skirts with menswear tailoring and serviceable shoes was accented with colourful hats, scarves, gloves and purses. Even in the Hollywood golden age where colourized movies were becoming more common as well as better technology to have full colour photographs for magazines seemed to re-instate this practical day wear. Within that pragmatic framework, colour became one of the most expressive elements of dress. Hat colours during the 1940s were bold and constantly changing with the seasons. Spring and summer favoured vivid shades such as red, orange, pink, lime green, yellow, and bright blue, while autumn and winter brought deeper tones like navy, burgundy, brown, dark green, and black. Against these darker winter wardrobes, more adventurous women often added striking accessories in red, cream, or warm sand tones. Each season also introduced fashionable new suit colours intended to refresh the wardrobe. Bright accessories, however, remained popular throughout most of the decade, softening only occasionally for weddings and in the later 1940s, when pastel shades became fashionable. This raises an important question about how these fashions were sustained during a period of wartime restriction. But what about supply shortages and rationing? Canada didn’t have clothing rationing, and although Canadians didn’t experience the same level of restriction as people in Britain, they were deeply invested in the collective war effort. The “make do and mend” mentality was widely adopted here, even without formal clothing rationing. Britain, of course, experienced strict rationing on everything and the make do and mend movement started in 1942. Launched in conjunction with the Board of Trade and voluntary groups including the Women's Group on Public Welfare, the Women's Institute, or the WI, and the National Council of Social Services to teach mending and re-purposing skills to encourage and help British citizens extend the use of their clothing. The women’s institute and the women’s’ volunteer service in England, taught people these skills as well as re-purposing men’s suits to be as women’s or children’s clothing. Blankets into coats and knitting and crochet skills. These differences in policy had very real effects on what materials were available to milliners. Even so, by the end of 1941, silk had largely disappeared from the Canadian market, and imported materials such as Italian straw became increasingly scarce as trade routes were disrupted. At the same time, Canada’s textile and clothing industries remained relatively stable. Many factories and fiber producers shifted partially or fully toward wartime production, manufacturing uniforms and essential military goods such as tents, packs, and related equipment. As a result, everyday access to traditional millinery materials began to change. Feather and chenille Bees for millinery These restrictions created conditions in which do-it-yourself millinery could flourish. Canadians used the materials and instruction available to them to turn thrift into creativity and, at times, creativity into joyful hats. Suppliers responded with alternatives to traditional materials, offering raffia, peanut straw, and wired and stiffened lace in place of fine Italian straw. Yet when we look closely at women’s hats outside military headwear, it can be surprisingly difficult to see the effects of an increasingly diminished supply chain. The variety, enthusiasm, and ingenuity of millinery remained obvious and became central to the visual identity of the decade. Fashion in the postwar years moved at a slower and oddly inclusive pace, shaped in part by the lingering effects of the war. The growing do-it-yourself movement and the availability of basic millinery supplies in stores at all price points only reinforced this adaptability. Decorations were affected by the disruption as well. Fine milled ribbons and veiling from France were replaced by products from North American manufacturers. Feathers, an integral part of millinery, underwent a dramatic change. In 1941, the National Audubon Society and the Feather Industries of America succeeded in banning the use of wild feathers in millinery. Victorian taxidermy exotic bird for millinery Farmed feathers became the primary new source, while feathers from old hats could be reused, a practical solution as exotic varieties became increasingly scarce. As the decade progressed, feathers became less dominant as a decorative element, while fur gained popularity, particularly in Canada where fur was a major industry. Modern goose feathers The slower pace of fashion also helped women adapt to these changes. Hat styles did not fall out of favour as quickly as they had in previous decades, and when a new shape became fashionable, it often remained popular for some time. Women could therefore remain stylish for longer without feeling quite so quickly outdated or socially excluded. At the same time, the war brought about a much larger shift in the fashion world. When the Nazis invaded Paris, the traditional centre of fashion was disrupted and attention shifted toward America. New York emerged as the country's major fashion centre, supported by its garment district and vibrant cultural life, while Hollywood was becoming an increasingly powerful influence on what women wore. The movie studios were producing hundreds of films, and their stars became style authorities. What appeared on screen quickly found its way into dress shops and department stores, often modified to suit local tastes and budgets but still recognizably drawn from the pages of magazines such as Photoplay and Movie Stars Parade. Costume designers such as Edith Head rose to the occasion of being style leaders and created fashions for film that are drool worthy examples of Hollywood glamour. The dramatic silhouettes seen in film were complemented by equally dramatic and expressive accessories. Edith Head costume design 1940s Hats on film were bold statements of strength, beauty and confidence, reflecting the fashions and women’s new role in the workforce. Many of these hats onscreen were large, had protruding angled brims, conspicuous feathers, abundant veils or hoods and towering heights that hadn’t been seen in millinery since the aughts of the early century and the Edwardians. Anna Mae Wong These millinery fantasies of Hollywood were translated by hat makers, both for large companies and small studios, into more wearable versions for the everyday woman. The drama was still there, but softened and adapted to ordinary life. These subtler interpretations of Hollywood extravagance came in a dizzying variety: boaters, upturned sailors or bretons, pancake berets, knit turbans, cartwheels, tricorns, toques, pompadours, doll