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A fascinator is a formal
headpiece A headpiece is an object worn on the head for decoration or protection. Headpiece may refer to: *A typically thin metallic crown, headband, or tiara worn around the forehead. Commonly worn by ancient rulers, such as Cleopatra, headpieces usua ...
, a style of
millinery Hat-making or millinery is the design, manufacture and sale of hats and other headwear. A person engaged in this trade is called a milliner or hatter. Historically, milliners, typically women shopkeepers, produced or imported an inventory of g ...
. Since the 1990s, the term has referred to a type of formal headwear worn as an alternative to the
hat A hat is a head covering which is worn for various reasons, including protection against weather conditions, ceremonial reasons such as university graduation, religious reasons, safety, or as a fashion accessory. Hats which incorporate mecha ...
; it is usually a large decorative design attached to a band or clip. In contrast to a hat, its function is purely ornamental: it covers very little of the head, and offers little or no protection from the weather. An intermediate form, incorporating a more substantial base to resemble a hat, is sometimes called a hatinator.


Etymology

The word "fascinator" is derived from the
Latin Latin (, or , ) is a classical language belonging to the Italic branch of the Indo-European languages. Latin was originally a dialect spoken in the lower Tiber area (then known as Latium) around present-day Rome, but through the power of the ...
verb ''fascinare'' ("to fascinate"), and simply means a thing or person that is enthralling or extremely interesting. Historically, the term was also applied to a person or animal with the (perhaps magical) power of rendering others unable to move or escape.


History


Earlier decorative headpieces

It was customary for Christian women in Europe to wear some sort of headcovering. The European fashion of decorating the head with a hat can be traced back to the late
Renaissance era The Renaissance ( , ) , from , with the same meanings. is a period in European history marking the transition from the Middle Ages to modernity and covering the 15th and 16th centuries, characterized by an effort to revive and surpass ideas ...
of the 16th century. Starting with the
Baroque era The Baroque (, ; ) is a style of architecture, music, dance, painting, sculpture, poetry, and other arts that flourished in Europe from the early 17th century until the 1750s. In the territories of the Spanish and Portuguese empires including th ...
of the 17th century, head decorations without a hat developed. Queen
Marie Antoinette Marie Antoinette Josèphe Jeanne (; ; née Maria Antonia Josepha Johanna; 2 November 1755 – 16 October 1793) was the last queen of France before the French Revolution. She was born an archduchess of Austria, and was the penultimate child a ...
made the fashion of using
ostrich Ostriches are large flightless birds of the genus ''Struthio'' in the order Struthioniformes, part of the infra-class Palaeognathae, a diverse group of flightless birds also known as ratites that includes the emus, rheas, and kiwis. There are ...
feathers as a head decoration popular among the European royal courts. Increased trade with Africa meant ostrich feathers were becoming more readily available to be used in fashion items, although this was still costly and therefore affordable only to the aristocracy and upper class.


19th-century "fascinators"

In the mid-19th-century United States, the term ''fascinator'' was first applied to headwear. In this context, a fascinator was a lightweight hood or scarf worn about the head and tied under the chin, typically knitted or crocheted. The earliest citation identified by the ''
Oxford English Dictionary The ''Oxford English Dictionary'' (''OED'') is the first and foundational historical dictionary of the English language, published by Oxford University Press (OUP). It traces the historical development of the English language, providing a com ...
'' for the use of the word in this sense is from an advertisement in the ''
Daily National Intelligencer The ''National Intelligencer and Washington Advertiser'' was a newspaper published in Washington, D.C., from October 30, 1800 until 1870. It was the first newspaper published in the District, which was founded in 1790. It was originally a Tri- ...
'' of December 1853. The fascinator was made from soft, lightweight yarns and may originally have been called a "cloud". The "cloud" is described in 1871 as being "a light scarf of fine knitting over the head and round the neck,
orn Orn or ORN may refer to: *Orn (name), a given name and surname * ''Orn'', the second book in Piers Anthony's trilogy Of Man and Manta * Offshoring Research Network, an international network researching the offshoring of business processes and ser ...
instead of an opera hood when going out at night". The fascinator went out of fashion in the 1930s, by which time it described a lacy hood similar to a "fussy balaclava". Apart from the common terminology, these fascinators bore no relationship to the modern headpiece.


