Brimming with style
By Crystal Schelle / Journal Staff Writer
Judy Larkin of Martinsburg, and originally from Manchester, England, shares etiquette tips on how to correctly wear a hat. (Journal photo by Martin B. Cherry)
Spring Tone”When crocuses poke through the ground
To promise springtime’s just around
The corner, that’s a sure-fire sign
A tonic’s due ... I don’t mean wine,
Or even sulphur and molasses
Or kisses, or rose-colored glasses.
What Mamma needs at times like that
Is just a brand-new cockeyed hat.
—by Margaret Fishback
MARTINSBURG — It was during a trip to the French Riviera when a then-10-year-old Judy Larkin slipped on a hat and found a lifelong love.
“It was just a wonderful French straw hat,” she says with fondness.
Even when the Manchester, England, native relocated to the United States four years ago with her husband, Larkin continued her love of hats and makes an effort to share her knowledge on everything about the accessory.
“A lot of people say that they can’t wear a hat, but there’s a hat out there for everybody,” she says.
When the perfect hat is placed on a woman’s head, for instance, Larkin says something magical happens. “A person’s whole face changes and their personality comes alive,” she says.
On this particular Wednesday afternoon, Larkin is getting ready to attend the Professional Business Women’s Association at the Purple Iris where the theme includes wearing a spring hat. And Larkin is prepared for those members who need a hat to borrow as she is surrounded by a large collection of various hats.
For her, wearing a hat has become more than just an accessory, it has become almost another appendage. And it also helps in the business world when people think of The Tea Lady (her business that serves proper teas) they think of her in her hat and almost expect her to be wearing one. “If I don’t have a hat on, they ask, ‘Where is your hat?’,” she says with a laugh.
Sitting on a couch that looks like it is dated from a time where women and men always wore hats, Larkin herself is sporting one of her favorites, a deep purple hat with black feathers bouncing from the crown. “It was a gift from my mother for my birthday,” she says.
Including her hats for costumes, Larkin says she owns about 50 hats, all of which she has gotten from England. The most she has paid for a hat is $100, but that doesn’t keep her from visiting Harrod’s in London to look at the hats.
“It’s like walking into a gallery,” she says. “They are truly pieces of art.”
Larkin says the demise of the hat is often blamed on two things: cars and John F. Kennedy.
When getting into cars, it was more difficult for women or men to wear hats. And because hats were often used to protect a person from the weather when driving in carriages and such, the automobile made that use almost obsolete.
His wife may have made pillbox hats fashionable, but Kennedy was the first president who didn’t wear a hat. “Men thought if the president doesn’t have to wear one, then I don’t,” she says.
The 1960s actually could be linked to the downfall. As women’s hair got taller, thanks to beehives, wearing of a proper hat became nearly impossible.
But Larkin, who gives talks on hat etiquette, would like to see the return of hats. She’s seeing it now in mainstream culture. “Justin Timberlake is starting to wear a fedora,” she says.
Organizations like the Red Hat Society are also helping hats become en vogue once again, she says.
A proper woman’s hat is made by a milliner and a man’s hat by a hatter. Larkin says the reason was probably because men’s hats were usually fashioned from beaver and similar animal skins, making it a more difficult and tedious process to make the hat.
If there is a return of the hat, Larkin wants people to know that there are some rules when it comes to hatwear.
Hats can be found in several materials. A fabric hat, Larkin says, can be worn year-round. A felt hat can only be worn in winter. A straw hat is for the spring.
Traditionally, felt hats could be worn from Sept. 15 to May 15. Then it was time to get out the spring hats. April is recognized as National Straw Month to remind ladies that it is time for a spring hat.
The Easter bonnet, she says, grew out of this switching to a spring hat. For poorer women who couldn’t afford to purchase a new hat for Easter, they would take last year’s hat and add their own special touches to it, such as the ribbons and flowers often associated with an Easter bonnet.
“It was a big deal to go out and show your new hat,” Larkin says.
When a woman wears a hat, the rule is that once the hat is on, it stays on. “It is really more of an accessory to the outfit,” she says.
But a woman should never wear a hat with a dinner gown or evening gown. A hat doesn’t have to be worn in a woman’s own home or informally visiting friends.
For a proper fit, a hat should sit on top of the head, not on the back of the head, she says. The tag in the hat should be to the back of the head. If there is no tag, then use where the headband meets. The brim should come down and shade the face ever so slightly as to protect the woman from the shade.
Pale skin, she says, was once thought of as showing a woman’s class. Higher class women would go to great pains to insure that their skin looked white, because a tanned look showed that a woman was from a lower class.
All that changed when in the 1920s Coco Chanel’s ad campaign showed that a tan could mean wealth. But Larkin says with the understanding today that women, and men, need to protect their skin from the sun, hats are being encouraged again.
“Australia has started a hat wearing campaign to protect people from skin cancer,” she says.
The late Queen Elizabeth I, Larkin says, was one person who didn’t like the brim to come down. In fact, she made a point to have the brim of her hats lifted up so that people could see her.
“She believed that if people stood in line for hours to see her, they should at least see her face,” she says.
Another rule about hat wearing for women is that a woman should never wear a hat to the theater. One reason is simply that it blocks the view of the stage. Feathers from the hair are OK, Larkin says, but never a hat.
But a woman should always wear a black hat to a funeral and appropriately colored hats to weddings and christenings.
A man too should never wear a hat to the theater or at a restaurant. “The hat should be checked with the coat,” she says.
A hat should be removed in the home of a person, but does not have to be removed in a public building. “If a man is somewhere like the IRS, he doesn’t have to remove the hat,” she says.
When talking with a lady, no matter what type of weather, a man should remove his hat. Lifting or tipping, according to the “Standard Book of Etiquette,” is a mark of courtesy and respect. And it should always be accompanied with a nod and a smile.
Also, when a lady enters an elevator of a hotel, apartment house or club, a man should take off his hat and hold it in his hand. But this rule doesn’t apply when in a public building.
And, she warns, putting a hat on backward doesn’t mean that the hat is off. In fact, she says, there are several old superstitions on wearing a hat backward. “It’s said to be bad luck and a man will get a headache,” she says.
Another superstition says that if you put a hat on backward you will bring bad luck unless you don’t wear the same hat that day. And the person is supposed to go out and buy a new hat to reverse the luck.
Wearing hats continues to be fashionable in England, Larkin says. In fact, the government released a series of stamps showing different styles of hats. In the United States, hats are slowly making a comeback. For those who don’t want to invest in hats, companies such as Starwink Studio in Fairfax, Va., rents hats for women who want to wear a new hat for fashionable events.
Storing a hat is even as important, Larkin says. Hats for men and women, should be stored in a hat box upside down with tissue paper around the crown and inside the hat to keep its shape. A hat brush should be used to remove any dust.
As ladies mill around her, selecting hats to borrow for the afternoon, Larkin smiles as each finds a right fit. “See, there’s a hat for everyone,” she says.
—Staff writer Crystal Schelle can be reached at (304) 263-8931, ext. 213, or cschelle@journal-news.net.
Section: Living Posted: 4/8/2007
And it's too late to have one shipped online.
Y'all are silly.
