Paris

The moment a hat begins to feel indispensable it has probably outworn its function of enhancing the appearance, even while it may remain a dictionary definition. During no month more than in January does the winter hat begin to arouse doubts in the minds of the truly well dressed. It is not yet light enough for the worst revelations, but both felts and velvets have a dejected look. The tricorne has been pulled down once too often over one eye. The pill-box has become a bad habit. The saucer suggests that one blows upon one’s tea. Any lightening of the situation receives a warm welcome.

While it is too early completely to discard felt and velvet, there are alternative modes of using them and there are alternative materials. As the days grow lighter and for country occasions the stuff hat is not without its charms, especially as it is given becoming curves and can be worn even by those to whom large spectacles are a necessity. The model by Chanel shows a brown and yellow check, used for hat and scarf alike, and worn with a brown tailor-made suit. The trimming of the hat is notable in that it exists at all, and it is made of the material cut into little strips. A hat such as this has a gay, bright look. It is also seen sometimes in berets, where it must not be too much tipped, having plenty of character of its own. Pill-boxes also appear in materials, instead of the usual felt. For these, silk stuffs instead of woollen may be used, and checked velvets are sometimes used for hat and and the big bow with which the dress neck is tied.

Felt and fur

Felt hats worn with furs must beware of overcurves and overdecoration. Patou has a hat which solves this problem by means of a deep dip, slightly to one side and a dip at the back, which goes flatly on to the hair. In this way the fox fur worn with it does not catch at it behind, nor does the hat look overrich when worn with the thick fur. Crowns of this kind of hat are generally flat, and the flatness allows of a good deal of curve. Where feathers, spikes, or plumes are worn with a fur they must always be severe. Models have been produced, especially of the pill-box kind, which look like wedding cakes for overdecoration. The plain, dark felt must depend upon its own lines, with perhaps a band or bow of the material, or at most a quill stuck through the crown.

The look of the winter hat can be mitigated by means of a colour contrast. Hats are being made of black or brown felt with a soft surface and of a Homburg shape, though without the dent in the crown. Instead of this the crown rises a little, but not so very much, lest the hat become too tall. Through the crown is stuck a white or pale quill, which gives it a clean, light appearance without becoming too strident in what are still winter days. Many hats are being made like those of the “gob,” or American sailor. These have a fitting crown, with the edge turned up sheer and round. Some are made of silk or satin, but they are mostly of a light kind of felt in the pastel colourings. There is no ornament except a gold clasp on the left side of the turned-up brim. This sort of hat is well suited for the fashion of wearing a bush of shortish hair at the back. It keeps it within bounds. The ears just show, since the hair is brushed back behind them, but there is usually a curl pushed forward to dissimulate them a little.

Gerda Sommerhoff modeling pill box hat by Suzy, with fur cape, and jewels by Black, Starr, and Frost-Gorham, Vogue 1935. Photograph: Edward Steichen/Conde Nast via Getty Images

Berets

Berets do not lose their popularity. Those who can arrange them wear them without a scaffolding inside, which shall direct their energies into the right way and compel gravity where gravity should be compelled. Those made of black velvet and pushed over to one side with a clasp on the high side are effective for most people, and they look best without a headband that shows. Some are complicated by gathering the material round a circular piece of velvet and then drawing in the velvet again round the head. The gathered effect may be more or less according to taste, but gathers can easily become too prominent and can with equal ease look common. Where the beret has to do as it is told, stiffness must, if possible, be avoided. Elderly women are prone to berets of this kind, frequently worn with glasses. This gives an uncomfortable impression and a tricorne is generally much more becoming.

Berets occasionally become sailor caps, or hats that look rather Chinese with a different coloured pompon on the top. For the afternoon a three-quarter wool coat may be worn with voluminous sleeves and with a big collar of blue fox. This needs nothing more than a little round Chinese cap with a button in the centre. Sometimes the band of the cap may be relieved by means of a coloured or diamanté clasp.

There are here and there signs of a return to the hat which used to be described as “having something on it.” Flat hats are worn with tiny ostrich feathers, curled up and placed upon them as were they anchovies or had been pressed like flowers. The ostrich feather, in short, is made as unfeatherlike as possible. Other hats with small brims have feathers so made that they imitate ribbons. Rather more advanced in season is a little round hat with turned-up brim, made of closely pleated black silk of rather a dense tone. This has two dead white pompons on either side, about the size of billiard balls and made of feather. The hat is worn well sideways and is comfortable, bright, and smart at the same time.