SO NICE AND VICTORIAN.

New Zealand Herald, Volume LXVIII, Issue 20988, 26 September 1931, Page 6 (Supplement)

SO NICE AND VICTORIAN.

Left: A model of black hatters' plush, with a plaited band, of two shades of ring velvet. Lower left: Black fur felt with a brim of brushed felt.

WHY MEN LIKE THOSE HATS. PSVCHOLOGISTS TOLD US. " When," asked my husband, " are you going to buy one of these new hats?" Now, although a man in a thousand, he is, after all, just a husband, and justhusbands do not, as any wife will testify, urge their wives -to buy hats. On the contrary, they—but that is an old story that every wife knows, says a writer in a London paper. "Do you like them?" I said. "Very much," he answered with the warm enthusiasm of tone that is usually reserved for talk about some favoured tobacco. Other men like them, too, I have discovered. They stare very hard at every woman who wears one and then tell you that she has a lovely complexion or beautiful eyes, which, interpreted, means that they think her hat suits her. It is a long time since men were so excited about women's hats. Usually, we slip smoothly into some new style and we are told that wo look very beautiful to-day; or, "You know I much preferred you in that little felt thing;" or, "What, another new hat!"

But these tricornes, these bowlers, these pill-boxes, these —yes abominations are turning men's heads. They like them; tliry like talking about them; they urge their wives to buy them. The first one I saw was worn by Mary Pickford when she came to England a little while ago. Then we just called it the new tilted hat. It wrrs saucy and amusing and disconcerting, as every abrupt change of fashion is disconcerting. Men like them, it seems, because they look " so nice and Victorian." Surely they cannot think that, wearing theru, women will magically become " nice and Victorian " again? That they will stay at home, raise big families, and say, "Yes John you're quite right?" The psychologists told txs that long skirts and fluffy dresses were going to make women feminine again—and by " feminine " they meant obedient and stay-at-home. I have noticed no difference. The sort of women who smoked and drank a lot and tried to copy men still do these things. They will go on doing them, even in bustles. The rest of us, we hope, have never stopped being feminine. We are fools all the same. It is no good pretending that these new hats are flattering and friendly to us, because they are not. Yesterday I saw a tall woman with a long neck balancing a small straw absurdity on the top of her head—and looking ridiculous. I also saw a short woman with a fat neck, wearing a dashing felt trimmed with a flowing plume—and looking ridiculous. I must admit that I also saw some young, good-looking women looking beautiful in them; but they would look beautiful, anyway, in any kind of hat. Yet, of course we shall all wear them. I am going out to buy one now.

Centre: A Victorian model in velvet and felt with a muff to match. Right: An ostrich feather band over black hatters' plush. Inset: An autumn model of black velour with a silk cord and tassel.