hats, fedoras, bonnets, bowlers, chaplets, curvettes, pillboxes, tams, suitor hats, cloches, calots, puff hats, Dutch hats, snoods and headscarves. Many of these shapes were reiterations of styles from previous decades, but filtered through a world transformed by war. The same sense of adaptation carried into the everyday hats worn by women throughout the decade. Rather than abandoning familiar shapes, milliners revised them—sometimes subtly, sometimes dramatically—to suit the changing materials, fashions and circumstances of the 1940s. The beret is perhaps the clearest example of this process.The 1920s had cemented the smaller French-style beret in fashion, but the 1940s version was essentially a further revision of the shape that had emerged in the late 1930s. It sat flatter against the head and was usually worn at an angle, often pulled down over one eye. Its shape was built into the construction itself, with stitching creating a back crown section that helped anchor the hat while the front and side sections tucked underneath. These berets were more oval in shape, retaining the structure developed in the late 1930s. They also made excellent canvases for brooches and other removable decorations, allowing the wearer to change the look of the hat without changing the hat itself. Alongside this, other soft structured hats remained equally important in everyday wear. The Tam-o-shanter was still available and was bigger than the 30s designs. The difference from the previous 3 decades was that the tam was worn deeply, as in decade like the aughts but it was also angled to either side. Worn at the front of the head, below or at the hairline or at the back of the head to frame the popular hairstyles. Most tam-o-shanters of the 40s were made of felt but summer straw and fabric yardage to make cut and sew versions were popular, especially with the DIY crowd. The reinvention of the sailor and skimmer hats for the 1940s had a shallower crown than their previous versions like in the 1920s but were still decorated with wider ribbons and bows. A different but equally important influence came from historical revival styles, particularly through film. Victorian style influenced movies, both as period films of Charles Dickens greatest novels or musicals like Gaiety George. This genre of films affected hats almost more than the clothing. The Cartwheel Hat A popular Victorian style is the cartwheel and it re-emerged in the middle to the end of the 1940s. At first these arrived as summer straw with stiff and oversized brims. As the popularity of these hats grew colder weather versions in wool felt or velvet were made. They were lacking in decoration throughout the 40s and it was in the 1950s before the cartwheel became a platform for ornament. Another Victorian era inspired design was the bonnet hat. It had a semi-deep crown worn at the centre back of the head and a brim that enclosed the sides of the head and forehead much like an 1860s style bonnet but without the depth or size. The Suitor hats were yet another Victorian inspiration. There were smaller re-interpretations of Victorian top hats or riding hats with curled side brims, tall crowns and a flat tip. Veils, both full and partial, were added much like lots of other 1940s hats. It was almost as if putting a veil on it made it better. As many hats of the decade, these were perched on the head slightly forward. Other familiar silhouettes also continued to evolve through the decade in new directions. The derby or bowler hat returned but was a borrowed silhouette from the late teens being very round with a tightly rolled brim. In this decade a tall feather tucked into a ribbon band was the popular decoration. In 1947 the Breton made a comeback as it seems to each decade with the iconic tilt and upturned brim. The Scottie shape resembling a sailors wedge or Glengary hat appeared as one of the few fashion versions of military hat styles. Alongside these reinterpretations, entirely new structured headpieces also began to appear. The chaplet or curvette was a new shape although an argument could be made that these are reinterpretations of medieval and Tudor shapes. These were structured rounded shapes that closely fit the head, worn at the crown and decorated with feathers, flowers, furs and veils. These hats could be as narrow as a few inches, merely support for veils or as a way to decorate the head rather than fully wear a hat. This emphasis on close-fitting and decorative headpieces continued into several later 1940s designs. The calot, popular in the late 40s, was a brimless rounded shape worn at the back of the head and follows the curve of the skull. It nestled on the head with large ornate appliques, flowers and big bows allowing the rolled hairstyles to frame it. By the mid to late 1940s, a number of related variations began to appear. In 1945 the Dutch hat and the Bumper hat appeared. Dutch Hat Bumper Hat As well as the Watteau brim and the Halo hat. All of these hats were excellent for the fashionable hairstyles since most of them were worn at the back of the head. Alongside these new styles, broader shifts in everyday wearing habits were also beginning to emerge. The hat-less trend which was arriving in a small way at the end of the 1920s really started to expand in the 1940s. The move away from the social expectations of wearing a hat every time a lady left the house was changing and was especially appealing to the younger generation of women who were attending post secondary education at higher rates and working in male dominated fields regularly. These changes in the expectations of women gave them the freedom to be hat-less in public without the fear of social judgment to the same degree that their mother’s had. This shift didn’t mean decoration disappeared, but rather that it moved in different directions. Hair flowers were a popular and easy solution to decorate the hair and head but not wear a hat. This was popular for women in entertainment and as a fresh look for a night out. In fact many of the aforementioned styles such as the curvette were the least amount of hat possible. 