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That Old Hat Magic
| Article
# : |
11904 |
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Section : |
LIFE
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| Issue
Date : |
8 / 1987 |
1,753 Words |
| Author
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Gail Greco
Gail Greco is the author of the just-released Bridal Shower
Handbook (Wallace-Homestead, 1988). |
A young milliner, surrounded by the latest in colorful Paris ornamentation for the head studying her crowning creation, is captured in The Millinery Shop, a dreamy oil-on-canvas by French impressionist Edgar Degas. Hats were an essential part of everyday life in 1882, when Degas preserved this commonplace moment.
These were the good old days, when gentlemen tipped their brims to ladies and no one ventured outdoors without headwear. Indeed, even middle-class shoppers frequented milliners and haberdashers in this era.
We may have dispensed with the dependency, but not with hats themselves. Hats continue to fascinate us and we wear them - baseball-style caps, berets, fashionable fedoras - by choice, not out of societal expectation.
One of the world's leading hat-makers, Bernadette Rosenstadt of Betmar, New York, says that there is a renewed interest in hats. "During the past twenty years we wore anything that fell out of the closet," she says. But in the eighties more thought is given to dress.
"Hats are the dominant accessory for fall for men and women," says Rosenstadt. "It has to do with the way clothes are evolving. Clothes are more elegant, dressier, and particularly important to the businesswoman. A hat gives her a professional edge and plenty of self-assurance."
Hats have many functions. They have long been status symbols, indicating one's wealth, politics, religion, or occupation. A man involved in many activities is often referred to as wearing many hats. Hats convey a mood or feeling - donning a brightly colored hat can perk up the spirits. They also protect us from the elements. Some 60 percent of body heat escapes through the top of the head. "Where's your hat? Your head is your chimney," is a common wintertime parental reminder.
Markers of time and place
Almost every period in history can be symbolized by a hat. Bicornes bring back tales of piracy. Puritan, Quaker, tri-cornered, and "Daniel Boone" trapper styles are all reminiscent of early America, followed by the derby of the Gay Nineties, the top hat, and the fedora.
Hats also represent regions and nations: the rice hat for the Orient; the Tyrolean for the Germanic areas; the
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