POOR OLD STRAW HAT.

New Zealand Herald, Volume LXVII, Issue 20596, 21 June 1930, Page 27 (Supplement)

POOR OLD STRAW HAT.

BANISHED IN ENGLAND.

"GONE, NEVER TO RETURN."

The poor old straw hat, according io an English journal, has gone, never to return. Those balmy days, when a straw boater cocked jauntily on one side was the proud possession of every " knut'' along the promenade, when even stern business men wore them in the city without shame, belong to the past. The writer says:—" One may not see a single straw hat in England this year—unless it is worn by a schoolboy,' an American, or a horse. No smart man-about-town certainly "would be found dead in one. ; "No, the straw hat for men is finished,'*' said a .prominent London hatter recently, when he was asked if there was Any possibility of their return. " Before the war," he said, " wo relied on almost every customer buying'a boater.' \ Now we are lucky if We sell one a month. Men simply will not look at them. They arc as dead as the dodo, because people nowadays think they look ridiculous in them." ~.. .

To test how 1930 react 3 to the sight of a straw boater, a Sunday Chronicle reporter bought one, put it on, and sallied forth. Marshalling his courage, ho strolled up Regent Street. Two flappers, arm-in-arm, caught sight of tlio hat and giggled hysterically. " Oh, look," exclaimed one incredulously. " A straw.hat!" .; . ' 4

A look of slow amazement spread.over the face of a bus driver as he caught a glimpse of tho hat bobbing about in the traffic. "Blimey!" lie ejaculated, and missed a-taxi-cab by inches. A woman approached whom tho reporter knew. He fumbled with tho crown of the hut, trying to raise it, realised his mistake, and grinned sheepishly. The woman laughed. A young man-about-town strolled by with a pretty girl and jeered derisively. " Must havo come out of tho Ark," lie sneered. Two small boys uttered rude catcalls.

The journalist crept home and gave the offending headgear to tho dog. Tho writer adds:—"The great mystery of the straw, hat, howeVer, still remains unexplained.. What is. the reason for its declino from popularity ? Nobody seems to know. It is cool, light and comfortablo. Yet nobody will wear it."