1940s hairstyles were time consuming and carefully arranged so decorating the hair with silk flowers or pinning broaches to the hair was an economical and logistic solution. A hat could disarrange a hairstyle and wearing one while at a dance was impossible especially if you wanted to swing dance. Within this broader shift toward adaptable and expressive head wear, some shapes became especially defining. The pillbox hat is one of the most iconic hats of the decade for many people. It made it’s debut in the later half of the 40s. It’s proportions and how it was worn as well as it’s slightly smaller size than the 1920s or 1950s version is what makes its silhouette. They were most often stiff and round with the occasional oval which fits the head more snugly. When worn with a veil it was worn at the top of the head and forward so that the veil can drape over the eyes. Without the veil they were often worn at the back of the head. It was felt that the pillbox could be worn with any outfit, day or night. They were popular because they were easy to produce either at home, in a millinery studio or even a factory. Women could also afford to have a selection of colours to match gloves and purses as well as wear them with a snood or draped with fabric to give personality. Pillbox hats were a blank canvas for creativity. This accessibility also extended into home instruction. The Women’s Institute, during and after the war, had educational courses to make pillbox hats as well as other styles, from scratch with new materials or to re-purpose old hats and decorative elements following the “make do and mend” trend. Yet wartime thrift did not stifle fashion innovation, and some of the decade’s most fantastic styles emerged alongside these make-do-and-mend practices. The turban style of the 40s was a large and creative style that broke new ground in millinery. It was, depending on the materials, either high or low fashion. Often in it’s simplest form, it was a long piece of fabric wrapped around the head from the nape and knotted at the forehead with ends tucked in. A wide bow or puffs of fabric were formed this way and could be styled very creatively. The popularity of this scarf method left thousands of milliners out of the transaction. Broaches, silk flowers or other decorations could be added and fancy elegant fabric could also be used. Women working in the munitions industry often chose cotton or rayon to keep the hair clean and tucked safely away while operating machinery. As more women entered factory work, concerns about long hairstyles becoming caught in machinery increased. One often-cited example involved the popularity of Veronica Lake's signature hairstyle, with hair falling over one eye. Reports of women copying the style led to accidents with their hair being caught in industrial equipment, and Turner herself was later photographed demonstrating how the machines could catch the hair and later cut her hair short. These scarf style turbans also hid pin-curls, curling rods, covered dirty hair and was the least expensive type of head wear around. At the same time, professional milliners were also experimenting with far more elaborate interpretations of these same ideas. Milliners created turbans for clients who wanted complex, technical structures or entirely new silhouettes, from long flowing veils that covered the back of the head to styles tightly wrapped around the hair for a close-fitting effect. These developments were further shaped by international style influences, particularly from Hollywood, which helped push a timeless millinery design such as the turban to new creative heights. It became the 1940 Vogue style of the fashionable American, and adjacently Canadian, woman. While turbans explored dramatic volume and wrapping techniques, milliners also experimented at the opposite extreme. One of the most striking examples was the tiny or doll hat. Generally credited to John P. John and Frederick Hirst during their partnership in the John-Frederics Company, the style would become one of the decade's most recognizable millinery innovations. John later went on to establish his own label and achieve fame as the celebrated Mr. John. These half hats or smaller than what would fit the head hats, decorated with simplicity and elegance or an over abundance of whimsy were very popular. The variety and creativity was a playground for milliners and the hats they created made a name for many. It’s hard to describe these hats. Mr John (1950s) John-Fredrics (1940s) Some had brims, some didn’t. They were made of straw, fabric, felt, or any other material available. The decorations were equally varied and creative and while these little hats captured the imagination of women they were also a statement of joy and absurdity against the state of the world. Lily Dache, from her creative work in the 1930s, allowed her creativity free reign with hats covered in decoration and playfulness. Lily Dache Sally Victor, a popular milliner introduced unique and daring matching hat, glove and purse sets made in bright colours and dramatic, creative designs. Meant to be worn with the plain and serviceable suits and outerwear. Sally Victor Perhaps no hat is more closely associated with 1940s women's fashion today than the fedora. If recreating a 1940s day look most people would reach for a fedora and wear it perched jauntily on the head. Ingrid Bergman’s fedora in the 1942 movie, Casablanca, may have started the trend but the scarcity of materials as well as the menswear influence in clothing was a likely contributor to it’s popularity and iconic look. This men’s staple was rebuilt and worn in a more feminine way usually with an emblematic 1940s tilt. There was a very popular trend in reshaping a second hand men’s fedora into a ladies hat with steam, cutting and new decoration. Magazines and newspapers often printed varying instructions for these with minimal millinery skill required. This re-purposing could also make doll hats or something else entirely depending on the talent of the maker. Professional milliners were tasked by clients to remake their husbands and fathers hats if time or skill wasn’t available. The lack of new materials in Britain kept this trend flowing for many years. As the decade progressed, other silhouettes began to play with height, volume, and forward emphasis. The pompadour hat, like the hairstyle, was popular from 1943 on-wards. The volume was at the top and forward. This shape was melded together with berets and other styles and veils were often attached to these. This emphasis on forward volume extended into even more decorative interpretations and included the puff hat. A large clutch of fluffy feathers dyed bright colours and sometimes mounted on a knit jersey fabric that covered the head or had a snood attached or was worn with a snood or not at all. The word “snood” can sound unfamiliar today. It has re-emerged in a modern form as the tubular scarves worn by skiers. But snoods essentially began as a hair covering from proto-Germanic societies many years ago. In the 1860s to recently, snoods were a way to contain the hair with crochet, knit or manufactured netting. In the 1940s snoods were sometimes worn plain and paired with a hat or turban and sometimes with bows or flowers scattered over the net or placed at the top or sides. Snoods, worn with other hats or decorations was