Help with a sweet hat please

[MagsRags]

I have some hats to list - I've done what research I could, but could use some help. Lots of pics with this one. It seems to be made of finely woven straw and cream velveteen. It has several tags - Christine Original, Park Ave, New York, Boggs & Bulhl Millinery, Pittsburgh, and a little one with the size (22 1/2) and a simple graphic along with the words helenjoyce. For a 22 1/2, it seems pretty small.

Jeanette's head is somewhat smaller than a more realistic size head with hair, so I photographed it on Josephine as well, using two different wigs.

As you can see, with hair, the hat looks like it will fall off when tilted forward at a chic angle .

On the other hand, it looks adolescent to me positioned like this.

I was thinking late 40s/early 50s, but now I'm not sure. It's a brim hat but not a wide brim hat or a picture hat - would it be fair to call it a percher? And how was it originally meant to be worn?
:help:

 

[Ookoo]

I've often come across hats that seem to defy the laws of gravity and head anatomy!

Although that chic angle looks oddly precarious, I think they were just stuck on top and held with lots of hair pins!

 

[Rue_de_la_Paix]

Hi,

Yes, hats can be a bit of a challenge to define as to the style! This is made of either a parisisal straw or a buntal straw, and I would call it a "stylized sailor" or a "modified sailor" shape, and with a rolled brim. The hat dates from early 1950s to mid 1950's. I have usually seen these hats worn slightly to the back of the head, so the velvet would show a bit. They look better on the old styles hairdo than they do on most ladies today!

The size of a hat (if it is marked) can be a good clue on how to wear the hat as it was intended by the maker. Even a small looking pillbox with a circumference of 20 inches around can be a size 22 hat. I know, confusing, right? This hat was made to fit a lady with a bit larger than average head (average is 22), but not to sit down around the actual skull size, it was meant to sit up and back on the head a bit where the skull's size gets smaller....hence the size is a true size 22 1/2 but the inside measures much smaller. Put the hat on your head and move it around....wherever it "fits" or molds itself most comfortably is probably where it was supposed to sit. but today we wear them perched or tilted even if they were not mean that way originally, and that is fine too.

I like the way you have it on the head in the first photo, even if it was not the way it was "supposed" to fit the head. And if that looks best, show it that way, right?

I have owned quite a few Christine hats over the years, and have done only a tiny bit of research on that label. They are usually well made, with better grade materials, and were priced for mid range budgets.


Barbara

 

[cmpollack]

Great information, Barbara! How interesting that the hat was meant to be positioned so that the velvet showed...

and what a great picture, Ookoo! Lots of other wonderful visual clues in there, too (ie in addition to the dress-- the purse, the gloves, and what appears to be a dress clip). Do you have a date for it?

 

[MagsRags]

Thank you ladies! Barbara, you are a fount of information when it comes to hats - very interesting. And Ookoo, your photo gave me an idea for a different way to photograph that I think does better justice to the hat while still keeping it reasonably real. My biggest fear with using just the plaster head was that the buyer might be disappointed that it sat higher on her real life head.

Today, I wrestled the long auburn wig into a semblance of an updo, and I think this looks better, for both the straight-on position that fits most comfortably on my (rather large) head and for the edgier "perch" or tilt position. What do you think?