Evening star., 1933-07-02

Y YOUR hat Is the most dramatic
" note in your costume. It's like
the high light in a picture, or
i the climax Of play. Your
frock may be mediocre and
uninteresting, but If your hat is right,
your costume Is q success.
When a stranger meets you, what
does he see? Your dress, your shoes,
your accessories? OF course not. He
sees your hat 1t is the hat that gives
character to the whole costume. Even
more than that, it Is the hat that gives
character to you. Your hat IS gay. in
souciant, or it is formal and dign-fled.
1t gives the cue to your own mood and
temperament.
Not only does the hat express your
own mood, but it is the best index to
the temper of the times. Hats are al
ways changing. A hat six months old
is already an antique. You buy your
coats for three or four seasons, your
frocks for two, but your hats you buy
for the hour and the day. They ex-
press a passing emotion; they are q
concession to the times in which We
live.
If I were to study nations history,
I would study its hats first, because I
am sure they would give me a clue to
the emotional life Of the times. Think
Of the helmet-like cloche that women
clung to SO desperately after the war.
It represented uniform to them.
Like soldiers, they wanted all to be
alike. But now, study the hats you
see around you. There are dozens OF
types; there was never so much in
dividuality in hats as there Is today.
And, likewise, women were never more
sure Of themselves, never more willing
to follow their own individual likes and
moods. Women Of today are independ-
ent and so hats also are varied and as
different as their wearers.
IT is Q wise woman who goes out and
buys a new hat when her spirits
are tagging and her courage is low.
For the proper hat puts her at once in
step with the times. The right hat
says to the world, and to her, that she
is alert and abreast of the trends
around about her. She is not living in
the world of year ago. or six months
ago, but in the world of this very mo-
ment. That is what the right hat says
as plain as day to passersby. They ap-
prove Of the woman who takes this
attitude toward life, for they realize
that she will be as keen and aware in
every field Of life.
Hats, more than any other article Of
dress, are q test Of ones style sense.
The really smart woman Is able to
adapt herself very quickly to what Is
new. The designer presents her work,
the smart woman appraises 1t instantly
and adapts herself to its new require
ments. Hats are always new. This
seasons hats bear no relation to the
hats Of season ago. That isn't true
of clothes.
Designers of coats and dresses dare
the pain of finding them rejected.
Practically rules in the realm Of frocks
and coats. But when it is hat, no
such rules Of practically are In force.
It is never necessary to design q hat
that will outlsst several seasons. A hat
it thing Of the moment. Therefore
it is delightful surprise. One season,
hats may be as fiat as pancakes; the
next, as tall as the Tower Of Babel
The smart woman goes from one to the
other as easily as she slips out Of one
pair Of shoes into another. She adopts
the mode that appeals to her temper
amentality. But she doesn't limit her
self to one single hat, for she Is only
too well aware that half the fun OF
being a woman comes from the ability
to change ones personality by chang
ing ones clothes-above all by changing
ones hat. When she feels very gay
and nonchalant, she chooses such a hat
as a careless draped linen with its
band Of bright colors. When she longs
to be her prettiest, she chooses q hat
that frames her face softly and ro-
mantically, like . dropping leshorn
model