V96: The 1780s/1910s Double-Period Hat

A few posts ago I staked lampshade style bonnets of the 1780s against similar chapeaus of the 1910s.  My idea was to see if one hat could be used for both periods, and here is the result:

Black silk bonnet with “muffin top,” a la 1780s
Black silk bonnet with “muffin top,” a la 1910s

I’m really happy with how this one bonnet looks with both outfits.  I didn’t change the feathers or trims, but for a different look, it would be so easy to add a veil-tail to the back and some standing plumes, for the 1780s, or some french plumes and a big ribbon flourish for the 1910s.

8 Comments

  • Zach

    April 6, 2012 at 3:50 AM

    That is perfect! It's funny…when I saw the top picture, I thought, "that is so 18th century." Then I scrolled down and thought, "wow, that is so 20th century!" Great job! I think it is absolutely perfect in both respects!

    Reply
  • Cation Designs

    April 6, 2012 at 6:16 PM

    I was just at the thrift store yesterday trying to figure out if I could get a straw hat and make it work for both of these periods! Except that I was also hoping to squeeze Ren Faire into it too. Hmmm, that might be asking a bit much of one hat…

    Thanks for sharing your hat(s)!

    Reply
    • Lauren R

      April 6, 2012 at 9:11 PM

      I bet you could go three periods if you're really careful. It would depend on the trims – what about those small straw hats that turn down at the front and up at the back a little? Don't those make an appearance in soe Brueghel paintings? You could totally wear a hat like that for 18th c. and 1870s, too šŸ˜€

      Reply
  • Wendy H

    February 9, 2022 at 1:42 PM

    Thank you for this post. I now have the ambition to make myself a carefully trimmed muffin stopped lampshade hat to wear with my eighteenth and Edwardian outfits.

    I am currently trimming a small (13 inches diameter) bergere/flat-topped straw hat to wear with both my 1770s and 1890s dresses. I wet the straw to shape the brim curled up in the back and “C” shaped in the front.For the shaping and the trimming, I am using as inspiration the Edwardian style trimmed straw bonnets on the Austentation websites (etsy.com/shop/regencyaustentation and austentation.com), the “mini sew along” for bergeres at the Bromley and Trowridge website, and illustrations of trimmed straw hats in my Skyline Publishing reproductions of Sears Roebuck 1897 and Montgomery Ward 1895 catalogs.

    Reply

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