Victorian Hats, The Secret To Their Decorative Charm

Decorating your home with Victorian-era hats is a

charming way to bring yesterday's shamelessly romantic fashions into your life. And it's a realistic way of dealing with the fact that old hats are not easy to find and are likely to be damaged.

Still, if you're willing to overlook flaws that make them unwearable as part of a costume, for instance, you can find lots of ways to show them off anywhere and everywhere in your home.

Obviously, the best place to display vintage hats is on a coat rack or hall tree in the entryway. In Victorian times only men's hats would have been hung there- ladies kept their hats in the boxes they came in for protection - but nowadays, any period hat, men's or women's will look at home beside your front door.

PERCH A HAT, preferably one that has a nice, long hanging ribbon, notched at the ends, on the post of a four-poster, the edge of a mirror,the doorknob of a closet. (You may need to sew on a small elastic band to hold it in place.

CREATE A WALL ARRANGEMENT using a hat as a focal point. Surround it with pretty china plates with pretty floral motifs, or group fashion-related items - framed vintage handkerchiefs or vintage fashion prints; crocheted gloves in pairs or singles; vintage baby clothes - in rows above or below.

MAKE A VIGNETTE with at least one Victorian hat and a selection of hatboxes, covered in leftover fabric or wall covering. Place them in the bedroom, wherever they'll show up best, whether it's at the foot of the bed, on the top of a blanket chest or the top of a wardrobe.

INVENT A TABLETOP GROUPING for your vanity or dresser with a hat turned face up and filled with an array of silk flowers chosen to matchthe room's color scheme. Tilt the hat slightly so the flowers seem to be overflowing. Surround it with your most feminine collectibles: old perfume bottles, antique doilies or remnants of lace, antique photographs reproduction frames, replica hatpins and hatpin holders.

HAT HINT: Can't find a suitable vintage lady's chapeau to work with? Make your own with a wide-brimmed straw, decorated lavishly with trimmings purchased at flea markets and garage sales.

--- Take a long, filmy scarf with a hole in it, twist it to hide the damage, tie it around the crown and let the ends hang free.

--- Pile on fabric flowers or faux fruits in abundance, massing them in a single place or all around the brim as your fancy dictates. They don't have to be authentically Victorian---sumptuous bouquets of daisies, roses..., cherries with leaves, etc. were worn on hats until the 1960's and should turn up at garage and yard sales all summer.

Written By: Nancy Britton
This Article Originally appeared in VICTORIAN DECORATING MAGAZINE, August 2003.