15 thoughts on “The Affair of the Necklace: Hat Porn Fiesta

  1. I know it’s another film and another era altoI digether, but I think one of the best “hat films” is Death in Venice. I didn’t like the film at all when I first saw it, but I LOVED the costumes – and especially the ladies’ spectacular Edwardian hats which I feel completely stole the film and blew everyone else off the screen before stabbing them to death with their fabulous hatpins. I should really give it another go, but I thought it was a rather boring, slow film and only the hats kept me watching!

  2. Reading this, a movie that really should exist popped into my head. “Fabulous Hats: The Black Church Story.”

    1. Well, there was a book published in 2000 on the topic, “Crowns: Portraits of Black Women in Church Hats” by Michael Cunningham and Craig Marberry:

      http://www.penguinrandomhouse.com/books/35685/crowns-by-michael-cunningham-and-craig-marberry/9780385500869/

      which in turn, got adapted two years later into an off-Broadway play by Regina Taylor, “Crowns: A Gospel Musical”:

      http://www.npr.org/templates/story/story.php?storyId=876404

      Taylor’s play has been quite popular in regional theater for about 15 years now, so maybe it’s time for a film version? :)

      1. Good to know. I’m mostly familiar with the church hat calendar by grandmother got one year.

  3. I love Out of Africa for the hats and costumes. Have you reviewed that film?

  4. Spectacular post! Ugh, the bonnets here are just too good for words. Thanks for a perfect remedy for Monday morning blues. :)

  5. They’re truly amazing! I have one not hat-related question though..are the sunglasses in the Gardens shots period appropriate, or were those shots taken off set?

    1. That image is in the movie, and tinted glasses did exist in the 18th century, but there’s no evidence that I know of that Marie-Antoinette wore them. I researched & wrote an article about historical eyeglasses for Your Wardrobe Unlock’d (& I really should repost it on my own site!) & found that very few women wore eye glasses of any type in public. They were associated with age & illness, & tinted lenses specifically were associated with disease until the late 19th & early 20th century.

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