My grandmother wouldn't go out to the local shops without a hat. My mother had a hat to go with most outfits...along with gloves, shoes and a scarf. It was very much a part of being well dressed to have a hat on for coffee mornings, lunch in town, garden fetes, attending school functions or going to a wedding, christening or funeral.
Gran was born an Edwardian, so hats were an every day thing for her. Even as an old lady she would not go anywhere without one. She adhered to the rule that you kept your hat on while out, even when inside a friends home. If she helped at jumble sales, she and all the other ladies kept their hats on..often as not accessorized with a wraparound pinny.
Best hats were kept in tissue and one or two were so 'best' that they were found still in tissue paper unworn when she died.
Mother didn't wear a hat to the shops, but did to the smart things.She always had gloves..she even knew her glove size ....in 2017 that sounds other worldly.
Church was definitely the place for a hat. Sundays of course...plus the hatched matched and dispatched times.
I had a brief flirtation with a floppy felt hat in the 70s, but as with scarves as head coverings ( see A Scarf By Any Other Name 23/2/15), it would not stay on and I could never get used to looking out from under the brim. Not so much a women of mystery, more no peripheral vision.
Slinky types wore berets. Fascinators arrived and do not seem to want to leave. Tiny hats that look as if they are from the dressing up box, or as if a small plate has had a stiff bow stuck on it and then afixed to the front of ones head seem to have colonised weddings. Saw a photo of a man in a top hat with a veil this week. It looked good. I did try a large brimmed straw confection for summer sun, but again,see floppy hat/scarf problems.
From grans cloches to mothers straws (with a matching fabric band to her dress) to me now. I wear a woolly hat in the garden mainly to keep my hair out of my eyes, but that's it. But I do like hat pins.
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