Modern

The use of the term "fascinator" to describe a particular form of late-20th- and early-21st-century millinery emerged towards the end of the late 20th century, possibly as a term for 1990s designs inspired by the small 1960s
cocktail hat 230px, Empress Michiko wearing cocktail hat A cocktail hat is a small, extravagant, and typically brimless hat for a woman. It is usually a component of evening wear and is intended as an alternative to a large-brimmed hat. These hats are often ...
s, which were designed to perch upon the highly coiffed hairstyles of the period. The ''
Oxford English Dictionary The ''Oxford English Dictionary'' (''OED'') is the first and foundational historical dictionary of the English language, published by Oxford University Press (OUP). It traces the historical development of the English language, providing a com ...
'' cites a use of the word (in quotation marks) from the ''
Australian Women's Weekly ''The Australian Women's Weekly'', sometimes known as simply ''The Weekly'', is an Australian monthly women's magazine published by Mercury Capital in Sydney. For many years it was the number one magazine in Australia before being outsold by th ...
'' of January 1979, but here it appears to have been used in a slightly variant sense, to describe a woman's hat incorporating a small veil (in other words, a cocktail hat). However, the term was certainly in use in its modern sense by 1999. Although they did not give the style its name, the milliners Stephen Jones and
Philip Treacy Philip Anthony Treacy (born 26 May 1967) is an Irish haute couture milliner, or hat designer, who has been mostly based in London for his career, and who was described by ''Vogue'' magazine as "perhaps the greatest living milliner". In 2000, T ...
are credited with having established and popularised fascinators in 20th-century couture.


Uses

Today, a fascinator is worn on occasions where hats are customary, sometimes serving as an evening accessory, when it may be called a cocktail hat. It is generally worn with fairly formal attire. In addition, fascinators are frequently worn by women as a
Christian headcovering Christian head covering, also known as Christian veiling, is the traditional practice of women covering their head in a variety of Christian denominations. Some Christian women, based on historic Oriental Orthodox, Eastern Orthodox, Catholic, L ...
during
church service A church service (or a service of worship) is a formalized period of Christian communal worship, often held in a church building. It often but not exclusively occurs on Sunday, or Saturday in the case of those churches practicing seventh-day Sa ...
s, especially
weddings A wedding is a ceremony where two people are united in marriage. Wedding traditions and customs vary greatly between cultures, ethnic groups, religions, countries, and social classes. Most wedding ceremonies involve an exchange of marria ...
. A substantial fascinator is a fascinator of some size or bulk. Bigger than a
barrette A barrette (American English), also known as a hair slide (British English), or a hair clip, is a clasp for holding hair in place. They are often made from metal or plastic and sometimes feature decorative fabric. In one type of barrette, a cla ...
, modern fascinators are commonly made with
feather Feathers are epidermal growths that form a distinctive outer covering, or plumage, on both avian (bird) and some non-avian dinosaurs and other archosaurs. They are the most complex integumentary structures found in vertebrates and a premier ...
s,
flower A flower, sometimes known as a bloom or blossom, is the reproductive structure found in flowering plants (plants of the division Angiospermae). The biological function of a flower is to facilitate reproduction, usually by providing a mechani ...
s or
bead A bead is a small, decorative object that is formed in a variety of shapes and sizes of a material such as stone, bone, shell, glass, plastic, wood, or pearl and with a small hole for threading or stringing. Beads range in size from under ...
s. They need to be attached to the hair by a
comb A comb is a tool consisting of a shaft that holds a row of teeth for pulling through the hair to clean, untangle, or style it. Combs have been used since prehistoric times, having been discovered in very refined forms from settlements dating ba ...
,
headband A headband is a clothing accessory worn in the hair or around the forehead, usually to hold hair away from the face or eyes. Headbands generally consist of a loop of elastic material or a horseshoe-shaped piece of flexible plastic or metal. T ...
or
clip Clip or CLIP may refer to: Fasteners * Hair clip, a device used to hold hair together or attaching materials such as caps to the hair * Binder clip, a device used for holding thicker materials (such as large volumes of paper) together ** Bulldog ...
. They are particularly popular at premium horse-racing events, such as the
Grand National The Grand National is a National Hunt horse race held annually at Aintree Racecourse in Liverpool, England. First run in 1839, it is a handicap ...
,
Kentucky Derby The Kentucky Derby is a horse race held annually in Louisville, Kentucky, United States, almost always on the first Saturday in May, capping the two-week-long Kentucky Derby Festival. The competition is a Grade I stakes race for three-year ...
and the
Melbourne Cup The Melbourne Cup is a Thoroughbred horse race held in Melbourne, Australia. It is a 3200-metre race for three-year-olds and over, conducted by the Victoria Racing Club on the Flemington Racecourse in Melbourne, Victoria as part of the Melbou ...
. Brides may choose to wear them as an alternative to a bridal
veil A veil is an article of clothing or hanging cloth that is intended to cover some part of the head or face, or an object of some significance. Veiling has a long history in European, Asian, and African societies. The practice has been prominent ...
or hat, particularly if their gowns are non-traditional. At the
wedding of Prince William and Catherine Middleton The wedding of Prince William and Catherine Middleton took place on Friday, 29 April 2011 at Westminster Abbey in London, England. The groom was second in the line of succession to the British throne. The couple had been in a relationship since ...
in April 2011, various female guests arrived wearing fascinators. Among them was
Princess Beatrice of York Princess Beatrice, Mrs Edoardo Mapelli Mozzi (Beatrice Elizabeth Mary; born 8 August 1988) is a member of the British royal family. She is the elder daughter of Prince Andrew, Duke of York, and Sarah, Duchess of York. She is a niece of Charl ...
, who wore a piece designed by the Irish milliner
Philip Treacy Philip Anthony Treacy (born 26 May 1967) is an Irish haute couture milliner, or hat designer, who has been mostly based in London for his career, and who was described by ''Vogue'' magazine as "perhaps the greatest living milliner". In 2000, T ...
. The unusual shape and colour caused quite a media stir and went on to become an internet phenomenon with its own
Facebook Facebook is an online social media and social networking service owned by American company Meta Platforms. Founded in 2004 by Mark Zuckerberg with fellow Harvard College students and roommates Eduardo Saverin, Andrew McCollum, Dustin M ...
page. Princess Beatrice used the publicity to auction it off on
eBay eBay Inc. ( ) is an American multinational e-commerce company based in San Jose, California, that facilitates consumer-to-consumer and business-to-consumer sales through its website. eBay was founded by Pierre Omidyar in 1995 and became a ...
, where it garnered €99,000 for charity. In 2012,
Royal Ascot Ascot Racecourse ("ascot" pronounced , often pronounced ) is a dual-purpose British racecourse, located in Ascot, Berkshire, England, which is used for thoroughbred horse racing. It hosts 13 of Britain's 36 annual Flat Group 1 horse races and ...
announced that women would have to wear hats, not fascinators, as part of a tightening of the dress code in Royal Ascot's Royal Enclosure. In previous years, female racegoers were simply advised that "many ladies wear hats".


