Wood County reporter. [volume] (Grand Rapids [i.e. Wisconsin Rapids], Wis.) 1857-1923, 1896-03-12
4 HISTORY OF HATS.
ODD CHANGES WORKED IN RECENT
YEARS BY FASHION.
THE PRESENT MODE.
During iae Past Ten Years All of
the EvoIutions Have Been in
Favor of Beauty and Elegance.

When, we wonder, did Fashion first turn
the necessity of headgear into feature of
ornament? We can hardly say; for as far
back as leisure permits US to trace, head
coverings have always been distinguished
by their endless variety Of form and de-
siea. The history of the hat and bonnet
would be a subject of magnitude indeed,
Tor perhaps there has never been an item
Of feminine dress upon which fashion has
been more whimsical or arbitrary
In our grandmothers days and in some
or our mothers, too, it was the bonnet
th&t was CONNIE il faut for select wear; it
S2S not a small but a large bonnet, and,
WITH curious contrariness, large hats
were voted bold and loud for it was the
age OF shrinking modesty, the era of sop-
Ing shawled shoulders, dropping ringlets
and the shady poke bonnet of drawn silk
or Dunstable straw formed the most fitting
headgear for the woman of that hour.
We remember well how the harmless
novelist OF the period ever depicted the
youthful heroine with the bonnet adorned
with a single feather shading her bIushing
and ttmtd features; it was a little monoton-
Gus, perhaps, but, alas in modern fiction
the youthful heroine has forgotten how to
plush, and her Limidity is replaced by
q stern emancipation in mind and attire.
But 1t is our duty to critcse the hat
large. versus the hat and bonnet small;
TO consider its merits and dement's, it's
suitability and otherwise; and put reminis-
cences o. all but modern data sternly
aside.
Fashion on the whole should, we consider,
be congratulated on the evolution of fem
mine headgear during the last ten yeans;
she has strayed through many phases Of
uGliness and discomfort, but at the present
moment has achieved beauty and elegance
ia millinery. A glance at any fashion
plates from. we will say, 1885 to 1889,
NIL show plainly how hideoLs were the
coverings we wore with such complacency.
The chief characteristics of the millinery
&: this date were heavineSS and inartistic
blending OF Colors; tendency to overload
without due respect to balance; and a
general unbecomlngness caused by the I'M
kappy method of placing the hat or bonnet
so far down on the head that ell the
delicate lines Of the brow and hair were
quite lost.
And yet we found delight in these earlier
modes. One much beloved was ii will be
remembered, a revived pork-pie shape,
trimmed heavily with lace and flowers;
fyIlowed was this by the first glimmering of
tae toque, an erection of velvet plush
also much adorned with stiff rosettes Of
lace and bands Of ribbon.
These hats but seldom were happily we'd
ded to the head, and are remembered by
us as u grand inducer of a frontal head
ache. Fashion at this time was conserva-
tive in her method of millinery trimmings
and decided that IL the adornment was in
the front of the hat or bonnet the back
vice versa. did her decree become later
when the simple sailor hat was metamor-
phosed out Of all recognition by a back
turned right UP and fastened by multi
tude of stiff ribbon bows. leaving the front
quite plain, and further completed by a
fully gathered brim of silk or velvet. And
OF those lined brims we are constrained to
speak moment. What works Of elabora-
ton and over-much material they we're, and
how many hours OF agony did they not
cause the amateur and aspiring dressmaker
for a brim minus its lining was an I'M
pardonable crime in the eyes of fashion!
The bonnet at this period was much worn.