very common and since it contained the hair in a fashionable way, one could keep your brush-out neat and smooth while doing household chores, working or traveling. The decorations weren’t always attached but pinned to the hair to aide in the needed versatility of the snood. The is one example of how practical, adaptable head wear shaped everyday fashion during this period. By the end of the decade, fashion itself was beginning to shift once again, this time in a more dramatic direction. In 1947 Christian Dior launched The New Look. A revolution in shape and construction of women’s’ clothes and a reaction to the restrictions of post war Europe. It was a hyper feminine silhouette of volume at the hip and shoulder to create an hourglass shape. This return to the curvy shape from the late Victorians was almost shocking since that silhouette had been out of fashion for over 20 years. To accentuate the shape, Dior introduced a line of large hats with shallow brims that repeated and complimented the New Look aesthetic and theory. The mushroom cap and squat bell shape hat with large down turned brims were made of stiff and textured straw and with fabrics on buckram frames instead of the softer straws formally in fashion before the war. They were decorated with plain ribbons without bows, tails or volume which emphasized the shape and construction of both the clothing and the hats. This departure from the exuberant and bright abundance of millinery decorations on popular hats was as provocative as the clothing. His use of many yards of fabric as well as previously unavailable straw was a huge statement against the restrictions of materials still placed on Europe and England. While Dior’s designs captured headlines and helped define the closing years of the decade, they represented only one part of the millinery world. The dramatic fashion of designers set the tone for high style, but it was interpreted very differently once it reached everyday life. In communities across North America, hats continued to be made, altered, and sold by professional milliners working outside the great fashion houses. The skill of the milliner remained a valued part of everyday fashion. Even as the “Make Do and Mend” movement grew in popularity across Canada, milliners contributed to wartime style through creativity and innovation, reinventing traditional forms and developing new ones suited to changing times. Most dress shops in nearly every town either employed a milliner to create hats to match their seasonal fashions or offered millinery services to customers, allowing older hats to be restyled or newly made in a way similar to tailoring. Dedicated millinery shops also remained an important part of the retail landscape, and the profession continued to be a viable trade throughout the decade. This period may also have marked one of the last times when a majority of women between the ages of 21 and 40 still wore hats as a regular part of everyday dress, making hats not just an accessory but a visible and expected part of social appearance. Because hats were so widely worn and so closely tied to everyday identity, they naturally carried meaning beyond their practical function. Dior Dior’s hats, however, moved away from traditional softness and instead embraced stiff, highly structured forms. They carried little to no decoration and were such a departure from the exuberant creativity of wartime millinery that they could feel both shocking and revolutionary. Dior’s look was at once ultra-feminine, modern, daring, and austere. Dior’s work would go on to influence style well into the second half of the century, and his approach to hats helped quiet much of the decorative exuberance that had defined wartime millinery, permanently altering traditional silhouettes.

The Era of Depression, Surrealism and Modesty Meaghan Armstrong- Milliner/Millinery Historian The Depression era in Canada, encompassing the 1930s, was marked by notable changes and innovations in fashion. Despite the widespread economic challenges of the period, fashion continued to progress, showcasing a resilience that mirrors broader societal trends. Historically, fashion has consistently exhibited a dual nature: it remains both a constant and a dynamic force, adapting to cultural and social contexts while serving as a form of expression that surpasses economic and political situations. Throughout the late 1930s, fashion trends evolved to feature longer garments that closely adhered to the body, utilizing bias-cut designs. The emerging silhouette emphasized a curvier yet slender form, complemented by impeccable hair and makeup. Hairstyles were elaborate, meticulously styled close to the head, paired with clean and refined makeup. The prevailing aesthetic of the 1930s aimed to achieve a balanced facial appearance, evoking a sense of modesty and propriety. Hats played a crucial role in this fashion narrative, reflecting an underlying spirit of playfulness and experimentation. This marked the decline of the bohemian and chaotic fantasy associated with the flapper era. The cloche shifted from the very tight, brimless style to a close fit but with an exuberant brim. Right at the end of the 1920s, Greta Garbo wore a re-imagined cloche in a film. Folded up very flat at the front (forehead) but with a larger and floppy brim on the sides and back. These were often between 5 and 13 cm. The "Garbo Slouch" seemed to have opened the door to larger brims like the picture hat but with new materials, shape, and proportion. The new slouch hat complemented the streamlined coordinated day suits and sportswear. These hats were made in any fabric and were barely decorated, if at all. They started with brims all around of varying widths but morphed into a small brimless style more like a beret than a cloche. Throughout the decades, early slouch hats significantly influenced numerous hat designs. During the 1930s, fedoras, panamas, sun hats, berets, and cloche shapes all adopted a slouched style, a trend that reappeared repeatedly over the century. This style was characterized by a relaxed shape, the absence of sharp defining lines, and a lack of stiffening in materials like felt or straw, or at least the appearance of such. Additionally, these hats were typically un-decorated. Adding decorations such as arrows, darts, or feathers to the hat introduced a new method of shaping without making it appear overly worked and compensated for the lack of stiffening. This approach highlighted the relaxed influence of the slouch design, which stood in stark contrast to the more structured hair, makeup, and clothing styles of the time. Elsa Schiaparelli, a famous fashion designer of the age known for her surrealist designs, created the "Mad Cap" beret. In 