Hatinator

The term "hatinator", which emerged in the early 2010s, is used to describe headgear that combines the features of a hat and a fascinator. The hatinator is fastened on the head with a band like a fascinator, but has the appearance of a hat, while a fascinator is much smaller and normally does not go over the sides of the head. The particular style of headgear favoured by the
Princess of Wales Princess of Wales (Welsh: ''Tywysoges Cymru'') is a courtesy title used since the 14th century by the wife of the heir apparent to the English and later British throne. The current title-holder is Catherine (née Middleton). The title was firs ...
, is sometimes described as a hatinator.


Gallery

File:21 juli 2008 - Nationale Feestdag 122.jpg,
Queen Mathilde of Belgium Mathilde (born ''Jonkvrouw'' Mathilde Marie Christine Ghislaine d'Udekem d'Acoz ; 20 January 1973) is Queen of the Belgians as the wife of King Philippe. She is the first native-born Belgian queen. She has founded and assisted charities to ...
wearing a light green fascinator File:Prince Beatrice with Dave Clark crop.jpg,
Princess Beatrice of York Princess Beatrice, Mrs Edoardo Mapelli Mozzi (Beatrice Elizabeth Mary; born 8 August 1988) is a member of the British royal family. She is the elder daughter of Prince Andrew, Duke of York, and Sarah, Duchess of York. She is a niece of Charl ...
wearing a black-and-white fascinator File:Princess Beatrice Fascinator.jpg, Drawing of Princess Beatrice's 2011 fascinator, by Philip Treacy File:Myer AW13 (8549748729).jpg, Fascinators worn at the Myer Racing collection preview 2013 (
Amber Sherlock Amber Simone Sherlock (née Higlett) is an Australian journalist, television news presenter and reporter. She currently presents the weather on ''Nine News Sydney'' and previously hosted the daily national one hour news bulletin ''Nine News Now'' ...
third from left)


See also

*
Doll hat A doll hat (sometimes doll's hat) is a women's millinery design scaled down to suggest a hat that could be worn by a doll. It can be of any design and is generally worn at the front of the head. The hat is usually held in place with a band of fabri ...


References


External links

* {{Hats Headgear Christianity and society in the United Kingdom 1990s fashion 2000s fashion 2010s fashion Formal wear