Put Fashion on Your Head - A Few Words about Ladies' Hats

The art of wearing hats is dying. Although designers more and more often return to crowning their silhouettes with imaginative hat shapes on the catwalk, it is fair to say that contemporary street fashion lacks in women's headwear. Ah... where are the days when only clergymen appeared in public without hats? However, recent years have shown some light at the end of the tunnel, as women are increasingly wearing headgear and not only as part of their winter wardrobe.

History enters the head

The beginnings of women's headwear can be found in the holy books of the world's largest religions! The command to cover the head for women, who were supposed to be modest before the outside world, was included in St. Paul's letter to the Corinthians. This Christian tradition, which shaped contemporary European culture, required women to cover their seductive hair under veils, hoods, and wide-brimmed hats. Over time, hats were assigned a completely new meaning - they became a sign of social status and noble origin. Women's hats adorned with jewels were a perfect addition to the outfit, through which one could manifest wealth - that's why they also became part of the jewelry. Wide-brimmed hats also served an additional function, namely protecting noble, alabaster white skins from the sun's rays.

The art of hat shaping became so popular that in the 18th century a completely new profession was created: millinery, which today is considered a dying art of handmade hat creation.

Universal madness

The beginning of the 20th century is another new chapter in the history of fashion. That's when the first fashion houses began to appear, the successors of which are today's dictators of fashion. In 1913, Coco Chanel herself opened her first hat shop in Paris. Even before the First World War, Paul Poiret popularized the fashion for women's turbans, richly adorned with precious stones, pearls, and feathers. The trend survived the turmoil of war and was reborn in the interwar period when emancipated women loved to wear tight and narrow headgear, emphasizing their short hairstyles. However, a real avant-garde in the world of hats was introduced in the 1930s by Salvador Dali's friend, Elsa Schiaparelli. Her surrealist interests manifested themselves in crazy ideas for headgear, e.g., in the shape of a shoe or a compilation of gloves.

Today, this slowly forgotten art of hat making is mostly cultivated by British aristocrats during the annual Royal Ascot horse races.

Mad hatters!

Contemporary women, fascinated by elements of classic men's fashion, most often wear men's fedoras - felt hats with a narrow, sloping brim with a concave fold along the crown. However, mad hatters from Gucci, Chanel, Dolce & Gabbana, or Moschino in their collections cause a real headspin. Gucci offers bright and flashy hats with elongated crowns, Chanel presents similar color styling in the form of headwear that was worn by Madame Coco herself. On the other hand, Dolce & Gabbana, Gucci, and Moschino also refer to the retro style, but in more screaming colors, putting on the heads of their models women's hats with a netted veil.

Avant-garde, a riot of colors and decorations, applications, veils, and sizes, it's just madness! When it comes to hats, this autumn's trends in headwear are really off the hook. It could be said that the weirder, the better, because a hat is always a true adornment for a woman!