September 24, 2016

A hat

Look what I've got!

Unfortunately, I have no good way of displaying it but this but it is a rather nice lady's hat. 

It was given to me by my mother and grandmother last week. They told me they had paid a visit to a friend of my grandmother's (who is between them in age) who is now volunteering for a charity which also has a shop. This hat had been brought in and she had put it aside, recognizing it as a good thing but knowing it wouldn't sell. So, my mother and grandmother got to take it along for me, knowing that I would appreciate it. 
My mother thought it was decorated with peacock feathers but I suspect those lovely dark brown feathers with their iridescent deep green shine came from a smaller bird. A cockerel I think. Two kinds of feathers are alternated around the outside of the hat, circling a crown made of deep brown velvet. The lining is very clean and the elastic un-stretched. This hat looks like it has never been worn. 
Of course, I should wear it. It's a continuing issue of mine: I love hats as an idea, but I tend to struggle to actually wear them. For this hat, I will have to figure out a hairstyle that works with it. It looks like a 1950's style so it was probably meant to be worn with shortish hair. I think a low bun would work too.  
Maybe I could construct an outfit around it... I have quite a bit of dark green wool in my stash. I have often thought about turning that into a 1950's style tailleur suit... Maybe I should do that now. The green might match the shine of those feathers and I think this hat seems like the kind of style to wear with a dressy suit in autumn...

4 comments:

  1. This is lovely! I know exactly what you mean about hats---I love the idea of them, I even like how I look in them often, but actually wearing them? I would feel weird. (Except for warm ones in winter, of course, but those get pulled off as soon as you go indoors...)

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  2. And I think a suit to go with it would be lovely!

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  3. I wear hats all the time once the weather turns cool, mostly 30s and 40s. All you need is a good black coat and then what you have on underneath doesn't matter! ( I think Persian lamb is perfect, but old ones used to be readily available--they are harder to find now, and a cloth coat works too.)

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