HAT'S FACTUAL

The hats in the 19th and 20th centuries were often so large theater managers would announce Ladies had to remove them during performances.

Hats were downsized in WWI because of shortages of material and the somber tone of the times.

After WWI, hats had to compete with the hairstyle of the day--buns--and vice versa! No respectable lady went out without one.

There are so few vintage hats because they were too large to store and too difficult to clean.  Drastic style changes dealt the final blow, and most were discarded.

Hat pins were a popular accessory, often worn 2-3 to a hat.  Ladies would save "pin money" to buy them; hence the expression.

Hat pins also took on a protective connotation (to discourage a suitor; to ward off an attack).

Roses were and remain the most popular flower to decorate hats.

Animal rights activists took on the hat industry in the early 1900's, since exotic birds were being used as hat decorations.  Feathers from domestic chickens, pheasants, or ostrich were (and remain) acceptable since they were not endangered and shed them naturally.

St. Catherine, the patron saint of milliners, gave her name to the tradition whereby young women, or catherinetes, who worked for milliners, wore brightly colored hats created in their spare time.

"Mad as a hatter" refers to the prevalence of brain damage felt-workers experienced from chemicals used in the felting process.

In 1809, Mary Kies received the first U.S. patent granted to a woman. Her invention, a method of weaving straw and silk together, advanced the art of hat-making!