Now with the summer here and the sun shining we need to look trendy with a hat on our heads. Fashion hats jazz up our outfits and also protect our hair from getting damaged from the sun and drying up. Has anyone ever wondered for what reason or fashion hats and ladies came together in the 1700s?
Lets find out more about historical costume hats!
A hat can be used as an accessory or a necessity.
In the past lady hats have been used for both.
Throughout the 18th century, milliners, took the hat making activity out of the home and established a millinery profession. In this modern day, a milliner is defined as a profession of hat making. Back then a milliner was more of a stylist. Traditionally it is a woman’s profession. The milliner also chose the laces, trims and accessories as well as creating the hats.
Many different styles and shapes were made back in those days like pancake style hats which resembled that of a shepherdess.
These hats were used as a necessity to keep the sun away from fair skinned women.
The calash bonnet was also very popular in the 1780′s when huge wigs and hairstyles were a trend. The calash bonnets were used to protect the hairstyles from the weather. They were made of stripped wood or sometimes whalebone that was sewn within a silk hood. A ribbon on the front of the hat allowed the woman to hold the calash securely over her head on windy windy days.
Cotton was then introduced as a fashion fabric. An anticipation of the more democratic styles was a taste of the more simpler fabrics. Cotton bonnets for the house which had a separated ribbon became extremely popular.
The list can go on, we can see that they had very simple materials to use, unlike what we have nowadays. It must have been pretty hard for the women back then to make a fashionable hat. Instead their styles were vintage although they saw it as something fashionably cool and as an ongoing trend at that time I’m sure.
