Cheri by French author Colette is a wonderful book, it is set in Paris in the 1920's and tells the story of a love affair between a young man and a beautiful older woman. This period is my second favourite era, if I couldn't be transported back, just for a moment, to the medieval era, then it would have to be here, a time of La Belle Epoque, the fantastic style of Art Nouveau, delicate and very feminine dresses, and of course those gorgeous hats.
Every time I watch the film I always wonder why and when we stopped wearing hats as part of our everyday apparel. In photographs of my great aunts, they are always wearing hats and both my grandmothers, in their younger days, they wore them too. We ladies like to wear a fancy hat to a wedding, but on the whole, we have the woolly hat for winter and straw one for the summer - that's it!
The answer to my question of why we no longer wear hats lies in the war years. People stopped wearing hats after the Second World War as the British public did not want reminding of the time they spent in uniform and thought that going hatless would represent a break with the past, the breaking down of the barriers of etiquette initiated a gradual decline in hat wearing. However, the non-wearing of a hat in the institutions of authority and power such as seats of government or law was still a controversial subject. In 1942 the wearing of hats in Law Courts by women was deemed as a matter of such national importance that the Lord Chancellor was forced to consult the Lord Chief Justice, the Master of the Rolls, and the President of the Probate, Divorce, and Admiralty. Examples of this can be found in the records of the Bow Street Police Court, where the Chief Clerk stated that "just as there was no law requiring a prisoner to stand, so there was none making it compulsory for a woman to wear a hat in court—unless it was the principle once enunciated in the Star Chamber that magistrates were gods." and in the Liverpool quarter sessions where the recorder, said that "women could come into his court dressed as they pleased. He wished the officials there to understand that women, whether serving on juries or as witnesses, might dress as they liked in court. There was, he continued, no sort of historic or religious basis for the absurd business of telling women that in court hats must be worn."
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As is the norm with the study of history the subject of religion plays its part and surprising it has its say on the subject of the hat. It is mentioned in the bible that men were expected not to wear a hat during worship but women were told to cover their heads. The medieval woman were also told what to wear on their heads. Headdresses were worn for more than just looking attractive, they were worn specifically to cover their hair. The medieval woman's hair was considered an erotic feature and it was especially important that married woman covered their hair with veils as it was legally considered a property of the husband. The medieval lady would wear the conical hat, the circlet or the snood. The male hat of the time was the hood or cowl, the large turban cap was popular but this soon morphed into a small hat with a close turned up brim. Of course, the most famous headgear was the armoured helmet, used as a protection in battle.
Apart from wearing a hat to protect one's head or to deter the lusty medieval man etiquette played a big part in the history of what we do with the hat.
It is thought that the custom of removing or tipping your hat originates from the aforementioned medieval period, knights would raise their visors or remove their helmets as a gesture of good intent and in the same vein soldiers and the male hat wearing public would also raise their hats to their superiors. It was always the done thing for a man to raise his hat when he met a lady.
Many of these fine old traditions have long since faded into obscurity, and we as a society worse off for it I think. 'Manners' writes William Horman the 16th-century headmaster at Eton and Winchester College 'maketh man.'
It is thought that the custom of removing or tipping your hat originates from the aforementioned medieval period, knights would raise their visors or remove their helmets as a gesture of good intent and in the same vein soldiers and the male hat wearing public would also raise their hats to their superiors. It was always the done thing for a man to raise his hat when he met a lady.
Many of these fine old traditions have long since faded into obscurity, and we as a society worse off for it I think. 'Manners' writes William Horman the 16th-century headmaster at Eton and Winchester College 'maketh man.'
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