Welcome to HOW RETRO, which is all about the 20th century - films, fashion, TV, people, popular culture and more.
Like Lot's Wife, we just can't help looking back...
Floppy hats were quite the thing in the 18th century
Style Inspiration
Wide-brimmed, floppy hats were worn with great aplomb in the 18th century, paired with flowing and elaborate ground length skirts, as featured in many a Gainsborough painting and thus often called Gainsborough hats.
These were often decorated with large plumes and/or flowers and ribbons. It was a very feminine, showy style - fashionistas of this era weren't into understatement. In the 19th century Gainsborough hats were superceded by less expansive styles, however, remnants of the wide-brimmed floppy hat survived into the 20th century.
The beret is a classic style that never dates, perhaps because it is so simple a design - basically just a circle. It's also very old, dating way back to the Bronze Age and although we associate berets with the French, they were worn in some form or other by the ancient Minoans, Romans and Etruscans and in various military organizations the world over.
The reason for the French association is down to a particularly style of "Basque" beret, which was originally worn by Basque shepherds in the Pyrenees mountain region between southern France and Northern Spain. This style of beret was produced commercially by local craft people as early as the 17th century in Southern France and when industrialization hit in the 19th century, they were mass produced in factories.
The fascinator offers allure and intrigue. From Amazon
A Veil of Elegant Mystery
Modern style fascinators - those frivolous, feathery headpieces that give women the look of an exotic bird and unlike hats, serve no real practical function but are designed purely for adornment - came into vogue in the 20th century with the eccentric headgear of the 1940s, when small, decorative headpieces were often combined with a net veil to give a woman a mysterious sense of allure. I guess they were meant to make us...fascinating.
Lana Turner. Still from The Postman Always Rings Twice
Although they were a popular item in the 1940s and can be convenient for disguising hair loss, I can't see that particular style of turban making a major mainstream comeback - partly because they have that "just got out of the shower and rolled a towel around my head" look, despite the fact that Lana Turner does look pretty attractive in the still photo above. Of course there are turbans and there are turbans - those brightly coloured, interestingly knotted turbans many African women wear look sensational and on the right head, anything can look good. Plus, just a simple silk scarf can look very spiff tied in a turban style.
Still from White Mischief
Turbans for women were nothing new and they were frequently worn by European women in the 1700s. However, 20th century fashion turbans on Western women were inspired by far-way places like Africa and the Middle-East and various versions were also relatively popular in the daring 1920s, when there was a particular penchant for the exotic. In the 40s, a relatively subdued Hollywood version of the turban, as seen on Lana above, was the predominant style, though there were many elaborations to this basic style...some wildly extravagant.
40s styles could range from a headband form with a turban knot, or a turban
cap which covered the whole head (sometimes with a heavy, rolled fringe
poking out) and more structured turban hats such as the green number
with a gold clasp in the photo above right, worn by Greta Scacchi in the
film White Mischief, set in 1940s colonial Africa. Singer and actress Carmen Miranda eccentrically piled a tower of fake fruit on her turban and it became her trademark. I suppose in the loosest sense, it's a style that never really dissappeared, since there are scores of women who wear some version of the turban in many different parts of the world.
Although headbands have been worn for centuries in various forms and for various reasons by both men and women, in the 20th century they went through several stages of popularity as a women's fashion accessory...particularly in the 1920s and 1950s and 1980s.
1920s
In the 1920s very elaborate headbands were in vogue. These were made of lush velvets, silks and satins, worn low on the head and embellished with exotic designs in art deco motifs, feathers, detailed embroidery, flowers, beads and even jewels. Predominant colours of the 20s were black, cream, green, orange and gold.
Women of the 1920s tended to be imaginatively inspired by exotic locations and vampish fantasies, seeking out stylistic inspiration from the Far East...Egypt, China, Japan and Russia.
The typical flapper look was a low waisted dress, long rows of pearls or beads, short bobbed hair, pale face, smoldering eyes with dark makeup, cupid lips and a headband resting across the brow. Cloche hats were also very popular but for evening wear a head band was preferable.
