Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1913-11-04
BY ANNE RITTENHoUsE.

The woman who is choosing a hat is
limited to certain shapes There is not
diversity in head gear this season, and
there is very little variety in fabric.
Black velvet rules everything.
AS yet. few people wear the square
sailor hat that Caroline Rebeux invented
in straw last summer and copied in vel
vet this winter. 1t is novelty, but one
that is not universally becoming.
1t is. difficult to work out how the
stiff sailor hat in white straw that was
immortalized by the Gibson girl was
adopted by the majority of the women
of America without utterly marring their
appearance. The line was severe. there
was no softening by means of veil or
trimming, and yet SO universal was this
one shape that no one thought it could
ever be put out of fashion. The attempt
of a leading French milliner to reinstate
it has almost failed so far. because the
American face is not suited to such Sc
verify. So goes the criticism. at least.
This opens up an isteresting question
Has the American face changed in the
last decade: or did we look as well as
We thought We did in the stiff sailor
shapes of other days? Is 1t that we
are so accustomed to hats with soft lines
change to another type?
There is stiff hat today that is quite
fashionable, but its severity is obtained
in another way; 1t is Of velvet with a
soft crown and a high, standing, wired
brim of lace. Sometimes the top of
this has a scalloped edge, again it is
battlemented. This hat is usually round;
it is seldom oblong or boat shaped, and
there are evidences that it's .brim will
be modified as the season advances and
NJ rod s,, ycriry RI CyVif n
ferent faces.
Lace is flexible material that lends
itself to skillful fingers in a graceful
manner, and one can bend and twist it
to suit ones ideas. a.
Hats With Soft Crowns.
There is little evidence SO far of hats
with stiff crowns. No matter what shape
the brim, the top part is flexible. Some
times it is pulled up to a point in the
middle. again ii is denied down in
casual manner as though it had fallen
on the floor.
1t is difficult to get the crown higher
than the brim for many reasons, one
of which is the fashionable method of
arranging fountains of feathery sprays
along the edge Of an outstanding brim
You remember that this fashion was
tried out last winter. 1t made it's first
appearance on black satin hats in the
Raphael turban shape, and it continued
without cessation during the spring and
summer.
Today the fashion is in full force. One
sees few coors used in IL: white sprays
are put on a black hat and sometimes
there are blue hats with blue sprays
There is quite a disposition to wear
navy blue hats. One sees them in com
as with black gowns. The blue hat with
the white sprays is not as popular as
the milliners thought it might be. and
the preference of the mass of people Is
for the all black or the all blue hat.
except for formal occasions where the
black hat with the white sprays is
chosen.
One of the best Of these hats is of
panne velvet, the kind with the sheen.
shape which has dent in the middle
front of brim: it's edges are outlined with
waving fiues of white fantasies
The boat shaped hat is exceedingly
popular and the millners have found
many ways to vary its monotony. The
brim is higher on one side than the
other. there is dent, sharply defined in
the middle of the front and again at
the side: there is wide projection at
the back out Of all relation to the short
brim in front. and there is always the.
high and the low crown to be played
with.
If one has use of all these methods
there is no use in having two hats alike.
There is no hope, however. of any other
fabric but velvet leading the way. and
the ceaseless and untirlng use of it is