1930, obviously influenced by the slouched Garbo hat, it became an international success. These knit, brimless hats could be shaped, stretched, and placed on the head in near endless combinations. The new hat complemented the hairstyles and illustrated the experimental spirit of the decade. These Mad Caps could be made at home but a milliner could also make them with minimal materials and would cost up to 75% less than most felt hats to buy. The home knitting and crochet industry surged with innovative yarns and fibers to cater to the experimental Mad Cap trend. Numerous new yarns featured stretch rubber elastic. The pattern leaflets also offered designs for scarves, jabots, collars, gloves, gauntlets, shoe covers, and purses, which could be created to complement and transform a basic outfit. This was a significant benefit during the Depression. This evolved into knitted crowns with felt or straw brims attached. Again, either make at home or at a milliner's. This direction of make-at-home millinery put further strain on the professional milliner to remain in business and contributed to the slow decline of the profession. Returning to the early part of the decade and other hats available, the sailor hat changed from the 1920s style worn with a deep crown to the eyebrows to a shape and crown depth more familiar to us today. The brims were smaller, as was the overall trend of brim size. The tricorn, bicorn and French beret were still around but again, the proportions changed to be more shallow. Felt cloches were considered the "slouch" style but also would have small jockey-like brims, and top-stitching was a popular decoration. A definite move towards what would eventually become American Sportswear in future decades. In 1933, the Panama hat and the slouch fedora were taking center stage. The influence of film in fashion was increasing, and hatters started making felt hats for women with traditionally men's shapes in the new slouch fashion. Throughout the decade, sporty hats were either a French beret or soft and feminine interpretations of men's styles. These were excellent to wear with daytime suits and outerwear like fall/winter coats. The summer hat of the decade was the picture hat. Returning to the round crown and round brim, these hats were made in fabric, straw, and lace as well as traditional summer hat materials. Most often worn with a brim that dipped over one eye and curved gently around the head, only lifting slightly. A change from the folded up and down sloped brims of the 1920s. Lacquered fine straw became a very popular material for summer, and because the hat shape barely changed in the decade, women could re-dye or paint the straw to match their new clothes. In the early 1930s, gold's value dropped, which somehow led to gold lamé becoming highly fashionable. This fabric, along with golden embellishments, was extensively used on evening turbans for the recently invented cocktail hour. This new social occasion created a niche for a new style of hat. Elaborately decorated, small hats called cocktail hats emerged. These cocktail hats were pocket sized and not unlike many of the small fascinators we see today. The cocktail hat became an arena for the burgeoning art of surrealism. In 1937, Salvador Dalí collaborated with Schiaparelli to design the iconic shoe hat. These innovative hats not only defied traditional norms but also tested the milliner's craftsmanship. Freed from conventional hat shapes, designers explored new materials that aligned with surrealist aesthetics. The technique of wearing these hats also required consideration. How would the hat stay on the head? What methods would be used, and how might these affect the design's original intent? These were challenges the milliner had to address, and they did so successfully. Schiaparelli's surrealist fashion and creative exuberance led the way for her contemporaries, like Lilly Daché, to make very small and highly decorative hats called doll hats that, in Daché's future, were reinvented to be the famous Carmen Miranda headpieces. Daché was a French American credited for American surrealism and, at her peak in the 30s and 40s, draping turbans directly on the heads of her clients. These highly creative hats also introduced the pillbox hat in 1934-1935. This shape was an ideal stage for exuberant creativity. Veils and ribbons on these styles appeared more and more, and snoods materialized with the doll hats. The late 1930s saw the softness of mens hat shapes continue with fedoras, panamas and homburgs worn on jaunty angles with a dipped and gently wavy brim. The constant presence of the turban evolved from the softer flapper style to more structured hats. The temporary turban made from scarves continued in the background as casual attire, reappearing during WWII. The last few years of the 1930s also spied the cheerful decorations of the doll hats start to influence day wear and replace the simple forms and clean cut lines with extra feathers and more decoration. The war, which began in 1939, immediately impacted millinery, and since Paris remained the center of millinery design, changes occurred rapidly. The 1930s marked the start of this transformation. The whole decade can be viewed as a period of exploration into innovative and experimental millinery for the first time. The allure of readily available media and the advent of new materials and techniques elevated a few milliners to superstar status, a phenomenon that had never occurred before and wouldn't happen again for many decades. The willingness of these and other now-anonymous creators to embrace the creative freedom of the 1930s and offer their designs to a variety of clients, even through licensed copies, make-at-home patterns, and fully bootlegged hats, allowed most women to be fashionable and chic. This accessible approach to millinery wasn't a strategic plan but seemed to emerge from media influence encouraging frequent changes in personal style, achievable at nearly any economic level. This seemingly democratic accessibility was actually capitalism at work during a time when increased choices positively impacted people's lives. In millinery, hats became mostly easier to make, reducing the consumer's reliance on trained milliners. The response from milliners appears in the surreal and fantasy hats created by Schiaparelli and Daché. Is this shift away from the need for skilled milliners good or bad? Or is it neither, merely a change in societal needs, thoroughly documented so that readers and historians can indulge in nostalgia and sentiment? Regardless of the stance one takes, the 1930s granted us the liberty to design surrealist hats, which will undoubtedly pave the way for more creative avenues in the future.

