So dashing!

Browsing casually one day through Lady Bloodstone’s emporium, a favourite hatshop on eBay, I came upon this dashing little tilt hat that was so cute I instantly added it to my watch list.

Tomato red: such a happy colour! It looked just like something from a children’s picture book, with its curved calligraphic loops and soutache embroidery. I was unable to resist its allure for many days, and before long I committed to buy.

However, prior to my discovery of this late 30s wonder, the word ‘soutache’ had not been part of my vocabulary. Some research was called for.

I learned from that font of wisdom, Wikipedia, that a soutache is a ‘narrow flat decorative braid, a type of galloon*, used in the trimming of drapery or clothing’. It is often deployed in military and athletic uniforms to, respectively, indicate rank or outline numbers or players’ names. Crafters today are also using it to create jewellery. Originally soutache was woven from metallic bullion thread, silk, or silk/wool blends, although it is also now made from synthetic fibres.

…the original store tags were attached, and read ‘Montgomery Ward, $1.98’…

Lady Bloodstone noted the hat was in very good vintage condition, although the form and trims might require a little reshaping after storage; it also seemed that a veil might once have been attached. There was no label, but the original store tags were attached, and read ‘Montgomery Ward, $1.98’ and ‘100% wool, ADJ’. One dollar ninety-eight! I paid considerably more for the piece, some 70 years later.

When the hat arrived, I saw that the decorative loops did indeed require a little TLC. I procured some matching red thread and sewed them on securely. It didn’t need the addition of a veil, I decided, but just the right saucy tilt on the head to carry it off. And some bright red lipstick. 

* Galloon: a narrow strip of ornamental fabric, typically a silk braid or strip of lace, used to trim clothing or finish upholstery. From the French galon, early 17th century. 

The Long And Short of It

Two pairs of kidskin gloves: shorties beautifully inset with battenberg lace, and divinely soft 22" opera gloves.I am sad to report that gloves are not very much in fashion. On the other hand (pun intended), it is probably a good thing as I would probably have an enormous collection overflowing my drawers and shrinking my bank account.

Ancient Histories

Illustration of Cyrano de Bergerac by Pierre BrissaudOnce upon a time however, gloves were full of meaning: you could throw down the gauntlet if someone jostled you in a doorway or, if insulted, slap your nemesis in the face. You could offer your glove on bended knee in homage – or in a complete about turn throw your glove at the King’s feet to challenge his right to reign. Or you could even lace one with poison and gift it to an enemy, such as was done in the fifteenth century to Jeanne d’Albret, the Queen Mother
of France.

…you could throw down the gauntlet
if someone jostled you in a doorway or, if insulted, slap your nemesis
in the face.

Fair ladies showed favour to their knight by bestowing a glove to be worn in tournament. In eighteenth century Central Europe, gloves signified an exchange of property. Dutchwomen could marry their long-distant fiancés by proxy – standing beside his portrait and clutching his glove – prior to sailing to the East Indies to meet him.

So much more interesting than modern times: we just use them to keep our hands warm. Or even more prosaically, protect them from the evil effects of dishwater, or harsh chemicals and the like.

Short or Long?

The empire-line gown Josephine made fashionable, worn with long (and ruched-down) gloves. Image from ‘The Fine Art of Fashion – An Illustrated History’, by Julian Robinson, Bay Books Australia.Glove length depends upon the occasion. I once read somewhere: the longer the glove, the more formal the occasion. However, historically, sleeve-length has also influenced the length of the gloves.

Over-the-elbow gloves first became fashionable towards the end of the eighteenth century, when Napoleon was rampaging all over Europe, and his Empress Josephine was dazzling fashionable society with Empire-line gowns – and long gloves of course (the better to disguise her ‘ugly’ hands). It was also very fashionable to scrunch them down so they wrinkled attractively.

Around 1810, when sleeves lengthened, gloves grew shorter, but long gloves were still worn with formal dress until around 1825. Then, the Victorian era’s fashionable tendencies towards longer-sleeved gowns made long gloves obsolete – even with shorter-sleeved eveningwear.