Actress Carmel Myers in an elaborate head band
1950s
Lucy in an over the top bow in the 50s
Although headbands lost popularity somewhat in the 30s and 40s they were back again in the 50s with a vengeance. Accessories were fashionable in general at that time - there were plenty of scarves, chunky jewellery, bags, belts, cummerbunds - so it wasn't surprising headbands would make an appearance.
Styles ranged from hard plastic Alice bands, wide fabric or knitted bands in stripes, polka dots or plain colours that were tied behind the ears or knotted on top of the head, bands with bows to ultra-feminine, intricate lace or crochet pieces.
Grace Kelly looking sophisticated in an Alice band.
BB opts for a dramatic wide band
Extra-wide 50s style fabric headband from Kaboodle
1980s
In the 80s large was lovely when it came to fashion, so in sync with period, the headbands were big too. Over-size girly bows - a trend kicked off by Madonna, made a hot return for a while in the mid 80s and headbands with large floppy bows worn to one side of the head or piled on top, complimented the big curly perms of the era.
Madonna wearing plenty of bow in Desperately Seeking Susan.(1985) They didn't call her the material girl for nothing.
Other headband 80s styles included bands with long dangling bits -feathers, chains and metal leaves, worn with big wild hair or bands worn across the forehead with short, gelled hair . There was also a brief flirtation with twisted fabric and towelling sports bands - possibly this song was to blame:
Straw, felt and velvet appliqued cloche. Victoria &Albert Museum
The cloche was to the 1920s what the snood was to the '40s, only more so. Although it was not the only style of headwear around at the time, it's the one most associated with the period. Called a cloche because of its distinctive bell shape (cloche is French for bell), this hat sat low on the head, shading the eyes and giving the wearer an intriguing allure...
As a bonus, the quirky cloche added a little extra height as the top of the hat was rather bulbous - it was a style which complimented the short, bobbed hairstyles of the era and sometimes the hair was actually almost completely hidden beneath the cloche.
The 1920s collided with the emergence of the Art Deco period and many of the hats incorporated some of the characteristic design elements into the cloche, with the use of bold lines, deco appliques and Aztec zig zag seaming in greens, pinks, creams and blacks.
Creative
It was a very creative period from a fashion perspective and milliners were inspired by exotic locations and vampish fantasies. Some sought out stylistic inspiration from the Far East...Egypt, China, Japan and Russia. Apart from the ubiquitous cloche, headresses included tiaras, turbans, silk headbands, toques, kokoshniks and scarves elaborately knotted at one side.
Just about everyone wore a hat in the 1920s and it would have been considered very poor taste to be seen out in public without something on your head. This was particularly true for men, as tipping your hat for a lady was standard practice.
Attractive? If you want one, contact the Snood Lady
A kind of half cap and half hairnet, the snood was a popular fashion accessory of the 1940s and could be worn casually for day wear or fancied up to pair with an evening dress.
Ugly name and in this writer's opinion at least, an ugly style. It seems some things just aren't destined to make a return appearance on the everturning wheel of fashion reycling and I'm hoping the snood might be one of them, though in truth, I have to admit some people do love them.
In any case, the snood was a very popular fashion item in the 1940s, not least because of the practical aspect. When you consider the large numbers of women moving into traditionally male factory jobs, working with machinery, they were a convenient solution to keeping pesky female locks under wraps. Another saving grace of the snood was, what with such complicated, fiddly hairstyles as those of the 1940s, the snood was a great way to hide those bad hair days.
Still don't like it. Vintage crochet pattern from Etsy
inspired by exotic locations and vampish fantasies. Some sought out stylistic inspiration from the Far East...Egypt, China, Japan and Russia. Apart from the ubiquitous cloche, headresses included tiaras, turbans, silk headbands, toques, kokoshniks and scarves elaborately knotted at one side. 
Just about everyone wore a hat in the 1920s and it would have been considered very poor taste to be seen out in public without something on your head. This was particularly true for men, as tipping your hat for a lady was standard practice.