1911 - 1919 The Teens Meaghan Armstrong - Milliner/ Millinery Historian 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.

Meaghan Armstrong- Milliner/Millinery Historian The significant social transformation following WWI was mirrored in the fashion of the new woman. 1920s millinery fashion and flapper hat trends demonstrated the modern woman. There were new fabrics, new shapes, new hair, make-up and accessories. There were new and expanding ways to shop, and more and more women in the workforce had more disposable income. Fashion moved away from just the courtiers of Paris and, with the help of fashion houses creating clothing models that were intended to be copied by department stores, onto the bodies of the average working women. The new, more simplistic shapes of clothing used less fabric and far fewer specialized and advanced sewing techniques, which made these fashions more attainable. Hats, especially, were easier to make for the same reasons as the clothing, for the home sewist or local dress shop. Highly specialized millinery skills required of the previous century fell away in favour of minimal decorations and simplified shape and construction.. This became more obvious as the decade progressed. At the start of the decade, a lot was happening in millinery and fashion, but today's interpretation of the era seems to have largely forgotten these developments. The pastiche of exotic elements seen during the previous decade driven by Poiret's avant-garde designs was re-imagined in a more practical format - embellishment. Commonly called "oriental", details from Chinese and Russian folk embroidery to African and South American motifs, beading and tassels. The term 'oriental' was a catch-all phrase born out of colonialism, not meaning Asian inspired but included all non-western, non-white designs and decorations. Folk embroidery from cultures of Europe, the Middle East, western Asia, and Eastern Europe were also classified under Orientalism. In 1921, Russian immigrant designers fleeing the aftermath of the revolution came to Paris and began designing their own styles, influencing the Parisian designers with classic folk wear Russian hat shapes. These influences are also visible in the popular clothing motifs of the time. As for the hats, Kokoshnik headdresses and pyramidal hats grew into one of the key millinery styles of the 1920s. Movies, for the first time, had an enormous and immediate influence on fashion. The 1921 French movie "Les Tois Muskateers" threw the tricorn and cavalier hats into the spotlight. Straw and velvet versions of these hats were quickly on the heads of leading ladies of fashion, and the bicorn, another military-inspired shape, may have surpassed the cavalier and tricorn over the decade to establish itself as an important and iconic shape of the 1920s millinery. This version of the bicorn, unlike previous iterations of it, was most often made with the sharply folded brim at the front and a slightly less folded brim at the back. It usually sported a one sided bow, a long dangling feather, jewel, tassel or ribbon. These decorations feminized the design and also artistically moved them away from a pure military copy to something new. The overall crown shape in the first 5 years was a slightly squared, rounded-tipped crown and a full but smallish brim measuring 5 to 7 cm, often turned up all around. These hats had a folded-up brim in a bucket-hat-type shape. As you can see below, the size of the brims varied tremendously, and a new kind of self-expression was becoming more socially acceptable with the array of models to choose from. In 1922, the Panama hat was still quite popular for summer but was now often made with toyo, a kind of paper straw. The shape was still familiar with its pinches and bashes, but new plain sailor styles as well as deep crowned, wider brimmed boaters were widely available. The cylinder-shaped crown arrived in 1923, and they sported tiny brims folded up at the front or slightly off center-front to be over one eye. Decorations for all hats were made from folded bands of fabric, ribbons in smooth clean lines, appliques of wool felt or a single fabric flower. These types of decorations were common for all hats in all seasons. In comparison to later in the decade, these earlier decorations were more exuberant but very subdued if compared to the previous decade. In the summers of the early decade, fashions were long, tea-length gowns with a loose, straight fit, belted tightly and bloused out at the hip. Summer hats were low on the head, like all hats in this decade, with wide oval brims that had either a very fat shape or slightly curved down. Smaller brimmed hats were, again, folded up at the front or over one eye. Decorations on the hats in summer generally had more abundant silk ribbons in softer draping and clusters of flowers. This appears to continue in summer hats throughout the decade unless the hat was an Art Deco design. It's difficult to miss discussing an iconic hat of the 1920s. One we still see today, the beret. The beret, as a hat design, has roots over 3000 years old, and in the previous 100 years to the 1920s, the beret took form mainly as the tam-o-shanter. The tam (o-shanter) continued its oversized mode of previous decades and was made in several panels or as a large circle of fabric with a crown. The Edwardians had determined that the tam was for sports and children, and in the 20s, young girls and teens were the people wearing it. Often decorated with beading, feathers, brooches or braids, tams elevated the millinery wardrobe of the young by giving them the power to create their own hats. Home knitting had become far more popular as a pastime, and with the influence of more easily and cheaply available magazines, yarn shops, yarn manufacturing companies and newspapers, the access to patterns to make your own tam held the imagination of young girls tightly. Knitting a tam was a