A poke bonnet (sometimes also referred to as a Neapolitan bonnet or simply as a poke) is a women's

bonnet A Bonnet is a variety of headgear, hat or cap Specific types of headgear referred to as "bonnets" may include Scottish * Blue bonnet, a distinctive woollen cap worn by men in Scotland from the 15th-18th centuries And its derivations: ** Fea ...

, featuring a small crown and wide and rounded front brim. Typically this extends beyond the face. It has been suggested that the name came about because the bonnet was designed in such a way that the wearer's hair could be contained within the bonnet. Poke may also refer to the brim itself, which jutted out beyond the wearer's face.

Characteristics

There were many variations of the style, which remained popular throughout much of the 19th century. The

Metropolitan Museum of Art The Metropolitan Museum of Art of New York City, colloquially "the Met", is the largest art museum in the Americas. Its permanent collection contains over two million works, divided among 17 curatorial departments. The main building at 1000 ...

notes that the poke usually had a small crown combined with a large brim extending beyond the face, providing a large surface for decoration. This prominent brim shaded the face and, over time increased in size so that the wearer's face could only be seen from the front. Typically, the bonnet would be secured by ribbons tied under the chin, which might also wrap around the bottom of the bonnet's crown, similar to a

hatband A hatcord or hat cord is a circular cord around a hat at the junction of the crown and the brim. It originally served to stabilize and hold the hat on the head and to prevent the hat material separating. A hat band fulfils a similar function. Hatco ...

. An 1830s version of the poke bonnet with ornate ribbon wrapping forms part of the

Victoria and Albert Museum The Victoria and Albert Museum (often abbreviated as the V&A) in London is the world's largest museum of applied arts, decorative arts and design, housing a permanent collection of over 2.27 million objects. It was founded in 1852 and nam ...

archive.

History of the design

The poke bonnet came into fashion at the beginning of the 19th century. It is first mentioned in an 1807 fashion report in ''

The Times ''The Times'' is a British daily national newspaper based in London. It began in 1785 under the title ''The Daily Universal Register'', adopting its current name on 1 January 1788. ''The Times'' and its sister paper ''The Sunday Times'' (fou ...

''; the report describes designs made of

willow Willows, also called sallows and osiers, from the genus ''Salix'', comprise around 400 speciesMabberley, D.J. 1997. The Plant Book, Cambridge University Press #2: Cambridge. of typically deciduous trees and shrubs, found primarily on moist s ...

velvet Weave details visible on a purple-colored velvet fabric Velvet is a type of woven tufted fabric in which the cut threads are evenly distributed, with a short pile, giving it a distinctive soft feel. By extension, the word ''velvety'' means ...

with long ribbons and full bows on one side of the hat. By the 1830s, Englishwomen had adopted the poke bonnet. The new styles became widely popular and made the aristocracy less visibly distinct from the respectable middle classes. The style is modest and was in line with

English English usually refers to: * English language * English people English may also refer to: Peoples, culture, and language * ''English'', an adjective for something of, from, or related to England ** English national ide ...

fashions after the ascension of

Queen Victoria Victoria (Alexandrina Victoria; 24 May 1819 – 22 January 1901) was Queen of the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Ireland from 20 June 1837 until Death and state funeral of Queen Victoria, her death in 1901. Her reign of 63 years and 21 ...

.Metropolitan Museum of Art
Mourning Poke Bonnet Collection
A poke bonnet features prominently in the illustrations of

Beatrix Potter Helen Beatrix Potter (, 28 July 186622 December 1943) was an English writer, illustrator, natural scientist, and conservationist. She is best known for her children's books featuring animals, such as ''The Tale of Peter Rabbit'', which was he ...

's '' Tale of Jemima Puddle-Duck''. Another appears in the

First World War World War I (28 July 1914 11 November 1918), often abbreviated as WWI, was one of the deadliest global conflicts in history. Belligerents included much of Europe, the Russian Empire, the United States, and the Ottoman Empire, with fightin ...

-era music hall song "In your little poke bonnet and shawl".

References

{{Use dmy dates, date=April 2017 Bonnets (headgear) 19th-century fashion Hats

Characteristics

History of the design

See also

References