#23 MY GRANDMA LOVED HATS

JEAN OLIVER (WERTH) HOMUTH

In the early 1900s, hats were a big part of everyday life for both men and women--in fact, it was considered completely inappropriate to go out without one. While men's hats retained a classic style and shape, womens'  hat styles changed yearly. For women, there were hundreds of hat options and decorations available--ribbons, bows, flowers and feathers.  

In the pre-war era, hats got bigger and more ornate.  Women wore their hair long and then piled it atop their head in great mounds that provided a sturdy base for a hat.  Hats were secured to the head with long hatpins stuck through the hat and into the mound of hair.  These ornamented hairpins "had lethal projecting points which menaced anyone who approached the wearer too closely."

Large hats posed a problem for increasingly active women. Their great size made any quick movement difficult, so they required many hatpins. As more people began to travel in automobiles, most with open tops, hatmakers developed special hat coverings or veils to protect hats and hair from wind and dust. These motor veils were usually large mesh veils that secured around the neck and covered most of the head; some motor veils had just a hole for the eyes and a few covered the entire head and face. Theatre goers complained loudly about the huge hats. By the end of World war I, such large hats disappeared from fashion.

The more modest hats had a sturdy base form made of felt or fabric, stiffened into shapes with brims and crowns of many different sizes. These hats could be ornamented with a feather or a giant ribbon, but they generally extended beyond the head no more than a few inches.

I think my Grandma Jean wore her hats with great style!

 

 

Jean Olive (Werth) Homuth

    b. Jun 12 1892 in Pilkington Twsp, Wellington County

    m. Frederick Ferdinand Homuth on August 31, 1916 in Elora. Ont

    d. April 17, 1959 in Harriston, Ont

my paternal grandmother