NEW HAT FASHIONS

New Zealand Herald, Volume LXXV, Issue 23088, 13 July 1938, Page 7

NEW HAT FASHIONS

POPULARITY OF VEILS RETURN TO BONNET STYLES SOME ENCHANTING EFFECTS BY BARBARA Hats wero news at- tlio preview of the Augustus John show in Tooth's Gallory, Bond Street, recently. John's own wide, grey sombrero made the headlines on the eve of the opening. To quote a well-known columnist:—"At a party it got mixed up with a diplomat's much primmer littlo hat, which perched on John's wild head like a pince-nez on a heavy-weight boxer's nose. It must have been even more awkward for the diplomat. John's hat, said John, would bo altogether over his head." At the preview, however, tho grey sombrero was in place, flaunting itself in a manner appropriate to its owner's rugged magnificence. As for those who had come to delight [ in tho dazzling brillianco of John's piet lures —with a careless disregard for I clear vision, nearly every woman present wore a veil! To-day one feels almost indecent without one, so gen- | oral have thev become. They are not the discreet eye-veils of last Reason, either. This year veils not only trail yards down their wearer's back, hut they cover the face as well. Sometimes they are drawn tightly over the face in j true Edwardian style, and sometimes | they hang straight down almost to tho | waist all round—as in Molyneux's wide- | brimmed sailor that is now being I worn by the Duchess of Kent. The Duchess also has sponsored the round-the-throat method of veil draping. She pulls a veil across the back of her small sailor entirely to cover her new page hoy coiffure, and then takes it round •her neck to tio in a bow in front. -Nearly always tho veil she wears is a chenille-spotted one, or else 0110 with little squares woven in it. Bright Colour Schemes | To return to tho John show—it was i curiously chic as regards colour scheme, ! as the artist had gloried in tho rich i poletto which his recent JamAiean lioli- | day had provided. There were the raspj berry reds, the faded blues, the vivid j negro pinks, the emerald greens, and I the ripe golds that we have borrowed j from the tropics for our summer I colours. None of the wearers of the hats I 1 have sketched for you wero, as is ; usual on such occasions, sitters for the j portraits shown —these, with tho exeepi tion of two of John's Cornish neigliI hours, were all natives of Jamaica, j At tho top of my sketch is a ! romantic, wide-brimmed off-the-face hat j with the new extremely shallow crown | and a veil that conies from under the i brim. Another version of the veil I drape is displayed in the chimney pot shepherdess hat, with its veiling I brought through (ho brim and tied ; under the chin in a huge filmy bow. | This hat has great advantages for the

i small woman, as it adds to her height ! and yet allows her the' becoming line | of a wide brim. Wliito Milan sbaw made the hat in i the last sketch. Rather the shape of a. | tambourine, it is again a style favoured 1 by the Duchess of Kent, who has the ; same hat made in tuny straw with a white ribbon across it and a navy, i white-spot led face veil. I Ono of the Queen's two favourite j hats is practically nothing but a coro- i net of flowers. Pink, blue and while violets encircle her head and are worn j rather over one oyc, the top of the head being lightly covered with a black net crown. Sometimes Mcr Majesty wears 1 a. black, spotted veil around this hat . over tin; flowers, anil ties it in a bow at tin.' hack. Her other favourite hat is a bonnet-shaped straw in her favourite colour of hyacinth blue. Under tho wide brim arc tucked two pale pink osprcys. Large bonnets such as those worn by i the early pioneers are now becoming ; very chic in the United States. With brims that mount high in front, and shovel-shaped crowns, they are often tied round with velvet ribbon, and as likely as not have velvet, ribbon streamers hanging down at each side. Mere are a few hints about wearing flowers. Two button holes are smarter ! than one, so fix a sprig of apple blossom or a cluster of corn flowers in each j lapel. Trailers of rosebuds make ex- ! quisite shoulder straps for ethereal chiffon evening dresses. Flowers banded j across the waist-front of a flat crepe j dinner dress lend it extra distinction, and flower posies attached to velvet j bands and worn at the throat or on the I wrist are distractingly pretty. Add to j this the fact that either flowers alone, or flowers attached to chiffon scarves , that swathe the head, are indispensiblc j evening head-gear, and you havo somo idea just how important they are. I