The Three Musketeers’ Legacy

Ah, so that’s how they did it! Drawing by Harrison Fisher.Made from delicate kidskin and coloured white, ivory or black, opera gloves are between 19 and 23 inches in length. They have a wrist opening that closes with three pearl buttons (although originally they did not), with three lines stitched across the back of the hand. In French, they are called mousquetaire gloves, and do in fact take their name from the French musketeers, being feminine adaptions of a style in use by these duellists.

The mousquetaire continued to be popular, particularly in the Edwardian period, and became associated with elegance and high class – a far cry from the medieval period. It was considered inappropriate to remove them in public
(far too alluring), so there was no slapping anyone in the face with these. Instead, many ladies made use of the wrist opening and slipped their hands through in order to eat or drink, without removing the glove itself.

Forbidden behaviour: removing gloves alluringly in public. These'd be no good for face slapping anyway.

The Rules for Gloves

Fast forward to the mid-twentieth century. By this time gloves of all lengths and styles were an indispensible accessory. One could not venture out of the house without gloves, but one was certainly permitted to remove them on certain occasions.

Eating, drinking, smoking, playing cards, applying makeup: all were forbidden activities in the 1960s. Bracelets were allowed on top of gloves, but rings were a positive no-no. (For the full list of Do’s and Don’ts, refer to Miss Abigail.)

These days so few women wear fashionable gloves that there are no official tenets governing their deployment…

These days so few women wear fashionable gloves that there are no official tenets governing their deployment: it is more likely simple common sense that will rule – or the whim of the moment. Gloves worn for warmth are cast off once one has reached one’s destination, while those worn for fashion are retained so long as food is not consumed. The former will most likely be stuffed into a pocket, and the latter (hopefully) sedately folded and tucked into a purse.

It is a pity, but there may not be too many opportunities to wear kidskin opera gloves these days, but there is a certain pleasure in owning a vintage pair. Gloves of all kinds are a delight to wear. I for one will not be foregoing any opportunity, even if I limit myself to less fragile pairs – it helps to own lots of these!

Reverse Panama

The Vintage Hat Series: genuine Panama hat, handwoven from straw in Ecuador.The most classic and famous of men’s summer hats, the Panama, is understated and distinguished in its white and black simplicity. It’s as sharp as the man (and sometimes woman) who wears it.

What I love most about this hat I am wearing is that it couldn't be further from that concept: wide-brimmed, black, swathed in white chiffon and adorned with an enormous bunch of creamy roses. And it is still a genuine Panama hat made in Ecuador.

I am not sure of its vintage (I found it in a charity shop), but it has an elegant Thirties air about it. I feel that I should be wearing a tea-gown and sauntering through an orchard at sunset, carrying a basket of flowers. Perhaps I can try to fulfil that little fantasy sometime this summer…

Mad Millinery

The Vintage Hat Series: 50s feather hat.

Hats constructed entirely from feathers are completely mad. Not to mention utterly impractical. I am not talking of a bit of sedate marabou trim, or pheasant feather here or there, but a veritable frenzy of feathers. Observe:

Vintage feather hat with matching fan…… modern feather hat with matching fan.

Crazy, right? These hats are for showoffs: exhibitionists who strut their stuff and puff out their plumes; the peacocks of society. But, but … they are so much fun!

So inherently airy and light, feathers are full of life. Plucked out of the natural world and sculpted into fantastic creations by artists, they adorn the heads of human birds of paradise.

And you need to be a little exotic to dare to flutter out of the house in one of these numbers…

(L-R) Designer unknown, Getty Images; Philip Treacy, V&A Images; vintage 60s conical hat.

These hats are for showoffs: exhibitionists who strut their stuff and puff out their plumes…

When feathers are dyed such vivid colours as the pink above, or whimsically transformed into signage (below), it is easy to forget their origin, but they certainly do not look any less wild for that. The natural properties of quills and vanes combine strength and flexibility, as well as a delightful frivolity that must easily capture the imaginations of mad milliners, both past and present. Philip Treacy patently adores them, as did his muse, Isabella Blow.

