Vinspiration Tuesday! 1920s Hats!

So this week has been nothing short of crazy. Operation finish the dining room is nearly complete. I may or may not have taken an artist brush to my dining room molding this weekend. After about two hours or trying to perfect every stroke Fiancé told me the room was done. Complete. I'm not allowed to paint it anymore. So I can now say that after two months of hemming and hawing over the painting lines the dining room is finished. It is finally time to move in Fiancé's 1930s Brazilian mahogany inheritance. I'm looking forward to actually having a nice place to seat guests. Guess it's time to get to work on those curtains!

My sewing output has been very low this past week, but my business output has been high. Yay work! "But Nancy," you say, "How will you ever finish your summer essentials?" Well my friends, bathing suits. Bathing suits are the way. You may remember the 1980s swim suit post from a while back. I'm planning to make two of these and perhaps a blouse for good measure. Fiancé also wants me to finish Magenta Dress which has been hanging out on the ironing board for a month now. I have to get myself some clear seam stabilizing elastic before I do that. Heavier weight jerseys, like the jersey I am using for Magenta Dress need some added strength at the seams. I refuse to sew my shoulder seams without it.

So that's the goings on here. There probably won't be too many pictures of the sewing process. Unfortunately the new old camera just does not like my operating system and it's a big project to get the photos off the camera. I'm hoping to get a SLR for my birthday in September, but I'd settle for a point and click.

So onto today's vinspiration. I've decided that today will be all about hats.

The Beautiful Marlene Dietrich in "Desire" ca. 1936.  

I love hats! Hats give me this wonderful happy feeling. I can't get enough of them! I love the look, I love when other people wear hats, I like to wear hats whenever possible. Bring back the hat I say!!! Nowadays however I find that hats really give off more of a formal feel than I would like. Whenever I wear a hat I am always asked what the special occasion is or what type of formal event am I going to even if the rest of my outfit is casual.

Two girls in straw hats ca. 1907

From the 1700s up until the 1940s-1960s hats were an every day article of clothing. So what happened? When did the hat become something that is never worn or only worn for special occasions?

Girl in super cute hat ca. mid-1930s

Well most sources point to World War II as the beginning of the downfall of the hat. During the war years many women found themselves working outside the home, doing jobs that were historically men's work, and with rationing many women stopped wearing hats daily. It was just another expense in a tight budget. In the 1960s hats almost completely disappeared. My soon to be Mother in Law can give you a very convincing argument as to how the Kennedy's killed the hat, but I think the most probable cause of that hat's demise is the popularity of big sculpted hairdos.

A family photo ca. 1969. That is some serious hair. 

Women were literally spending hours on building their hair as high as possible. I wouldn't stick a hat on top of that either.

There was a short resurgence of hats in the 1990s thanks to Princess Diana, but that resurgence has long fizzled out. So enjoy these photos of a time long gone when no outfit was complete without a fabulous chapeau. Hats of the 1920s.

And for a little color.

And just for fun I had to include this cute 1920s wedding photo. Love it!