Cocktail hat
Small, extravagant, and typically brimless hat for a woman
A cocktail hat is a small, extravagant, and typically brimless hat for a woman. It is usually a component of evening wear and is intended as an alternative to a large-brimmed hat. These hats are often decorated with beads, jewels or feathers, as well as a veil or netting. Cocktail hats were most popular between the 1930s and 1960s.
Some fashion historians think that cocktail hats were the precursor to fascinators, hairpieces worn on the side of the head that gained popularity in the 1970s, while others argue that fascinators were worn during the day and cocktail hats in the late afternoon or evening. Unlike a fascinator, a cocktail hat has a fully formed and visible base.
Cocktail hats can be of many shapes, ranging from modeled wool or felt or shaped straw to softer, turban-like constructions.
Sources and credits
This article is adapted from the Wikipedia article “Cocktail hat”, written by its contributors and licensed under CC BY-SA 4.0. Fathomly has changed the layout, removed citation markers, navigation and maintenance notices, and adjusted punctuation. This adapted version is shared under the same license. For references, see the original article.
Images, from Wikimedia Commons:
- Cocktail hat-01.jpg by alex roberts from San Francisco, USA, CC BY-SA 2.0
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