Hats head into the luxury market
Headpieces have evolved into a fashion accessory that is not to be overlooked
Headpieces, in all varieties, have been around since ancient man pulled an animal skin over his head as protection against the elements. Thus adorning the head has reshaped from purely practical reasons to utterly decorative utterances. Whether it is a ceremonial or religious reason or the intrepid declaration of fashion and style, the headpiece, or hat if you will, delivers swift affirmation for any wearer.
Hats, as we know them, are said to date back to Egyptian times, and the first pictorial evidence is from a Thebes tomb painting, featuring a man with a conical straw hat. While women, centuries ago, were often expected to have their heads covered by veils, handkerchiefs, hoods, caps or wimples - the art world delivered the proof.
"At first they were symbols of wealth and stature - only royalty were allowed to wear them," says New York milliner Albertus Swanepoel. "Hats were also worn as protection during war and against weather elements and then only in the 20th century they became an expression of style."
The word "milliner", however, dates back to the 1500s Italy where "milener" (a Middle English word for a Milanese native) was used for anyone selling fancy goods in the city of Milan. At the time Milan was specialising in straw, ribbons and bonnets - all perfect in the gentle art of hat-making.
"Fast forward to the first half of the 20th century and there was definitely a strict hat-wearing etiquette for both women and men in Western culture," says Allison Bard, general manager of Australian headdress brand Helen Kaminski, which has a pop-up store in Pacific Place mall in Admiralty.
"Attitudes toward hat wearing then changed dramatically in the mid-1960s after US President John F. Kennedy and First Lady Jacqueline Kennedy both started to appear in public 'sans chapeau' - the TV series seems to confirm these radical changes in hat-wearing etiquette that turned hat-wearing 'on its head' in this period."
Today, designers have realised that headpieces, or hats, have not been saturated in the fashion realm and so people, from British fashion designer Giles Deacon to more mainstream luxe-brands such as Gucci, are employing a head-cover focused strategy.