quick and inexpensive way to have new accessories, and making one for every outfit was achievable. Any young woman with knitting, crochet or sewing skills could participate. Returning to the beret, in the early part of the decade, the beret was more like the tam-o-shanter as it was larger and floppy. These were made of felted wool or cut and sew fabrics. Sporty models have a narrow leather trim at the head size band or bottom of the crown. Later in the decade the beret turned into the model we still can buy today. The selection of fabrics was larger than what is commercially available today but the shape of the classic French beret with the rolled head size hem and the stem or le cabillou in the center of the tip. These berets in the 20s were worn pulled down over the ears and to the brow. A style that would return in the late 1970s and early 1980s. The Toque was still available in the 1920s and still favoured by mature women. The construction of the hats had changed from the large and complicated wireframe of the Edwardian era to stiffened fabric with minimal wire for support. Mature women tended to wear toques straight on the head. (Think dowager Lady Grantham from Downton Abbey - also excellent models of Edwardian to late teens fashion for the mature woman) The trending set, also known as Flappers, started wearing toques over the ears and to the eyebrows. These toques were decadently adorned with sequins, beads and metallic embroidery. They were theatrical and dramatic fashion statements. Flappers, and Hollywood also loved turbans. This is the only hat style worn on all occasions, informally, day or evening. They were an alternative to the cloche hats and flattered the new shorter hairstyle. Sometimes, women simply wrapped lengths of cloth horizontally around the head leaving the crown of the head and hair exposed. Turbans originated in ancient Assyria around 2500 BCE, and the previously discussed 'Orientalism' loved the versatility of such a hat. Milliners could cover a buckram form permanently with any glamorous fabric and adorn it with anything from jewels, feathers, beads and even strings of pearls. The turban was a strangely democratic hat since it could be a simple scarf wrapped around the head in a "turban" like way or an expensive milliner-made, jewel-encrusted masterpiece. Of course turbans can be seen throughout time as fashion millinery but Paul Poiret was using them extensively in the teens. His influence on 1920s fashion can be directly linked. The embellishments on hats during the 1920s can be considered experimental in certain aspects. Numerous hats feature Art Deco geometric patterns, individual flowers, oversized drooping flowers, or feathers on one side that alter the brim. Additionally, beading, sequins, brooches, and other elements contribute significantly to the complexity of 1920s millinery. The cloche stands as the pinnacle of hat design and is arguably the most influential hat of the 20th century. It could be said that the cloche is the last time a single millinery design has had such a significant impact up to the present day. Many people, a century later, think that this was the only hat anyone wore during that time. So much so that many costume designers and production teams get 1920s millinery very wrong. However, the cloche was important and, by 1925, had firmly put itself center stage. The cloche is partially attributed to Caroline Rebouxin, who debuted it in 1914 in Paris, but it took several years for it to really 'happen'. The cloche also did not have a monolithic design. It evolved for the duration of the decade, and through the century as it has been revisited. In 1924, the brim was about 5 cm at most and often curled up, worn like a visor over the eyes. The brim could curve up or down or both in one hat and sometimes was split or sometimes layered over the ears and/or over the nape. Many newspaper and magazine articles commented on how these hats blocked the wearer's periphery vision, and it is true that it was often obstructed. As the decade progressed, the 'bell' or cloche became a helmet rather than a cylinder or domed shape. Brims were almost or entirely non-existent or folded tightly against the crown. The 'helmet' shape also evolved into the casque shape usually created with cut and sew techniques with panels and was tightly fit. These casques were an option to the wool felt or straw helmet shapes. These hat styles were lovely open spaces for creativity in decorations. Either with sparse Art Deco appliques, or elaborate flat ribbon work, embroidery, fans of bows or small clusters of flowers or feathers. The key decoration element is that everything is flat on the hat. These hats changed the skill and trade of millinery forever. Prior to the 1920s, the popular millinery relied heavily on tremendous skill and hand labour. Edwardian hats - although a talented home seamstress could create something - were nearly fully dependent on master milliners to create the wire forms, which were then covered with buckram or esparterie and mull (a soft felt-like material to smooth the wireframe) before the fashion fabric. Strip-sewn straw also depended on the tremendous skill of millinery workers on specialized sewing machines. The cloche, casque, new toque, bicorn, turban, tam-o-shanter, and beret reduced the demand for these skilled workers, predominantly women, in the workforce. Although many millinery shops and milliners were still around, their expertise suddenly became less essential as the hats were simply not that complex. The 1920s absolutely marked the beginning of the end of millinery trade unions, their master, journeyman, and apprentice structure, and their prevalence in the manufacturing world. Not only had the new clothing fashions, short hairstyles, educational opportunities, and careers changed with and for the new woman and her new life. An entire women-filled industry declined. It truly was a new age.

