ELAN
Hats off! It’s wedding season, and the biggest accessory for wedding attire in the west— the hat—is also its most divisive adopted lovingly by some as a polite formality, and dismissed by others as outdated. Anna Heimbichner explores how hats came to be worn at weddings, who makes them and how best to wear them
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ats have been worn throughout history both as a functional device (the head loses more heat than other parts of the body) and as a fashion statement. Fastforward through the Industrial Revolution to the colonial era, and European women wore bonnets and kerchiefs to ensure their hairstyles stayed put whatever the weather. In the 19th century, women’s bonnets became larger and were adorned with ribbons, flowers, and feathers, and eventually grew a wide brim. The more a woman’s hat was decorated, the bigger the likelihood that she belonged to ‘society’. Milan put today’s notion of hats on the map, and it’s no mistake that the English name for a hat maker is a ‘milliner’, derived from the ‘Milaners’ who were the original importers of the Italian pieces of head art. In Great Britain, the tradition to wear hats to weddings dates back to when the Anglican Church required women to keep their heads covered in Church. But this tradition evolved at a time when wearing hats as everyday attire (and for ladies of a certain standing, wearing multiple hats during a day) was in vogue. This trend has come and gone out of fashion since then, and by and large fashion has tended to move towards informality. Fine gloves, another necessary accessory till as recently as 60 years ago, have nearly 72 AUGUST-SEPTEMBER 2013 | G2
become obsolete at formal functions. It was in the 1980s that hats at weddings experienced a revival. In the early years of her marriage, the late Princess Diana began wearing hats to weddings and state occasions to lend an air of sophistication to her outfits. Princess Diana was a style icon to many women, and thus, while some (especially in the upper class and Royalty) never abandoned the wedding hat, hats experienced a popularity renaissance for formal functions which lasts to this day. Hats are now traditionally worn at weddings by women of all ages to symbolise the joy and formality of the occasion.
Who are the milliners? Despite the general trend of being hatless in daily life, some women, regardless of class or social standing, would not dream of attending a wedding without wearing a hat. In fact, the demand for high-quality headwear has increased over the years and there has been a great need for quality milliners across Europe. Hat making has been described by milliners as more akin to creating a work of art than other types of clothing or accessories. It also requires an understanding of physics: the way a ribbon will curl, or how a spray of feathers will be