PRINCE SETS FASHION

Evening Post, Volume CXII, Issue 30, 4 August 1931, Page 9

PRINCE SETS FASHION

NEW YORK'S STRAW HATS

The Prince of Wales has set the' fashion in straw hats which are being worn by New York men during the present American summer. Tho hard straw hat, known in England as a "boater," but in New York called a "sennit," has ousted the Panama in popular favour (writes a correspondent). * When the Prince visited Buenos Aires recently as Britain's "trade ambassador," hundreds of photographs of him were taken showing him wearing a hard straw hat. Manufacturers in New York at once decided to name the new style for this summer "the Prince's Argentine hat." The ruse has been so successful that thousands of "Argentine" hats were sold at the end of June, especially as New York was then experiencing a remarkable heat wave. Mayor Walker, who usually sets New York's fashions, bought a "Prince's Argentine," and this set a lead. A salesman at one of the leading manufacturers' establishments said: "The Prince has given new business to the English straw hat manufacturers. Last year I found them in the doldrums, but this year we have ordered large quantities of the best English straw for our customers. The other day Mr. Boosevelt, the Governor of New York State, walked into one of our shops and bought an 'Argentine,' and no actor on Broadway thinks himself properly dressed without one." The new hat has a broad black band and a wide rim, but the edge close to the head is relieved by softer straw that models itself to the contour of the head.