Meaghan Armstrong Please Read In this article, I will use the terms woman, man, both sexes, lower, upper, and middle class. These terms are used to define these groups of people for clarity since there is not a current terminology to use to define these groups succinctly. I wish to state that using colonialist, patriarchal, white supremacist, classist, and generally puerile terminology is against my personal opinions, but here we are in societal transition. Vive la différence! January 1901 saw the death of Queen Victoria and the end of the Victorian era. The first decade of the new century carried the new British king's name and the beginning of the Edwardian era introduced a new type of hat. Wider side to side with oversized crowns made to fit over the elaborate hairstyles favoured by women at the time. One of these was the pompadour hairstyle, which was so large, it was often supported by natural hair-covered wire frames or pads made of hair, necessitating the bigger crowns. False hair was also sometimes added to achieve these voluminous hair styles. The large hats, called Gainsborough or picture hats, were enveloped in yards of filmy tulle and all manner of vegetation, creatures, and feathers were used to add stylish decoration. The 'S' curve silhouette which was the desired feminine shape during the beginning half of the Edwardian era, gave the illusion of an S-shape from the side view by enhancing the bust and the rear. The effect was increased by the large hats and piled-up hair. These hats complemented the flowing skirts that were narrow through to the knee and swirled around the feet like a trumpet flower serving to make the waist appear even more narrow. While these hats were the height of fashion but terribly impractical for the modern working girl. The Gainsborough hats were often mocked for looking more like cakes and other confections available to the upper class than the hats they were. By 1903, enormous lace veils were added which covered the wearer to the shoulders on all sides. The hem was either left loose and flowing to brush the tops of the shoulders, or tucked neatly into the collar. This was the precursor to the lingerie hats of 1904. The hats of 1904 also saw a slight narrowing of the brim and crown widths, but the height of the crown continued increasing until reaching its maximum in 1907. Lingerie hats were introduced by the wealthy set to complement the decadent lingerie dresses that captured the hearts and imaginations of the fashion elite. Made out of impossibly fine cotton, these gossamer dresses contained yards of inset lace and layers of ruffles and tucks. Always made in white, ivory, or maybe ecru, to match the dress, the hats were wide, shallow, and positively swimming in veils of lace, bobbinet, and tulle. These outfits were signs of wealth, as the cost of such fine materials was high, and keeping the delicate white dresses laundered and clean of grass and mud stains from the ladies strolling through grass and gardens required the considerable time, skill and effort of hired help. The trend shifted in 1907-1908 to softer hairstyles with center parts and hair fanned out over the ears. The bun was lower and softer so the hats again became wider to complement this more romantic hair. There were other millinery styles happening at the same time as the enormous high fashion concoctions. Sporting was beginning to open up to women even more than in the prior decade and of course, hats were required for these endeavors. Automobiling, as a leisure activity, was gaining popularity, and many women turned to hats designed to meet their needs while participating in the pastime of automobiling. Sectional pancake-shaped berets resting on a flat halo brim became a common sight on golf courses, cycling paths, and roads. Long lace veils were now used to cover the hats and face, sometimes the upper chest, to protect the face from dust, bugs, and sun. These berets were seem to have been the most popular hat for sports, but panamas, felt homburgs, and straw boaters were also seen. The straw boater was popular for both sexes and the lower middle class during the summer months. It was considered to be casual wear for men of the upper class but a neat, modest, and affordable hat for women in the workforce - something that was relatively new in this decade. The winter hat selection often mimicked summer hats but in heavier materials such as velvet and wool. The cold of winter also saw warmth as a necessary addendum to style, thus large berets of wool, velvet, and cut corduroy were common. Fur hats, in a brimless style, were common for anyone who could afford them. Fur was much more common than today, and lower quality furs were available to lower-class people. The Edwardian toque for all seasons was considered an excellent modest millinery choice for many, especially the mature woman. These hats were not the soft, knitted and pom-pom crowned hats of today, but large wire-framed hats with oversized crowns to accommodate the hair and upturned brims that hid or accentuated the crown. They were most often asymmetrical in some way and were covered in whichever fashion fabric was desired. Usually adorned with a light touch, their decoration was considered minimalist at that time. These hats would often match an outfit or overcoat, and were a popular choice for a travel outfit since the brim wasn't a hindrance in carriages, automobiles, or trains. As with all things, wealth provided women with many hats and the opportunities to wear them. A clever and skilled woman of lesser means could change the decoration or covering fabric of her frame often to create the illusion of a larger wardrobe of millinery. In 1908, Paul Poiret, the wealthy woman's avant-garde French designer, introduced the new narrow turban. By this time, the fashions of dresses and skirts had narrowed slightly to complement the revived "Empire" or "Directoire" dresses with their higher waistlines. The turban complemented this slender silhouette, and as the evening wear narrowed, evening turbans became all the rage. These turbans were bigger than what is considered a fashion turban today. The hair was still big and remained so throughout the decade. Poiret offered a sleeker style, much closer to the head with long feathers mounted center front. His designs were influential in later years but had less impact on the average woman in this decade. Regardless of the economic status of the wearer, the large hat, decorated with as many flowers, feathers, fruit, and ribbons as one could afford remained popular well into the next decade. The silhouette of the Edwardian era has not been significantly revisited in modern fashion and remains a style iconic of its time.