Mad hats by Philip Treacy and all worn by Isabella Blow.Historically, feathers were not merely a fashionable accessory, but like jewellery an indicator of rank. Juju hats are traditionally worn by village chiefs in the Cameroon region of central Africa, and are made from brightly coloured feathers sewn onto a raffia base. A continent away, feathers again are utilised to signify leadership in Native American tribes, to create headdresses that are both fierce and beautiful.

I want them all, delicious and impractical as they are. There speaks my frivolous, exhibitionist little soul!

Juju hat in vivid pink. Popular with interior designers today as wall hangings.Made from 2000 Ginni feathers, this beautiful hat is traditionally prepared, wrapped, and hand sewn by artist Sunshine Stam, an Apache/Cherokee Elder.

Easy On the Lobes

Out of all the accessories in a woman’s wardrobe today, jewellery alone serves no purpose except decoration. (Unless of course you are a monarch or aristocrat wearing ostentatious jewellery for the noble purpose of stunning your subjects into submission by the sheer size of your baubles.)

Historically, jewellery was used to indicate identity or status, but the popularity of earrings in particular was subject to the changes in fashion of hairstyles, headwear and necklines. If the ears were hidden earrings were obviously superfluous; equally so if the hairstyle or headdress was elaborate.

Dancing girls wearing girdles, earrings, bracelets and armlets, and female musicians wearing earrings, broad collars, bracelets, armlets and finger-rings; detail of a wall-painting from the tomb of Nebamun, W Thebes, 18th Dynasty. Image from Ancient Egyptian Jewelry by Carol Andrews; Abrams 1991.

Original screwbacks: a pair of Tutankhamun's gold earrings inlaid mostly with coloured glass; c. 1336-1327 BC. D 5.2cm.Although pierced earrings were worn in the Middle East as far back as 3000 BC, times changed, and many millennia later, piercing one’s ears was considered barbaric – possibly because it was indeed reminiscent of tribal violence, slavery, and other unsanitary notions. (I wonder what they would think of today’s fashion for multiple piercings?)

When screw-back earrings were patented in 1894, and sleeker hairstyles were adopted, earrings once again became popular. This popularity led to the invention of clip backs, which were patented in 1934. It was not until the 1960s that pierced ears again came back into vogue: movie stars, models and the emerging fashion magazine industry inspiring women to emulate their style.

Famous earrings of the past: Vermeer’s Girl With a Pearl Earring, c 1665. (Click on image for larger version.)I remember clip-ons during the Eighties. I wore them before I had my ears pierced, and found them mostly either useless (the earrings slipped off) or incredibly painful (the metal clamps like a deathgrip on my lobes). Pierced earrings are ultimately just more convenient.

However, I had never tried old-fashioned screw-backs before I bought these quaint ceramic earrings from a charity shop earlier this year. They are navy blue with copper polka-dots, and a copper glaze overall. The elderly lady who sold them to me warned me that they were screw-backs; I dismissed that paltry consideration and handed over $4.

I cursed the inventor of screw-backs and pondered the gullibility of women everywhere, suffering atrocities for the sake of fashion.

Wow! Two of my favourites combined into one: earrings AND shoes! Vintage 1940s enamel earrings from Vicious Vintage on Etsy. (No longer available.)When I arrived home and excitedly pulled them out to try on, I discovered they were as agonising to wear as those infamous Eighties baroque gold pearl chandelier clip-ons I had once owned. I cursed the inventor of screw-backs and pondered the gullibility of women everywhere, suffering atrocities for the sake of fashion.

But just last week I was forced to retract my vows of hatred! I found the prettiest, sparkliest vintage necklace and earring set at the Salvos. A gorgeous lolly pink, the dangling teardrops on the gold necklace looked like bonbons. The earrings were screw-backs, and bravely I ventured to try them on. At first I thought I hadn’t attached them, but when I tugged, I discovered I had – they just didn’t hurt at all!

I didn’t buy the set though, as the little button-like earrings were just not quite ostentatious enough for me.