So millineries thrived. Not only did a woman need a hat because of the “dress code” of the time, but she also wanted a hat that was unique; one that made her look her best and was unlike any other hat in town, or even the area. This emphasis on uniqueness was so important that lawsuits were brought, milliner against milliner, on accusations that one had stolen another designs and claimed them as their own. And many times, these women won!
Millinery was considered a respectable job for women in a time when a woman working outside of the home was not considered altogether socially acceptable. Milliners rank 7th in women’s employment in the U.S. Census for 1870; housekeepers, servants and factory work rank only slightly higher. Some millineries in larger cities did have association with “back room” activities - gambling parlors, opium dens, and prostitution – but the vast majority of millineries were run by upstanding married women, usually of the upper middle classes.
Millineries were not just the place for to purchase a hat; many of the millineries, especially in smaller towns, kept a stock of sewing materials that were not found in the general stores, mainly for a lack of space for the necessities. Millineries often carried embroidery threads and prestamped fabrics to embroidery, a variety of ribbons, lace, buttons, beads and other notions, as well as limited supplies of the fancier materials. If a woman wanted a dress made of silk, she would often go to her milliner to order such material, since the milliner had the business associations for those fancier goods the local grocer may not. Millineries often became the social center for women in farming communities; a place to meet up with their friends and socialize. And the milliner was always gracious about this, serving tea and cakes or cookies, knowing that the more time the women spent in the shop, the more likely it was that they would buy something or even order a new hat.
Millineries did not provide practical headwear; if you needed a practical straw hat or sun bonnet, you got it at the general store or made it yourself at home. Millineries were often called “fripperies” by men, because while the hats were socially required, they were by no means practical.
In the 1830s and 40s, a common style of hat for the ladies was a bonnet of silk or satin, with a huge brim. These hats are exceedingly impractical; while they provide shade, they also become a sail in the lightest of winds. The ties on these bonnets were decorative- the hat itself was held on by hat pins and the tightly coiled hair underneath that the hatpins went through.
By the 1870s, the hats got smaller and smaller, with more and more decoration. By 1900, the hat brims were often as wide as wagon wheels, and had even more decoration heaped upon them. Birds and feathers of all types were so called for, that by the 1890s the National Audubon Society was formed expressly to create legislation to protect the song bird from being over hunted for use in millinery. The Carolina Parakeet, a small parakeet found only in North and South Carolina, became extinct from being over hunted by farmers and millinery suppliers both. Today, it is illegal to use any feather from any bird that could be classified as a song bird in hat making.
By the turn of the century, some of the larger millinery shops started mass production of hats. While they were still hand made, 20, 30, 50 at a time of the same style, design and even trim were made. By the 1920s, many millinery shops were buying a number of premade hats, only doing custom work for those clients who could afford it. By necessity of mass production, the decorations on hats became less and less. Still a societal stricture, women continued to wear hats well into the 1940s and 50s. By the 1960s, hats were still common among the upper classes, but the middle class had pretty much stopped wearing them except for special events and church. This change is credited to John F. Kennedy, who was the first president to appear in public, and on television, without a hat. Many men decided at that time to emulate their president. Women kept hats a bit longer, because Jackie Kennedy was never seen out without a stunning hat.
The day of the local millinery shop was mainly gone. Throughout much of the U.S., millinery shops closed. Very few can be found today; mostly in the Southern states, where hat wearing is still expected for church and formal events, and in California. Most milliners today work in the museum industry, the theater industry or in Hollywood. Where milliners once numbered in the thousands, they now number in the low hundreds. It has become a “lost art” in the United States.
Sources:
Anslow, Florence. Practical Millinery Sir Isaac Pitman and Sons, LTD. London 1922.
Babcock, L.M. “Employments for Women.—No. 6.: Millinery.” From The Delineator, October 1894
Burroughs, Susan and Sara Rutledge Plain and Fancy: American Women and Their Needlework, 1700-1850 . Holt,Rinehart and Winston NY 1977
Cline, Maranda J. Diary of Maranda J. Cline. 1907.
Hopkins, Vivian C., ed. “Diary of an Iowa Farm Girl: Josephine Edith Brown, 1892-1901.” The JohnsHopkinsUniversity Press, 1984
Hounshell, David A. From the American System to Mass Production, 1800-1932. Baltimore: Annals of Iowa 42.2 (Fall 1973)
Loewen,Jane. Millinery. The MacMillan Company NY 1925
The Ladies’ Self Instructor in Millinery & Mantua Making, Embroidery & Appliqué. Originally published, 1853,
Vincent,Margaret The Ladies’ Work Table: Domestic Needlework in NineteenthCenturyAmerica University Press of New England. 1988
Copyright Lisa Keipp and Examiner.com 2009. All photos not otherwise attributed property of and copywritten by Lisa Keipp
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