SHALLOW CROWNS

Waikato Times, Volume 110, Issue 18392, 28 July 1931, Page 5

SHALLOW CROWNS

FEATURED in spring hats. Our free and easy ways with hats have been our undoing. It was bound to come sometime or another, and from sight of the early spring millinery opened In Christchurch this week the change is definitely marked. No milliner likes to feel that the work of her hands is deprived of Its rightful dignity, tucked ruthlessly into the corner of a - suitcase and treated generally just as a bit of felt. The early spring hats have several pronounced features which will permit of no such levity with their proportions. ißrims in these straw models are of considerable width, and crowns are shallow—so shallow, in fact, that one could suggest that the designers’ idea of the space required by women’s intelligence is not flattering, though the situation is relieved by the fact that foreheads are still left well within view.

In many cases the brim lifts slightly in front, with a bandeau line round the hair, sometimes finished by a petalled flower, a movement which does not suit every type of face. The spring hats certainly plump for an individuality which strikes us anew after the close uniform shape of the heret.

Not that the tiny close hat has quite departed. ' It is still with us in a soft, uncrushable straw called cellophane, frequently devised in quaint bonnet shape drooping at each side. But, as usual, only those with the confidence of youth or perfect features should apply. In other instances It is a precarious Investment! ■Pedal straws are to be much in vogue, and certain exclusive models ■favour a- shiny straw descriptively known as pineapple, whioh has such feather-weight quality that, were it not for the shade induced by a wide brim, it would be possible to put one on and then forget its existence entirely. Hats of 'summer-weight felt in delicate three-tone shading from deeper colour at the brim hint attractively at bridesmaid attire, but for the most part millinery at the moment is plainer in trimming than the English fashion notes have led us to believe. Slender bands of petersham, dull and bright satins, or narrow ribbons in fancy designs meet the case at the moment, eminently suited to the new style of French sailor hat which is one of the spring offerings. There are signs, however, that the next shipment of definite summer fashions will supply every variety of floral adornment, wreaths, bouquets, and floral clustered brims for the gayer season.