Welcome to the HATS OFF TO THE VFG Fall Fundraiser!! New incentive & contest!!

And you ARE keeping it coming! We're up another bit, many thanks to a wonderful member!

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I know I'll eventually run out of hat cartoons if this keep up! Do you have any great ones?? Or unusual hats??

Speaking of unusual hats, this dates from 1940:
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Today we have an incentive gift for all of you on the fence about donating! (Can you tell I have done public radio fundraising?)

Sorry, it's not a Bes-Ben hat, but if you donate today, November 16, I will personally send send you a VFG tape measure!!

It's super handy, and who knows, it may be a collector's item one day!!

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Speaking of Bes-Ben!

One of the most fun and well-known American hat designers is Benjamin B. Green-Field, AKA Bes-Ben. Born in Chicago in 1898, Green-Field and his sister Bessie (she was the “Bes” and he was the “Ben”) opened their first hat boutique on Chicago’s State Street in 1920, eventually expanding to four more locations in the area. Heralded as “Chicago’s Mad Hatter,” he famously crafted whimsical and elegant hats for women, including such celebrities as Lucille Ball, Marlene Dietrich and Elizabeth Taylor, as well as Chicago socialites.

By the 1940s, the Bes-Ben style had shifted from traditional, stylish hats to surreal and amusing designs. As with many milliners of the time, the rationing of the war years led him to embrace non-traditional materials. His hats were decorated with items such as kitchen utensils and napkin rings and figures such as miniature dogs, cigarette packs, bugs, skyscrapers and doll furniture. The hat that he made for Hedda Hopper to wear to the premiere of the film “The Razor’s Edge” was even topped with actual razors!

Green-Field’s sense of humor, combined with his high design skills and use of unique materials, made his work incredibly sought after. During a WWII-era interview, the designer was quoted as saying, “Anything that makes people laugh at this point in world history may be said to have its own excuse for being.”
-Humboldt Haberdashery

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Maggie, you inspired me to go into my family photos, because I grew up in an era when ladies definitely wore hats, especially if they went to church on Sunday, as these ladies did. I don’t know why they seem to be sharing a toast in the church hall, but they look like they are having fun. Those look like what they used to call highballs, which were rarely consumed at social gatherings.
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I have already made a donation, but I will add another $10 if someone can guess which lady is my grandmother, and what year this photo was taken.
 
My guess is second from the right in teal with the big smile... and 1956

MagsRags said:
Maggie, you inspired me to go into my family photos, because I grew up in an era when ladies definitely wore hats, especially if they went to church on Sunday, as these ladies did. I don’t know why they seem to be sharing a toast in the church hall, but they look like they are having fun. Those look like what they used to call highballs, which were rarely consumed at social gatherings.
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I have already made a donation, but I will add another $10 if someone can guess which lady is my grandmother, and what year this photo was taken.
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