The feature of this large hat, 41cm in diameter, is the elaborate decorations that are almost spilling over. The extremely small inner brim, 13cm in diameter, indicates that the hat was worn on top of a chignon, in which the hair was worn in a high bun updo, a look which was fashionable during the 1890s. The label is inscribed “Warwick House,” which was the first department store in Birmingham, a major British city.
The expression “femmes en cheveaux” appeared in Au Bonheur des Dames (The Ladies’ Paradise) (1883), a novel written by French writer Émile Zola after he interviewed employees of a department store in Paris and signifies clients who live in the vicinity of the department store. The expression also indicates how hats were a necessity for gentlemen and ladies when outside the home. Zola describes the congestion in the store as follows. “les coiffurs seules surnageaient, bariolées de plumes et de rubans; quelques chapeaux d'homme mettaient des taches noires,…”. The hat was an important item during the late 19th century, a time when new distribution systems such as department stores and mail order shopping developed in the West to satisfy the appetite for consumption amongst the middle classes. Although lightweight bird feathers had been used to decorate hats for centuries, the level of consumption grew significantly during this period.

01 ｜ Émile Zola, Au Bonheur des Dames, referenced in Japanese translation by Keiko Ito, Ronsosha, 2002, p. 119.
02 ｜ Zola, ibid., p.139.