Marie Adrienne Francoise de Noailles, French School 18th century copy

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 fabric or elastic secured at the back of the head.

Origins of the hat

The doll hat had periods of popularity in both the 18th and 19th centuries. This was an era of elaborate hairstyles and the hat was a decorative accessory rather than serving a practical function. StateLibQld 1 126003 Mrs Prunella Marshall, Miss A

StateLibQld 1 126003 Mrs Prunella Marshall, Miss A

Doll hats became popular again in the 1930s. A 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'' (f ...

'' in 1937 on the latest London millinery described a miniature bonnet as among the key introductions: "A hat that looks like a doll's hat has been made of Leghorn; the floral topknot of the evening translated, as it were, into daytime wear. It needs only ribbon strings to reproduce the young matron's bonnet of the Victorian era". As with earlier version of the hat, this was a decorative style suited to occasion wear. A fashion report in 1938 described an

Edwardian The Edwardian era or Edwardian period of British history spanned the reign of King Edward VII, 1901 to 1910 and is sometimes extended to the start of the First World War. The death of Queen Victoria in January 1901 marked the end of the Victori ...

-style model of indigo blue feathers decorated with a winged bird as ideal for: "grander occasions or the theatre". Later that year, the paper reported a new fashion for vivid doll hats in fuchsia, violet or Florentine blue worn with all-black outfits. The paper added that when a black doll hat was chosen, it should have a contrasting veil in a bright shade such as blue or pink matched with the same hue in gloves or buttonhole. The popularity of miniature hat continued into

World War II World War II or the Second World War, often abbreviated as WWII or WW2, was a world war that lasted from 1939 to 1945. It involved the vast majority of the world's countries—including all of the great powers—forming two opposing ...

. In the United States, the absence of imports from French milliners inspired American designers to innovate. Variations on the

beret A beret ( or ; ; eu, txapela, ) is a soft, round, flat-crowned cap, usually of woven, hand-knitted wool, crocheted cotton, wool felt, or acrylic fibre. Mass production of berets began in 19th century France and Spain, and the beret rema ...

, bowler and

boater __NOTOC__ A boater (also straw boater, basher, skimmer, The English Panama, cady, katie, canotier, somer, sennit hat, or in Japan, can-can hat, suruken) is a semi-formal summer hat for men, which was popularised in the late 19th century and e ...

were introduced – along with forward tilted miniature hats. Although American ''

Vogue Vogue may refer to: Business * ''Vogue'' (magazine), a US fashion magazine ** British ''Vogue'', a British fashion magazine ** ''Vogue Arabia'', an Arab fashion magazine ** ''Vogue Australia'', an Australian fashion magazine ** ''Vogue China'', ...

'' magazine warned its readers in 1941 that doll hat designs were: "definitely not for the unselfconfident", the design became very popular during the war years.

Variations

While many versions of the doll hat replicated traditional straw hats in miniature, variations included scaled down witches' hats and Welsh hats.

References

{{Hats 18th-century fashion 19th-century fashion 1930s fashion 1940s fashion Hats Fashion accessories History of fashion

Origins of the hat

Variations

See also

References