From Mars:
How to Hang One's Hat
Hi everyone, Mars here again.
Now the holidays are behind us and we begin another exciting new year, I wanted to kick it off talking about one of my favourite penchants, hats! What would we do without hats? They’re such a big detail of our vintage wardrobe, and our history.
My love of hats goes back to my time as a young girl in church and to school, as a part of our uniform, so to not wear a hat would feel odd. Since then, personally speaking, no, I couldn’t not wear a fabulous hat or headgear with an ensemble. Fortunately for me, my chap too is an ardent hat tipper, a Brixton Trilby being his lid of choice. What a pair we make. We were sitting at London Bridge station recently, waiting for our train back to the provinces, that, surprise surprise, had been cancelled, creating an hour plus wait for the next service. To fill the time we chuckled that we should play a game. A point for every person we spotted wearing a hat, and no, baseball caps didn’t count. Well, as 2020 would have it, even in our beloved capital, alas, we spotted a whole 3 people wearing actual hats! Two women, and one chap wearing a Panama – albeit sloppily.
It seems that hats have fallen from favour, at least outside of our community, as it’s not often couples are seen sporting wonderful hats. I absolutely love seeing all the handsome vintage chaps on Instagram wearing their Fedoras, Trilbys, Stetsons and tweed caps. Us ladies have too much choice to not have fun every day donning a beautiful hat. Recently visiting a museum in Bolton I came across a marvellous photograph of a very large crowd gathered for a rally (below), and upon closer inspection I was amazed to see practically every single person wearing a hat! I actually had to search for any that didn’t.
My favourite style of hats remain from the 1930s and 1940s. 1940’s hats were both a continuation of the popular styles of the 1930s and new additions to the casual headwear in the form of the beret, turban, headscarf and snood. While 1940’s hats were not rationed during war time they were heavily taxed at 33% as a luxury purchase, whereas berets, small dot hats and turbans were simple easy, no frills hats to be worn on any occasion. So without further ado, here are my hat tips.
BERETS
My love of berets began whilst studying 1920s fashions and realising that the beret had been around for so long, associated with a plethora of different types of peoples, countries and identities. It’s a hat with a powerful history dating back thousands of years. I was, however, hindered by having long hair for many years, too much for a small beret, and as soon as I lost the length I began wearing them in earnest.
I have about 30 wool berets, and I wear them in all seasons. There are really no hard and fast rules to wearing a beret, wether worn back on the head or tipped down to one side, it’s always quite a fabulous look that complements a nice trench coat, country jacket or that 1920’s blouse and high-waisted trousers. Berets are always a good start to ladies getting familiar with wearing hats, I’ve found. They are very versatile and easy to mix and match. I personally wear my berets with a luxurious hat pin, of course for keeping it in place, but moreover to ‘decorate’ it for that simple little additional touch; it transforms my outfit.
Bridgette Bardot and Marlene Dietrich couldn’t have got it wrong darlings.
TURBANS
As we know, the turban goes back to ancient civilisations such as ancient India, Mesopotamia and Babylon. As early as 400-600BC to present day, the turban has been adopted by many cultures, men and women, faiths and religions. Influenced by the likes of Coco Chanel and Paul Poiret with their beautiful interpretations drawn from Les Ballet Russe, the turban quickly became associated with the silver screen Hollywood glamour era with the likes of Greta Garbo et al, and never looked back.
I love wearing a turban, and is really my go-to headwear on any given day. Utilising everything from a Liberty scarf, or holiday scarf, to a (readily affordable) 1-2 yards of plain coloured jersey fabric. I wear it usually with a large knot up front and high, and leave my ears uncovered for my earrings to show. Alternatively, for the land girl look or a more traditional WWII 1940s and ’50s style, one can be worn covering the ears. It’s really a preference of a look and style. Go for all out glam (adding a brooch for wow), or less dressy. I wear my turbans with everything from a full on vintage dress/outfit, to my trusted dungarees and jeans, with spectator shoes or brogues.
One thing about turbans I love too, they don’t move! Once they’re on, riding a bike or sailing, they’re on for the day. Wrap up ladies!
1930’s & 1940’s HATS
I have a large collection of this period of hats, feathered, floral or lace front, I simply love the glamour of a vintage dress hat. There are a lot of looks to choose from and styles to mix and match. What I’d personally recommend sourcing is a felt hat that you can easily accessorise with a brooch, a hat pin, or simply add faux flowers to for a little punch to a plain coloured hat.
How one wears a vintage hat is also a matter of preference. I think a hat slightly tipped down and to one side is a great look, adding a sense of intrigue and mystery. French straw hats from the 1940s are also a big favourite of mine whenever I find them. They’re divine, especially when adding an under the chin ribbon in a bright red, or black satin. Head turning headwear.
HAT HAZARDS
The wind is a ladies worst enemy when it comes to keeping our dainty caps on. Nothing more frustrating. A couple of my tips for keeping them in place are:
1. Bobby pins. Just slide in two pins, one on each side of the inner hatband, and then push down on your head!
2. Hair combs. I sometimes hand-stitch hair combs onto my hats before I wear them. Then, when it is time to wear it, I also add a hat pin for extra staying power!
3. Hat pins. Vintage hat pins are my all time favourite! They are the most traditional and they add a little decoration, which I love. You can find them often at fairs and at vintage and charity stores.
4. Hat elastic. You can find hair elastic in any haberdashery store and it’s easy to install yourself. Just attach it to each side, making sure it’s the right length, and you’re ready to go!
To keep your hats fresh. Hats respond well to gentle brushing, but be careful, it is very easy to damage hat trims and feathers. I sometimes take a blow dryer, on low fan and no heat, and ‘dust’ large hats with ostrich plumes.
Bye bye for now my vintage lovlies, see you in the spring!
Life on Mars
Hi Mars, I love your writing about hats!!! I will do a talk about it in school I think!
So cool.
xxxxxx
Lot’s of love from Serafina
Love this! Perhaps you can answer my question about hat etiquette. I know men are supposed to remove their hats when indoors. Is there any time when a woman is supposed to remove her hat or its not appropriate to wear one?
Very informative! Thank you! Do you have any advise on how to store your berets, turbans and hats?
Thanks!
Great style!!! Love it!