Cloche hat... ladies have a look!

[Matt Deckard]

The twenties were a time of bobbed hair and deep fitting hats for ladies. I found this a while ago and now that we have some women hanging around I thought I would show it off.
Good quality vintage women's hats are hard to find because alot of them were made for fleeting fashion trends and the quality is usually far below that of a man's hat. fur felt versions are even harder to find. I usually see wool ladies hats.

Here are some pics of a Woman's Knox fur felt roll-up hat from the twenties. There is a stitched seem across the top which allows the woman to easliy roll the hat up for storing in a purse.

Unlike mens hats, womens hats from the day had the bow on the right side instead of the left, kind of like how women's blowse buttons are on the left when a man's shirt buttons are on the right.

Extremely thin and extremely floppy.

 

[jamespowers]

That is very cool! I like it. Compact yet fashionable.
I have seen a Borsalino example but never a Knox. Thanks for posting it. I'm always interested in something that I have not come in contact with before.

Regards,

J

 

[K.D. Lightner]

Thanks, Matt for showing the vintage ladies hat. I see that style, still, and wish I looked good in them. I think I have seen photos of Greta Garbo in hats like that. One similar style even showed up on ebay recently and was called The Garbo.

But, I've never seen a roll-up hat in a box like that. That is really cool.

karol

 

[Andykev]

MD you are on a ROLL

Ok I have NEVER seen one of those, not in books, or old ads.

Hummmmm

I remember when someone made me taller in the pic in front of Art's store.

Is this the same magic?

 

[jamespowers]

He is not joking. There were some cloches for women and travel hats for men. The attached ad shows a travel hat for men. Very interesting. I would like to find one but they are few and far between now. I think most people just threw away the tube and kept the hat out. They could be tricky to get just right because they were very pliable felt (yes, I know; duh J they would have to be to fit in the tube. ) Perish the thought that they threw both of them away.
I think Art has a few of these--if I remember correctly.

Regards to all,

J

 

[K.D. Lightner]

So, they had them for men, too.

I wonder, did the hat really look that good after being stored in a roll?

karol

 

[jamespowers]

Yep, they had travel hats for men as well.
It remains to be seen if they look as good as the poicture when worn though.

 

[Wild Root]

I can testify that it does! Matt has shown me how his "Bone Borsy" is roll-up! He has rolled it and shown me that hit looks the same after he unrolls it! If the felt is soft enough and thick, so it won?¢‚Ǩ‚Ñ¢t change it. He just unrolls it, opens the crown then hand bash it. Walla! It?¢‚Ǩ‚Ñ¢s like nothing ever happened to it!

The ladies hats are very hard to find from the 20's and early 30's heck, even early 40's hats are rare! Most of the women's hats I see are from the late 50's and early 60s. Blah, not as cool as the early ones! Most of the vials are ripped off or wrinkled badly.

Matt, cool stuff for sure! Let?¢‚Ǩ‚Ñ¢s see some more when you're PC is feeling well again. LOL

Root.

 

[Andykev]

Not the hat, the box!

OH! I did not doubt the roll up hats, esp. the Borsalino..travel hats. But I have NEVER seen that shape of hat box. I know the Montecristi Optimo's come in the little balsa boxes...

I thought someone "stretched" the hat box picture.

My most unique hat box is the Stetson Stratoliner, a real oval shaped...but your Knox "tube box" , I haven't even seen one at Art's.

 

[Matt Deckard]

The box is real alright.
Lock hatters still sells tubes with their roll-up trilbys.

I had a Lee water block hat that I had an ad where it showed the guy rolling up his hat too, different than the ad above. I rolled my Lee up on many occasions, even packed it away on trips and it came out fine in the end... not even wrinkles.

I think you can do this with many vintage felts as long as the felt is of a quality that won't crack and has a good memory to it. remember, not all hats take kindly to rolling to be cautious.

I freaked my brother out when I wore my lightweight graphite Optimo to Disneyland earlier this year. He kept telling me I'll wreck my hat. I took the hat and crushed it in front of him, then I uncrushed it popped out the crown, pushed half in on itself and rolled it. I told him its felt and it can take abuse.

I was happy that it could. The hat was no worse for the wear. As long as you don't get a fold crease in the brim or roll it too tightly it should not damage the felt. I was taking a risk with a modern hat and don't really recomend this for Optimos.

I used to think that it was only the super soft felts that were rollable, though my Lee water block was a pretty sturdy hat. I don't think there is anything special with Lee felt that made it rollable, I think it was something you could do with alot of hats. Lee just used it as a sales point... speculation.

 

[Andykev]

You've In - Creased - My Knowledge

I agree about the suppleness of the Optimo, and rely on it time and again. SO you crumpled GRAHAM'S hat? You know he still owns it although you have custody

The true test was Zohar's video of when he SAT on THE HAT.

Say, did you think of a book by that title?

The Cat in the Hat...no I meant "I SAT ON THE HAT"

LOL LOL LOL

 

[Matt Deckard]

That vid Zohar put together was pretty neat.

For the Optimo, I think the Newer blend hats, Nutria Beaver, are much better when it comes to roll-up factor. The felt is just so dense and has a very different quality when compared to their Hare Beaver blend..

Just remember, I don't recomend it, though it can be done.

The Lee hat I had was called the "adventure" and I found an ad for that specific hat showing how it rolled up.

 

[hatlady]

cloches

Hi, what wonderful pix, and what a great find. Rare is it that men know much about women's hats. Serves as a reminder I am truly born in the wrong era. Best, Karyn

 

[Canadave]

Originally posted by Matt Deckard
That vid Zohar put together was pretty neat...

Is that vid available to view online?

David

 

[Matt Deckard]

Pretty good flick, I believe his wife directed it.

http://zohar79.shackspace.com/gear/Optimoadventure.wmv

 

[Wild Root]

Funny how some of us know more about women's hats then the women do. They seem to like fedoras more. I look at some of the 30's and 40's women's hats and you know some of them were fedora influenced. It's not too hard to recognize a true 30's or 40's women's hat. Just look at any old catalog of the year you want to know about and you will see what they had that year and then when you're out looking, you will see one close to it and know that it's the real deal. I have been always able to spot real from fake for some reason. I guess I was born with a gift.

I would love to see the ladies wear hats like they did in the 30's but, that's not going to happen any time soon.

Root.

 

[Matt Deckard]

I loved Ingrid's hats in Notorious.

I liked the hat she wore in the lesser known film Casablanca too.

in the way of ladies hats, I think the best looking is the 30's style Gweneth Paltrow wears in Sky Captain

low close fitting crown and shorter brim.

 

[Canadave]

Originally posted by Matt Deckard
Pretty good flick, I believe his wife directed it...

Thanks for that, Matt. That's hilarious!

It's also great to see and hear a guy that you've only communicated with via the "interweb"! Did he post this in another thread that I missed? Are there any more?

Keep 'em coming, Zohar (and anyone else)!

David

 

[Matt Deckard]

I believe the production company is still around, though I have not seen any of their other work.

I'm sure after they made that film much of them went into retirement with all the residuals from the sales.

The timing of the humor was impeccable.

 

[Matt Deckard]

for those that can see it. here is the hat that Karen Allen wore in Raiders

That is the best pic I have of it.