Hold Onto Your Hats
It’s coming up to Spring Racing Season! For hat-lovers such as myself, this season can be a real joy, seeing women everywhere accessorising their heads, a sadly unusual practice these days.
The only real pity is that so many of them are common and cheap fascinators, excuses for real hats: bits of sinnamay with a fake gerbera or hibiscus attached willy-nilly, quills bobbing about like so many antenna, netting, and possibly sequins or glitter thrown in for good measure. Don’t overdo it like that! A little goes a long way.
Definition of a Fascinator
You may be wondering, what is the difference between a hat and a fascinator?
‘A fascinator hat is a small ornamental headpiece that fits on the head using an Alice-band-type base or headband or even a small comb. It is always lightweight and usually features feathers, beads or flowers. [V is for Vintage]
These pink straw headpieces are from 2013, and it was those dashing Schiaparelli pink stripes that caught my eye when I passed them in a department store. But are these fascinators? While they are attached to the head with Alice bands, in my mind their sculptural quality helps steer them away from bogan territory.
Potentially only the 1862 headdress on the left fits the description of a Victorian fascinator.
This certainly fits the description of a Victorian fascinator: a lace shawl attached to the head
True Origin of the Fascinator
The original fascinator refers to an item worn in the last decades of the 19th century: ‘a lace or crocheted head shawl secured to the crown or hairline that drapes down over the back of the head as far – or even farther – than the shoulders. These fascinators added a bit of seductive mystery to decorous Victorian fashion.
'By the 1930s, the term applied to a lacy hood – rather like a fussy balaclava – and soon after the term disappeared from use.’ [Encyclopædia Britannica]
Isn’t that fascinating? I must say though, a shawl attached to my head is even more unappealing to me than today’s ubiquitous sinnamay creations. I think I’ll just stick to my vintage hats!
A black lace 1930s fascinator
Crocheted fascinator from 1944 (you too can knit one if you click the image link).