THE NEW SPRING HAT.

Dominion, Volume 2, Issue 556, 10 July 1909, Page 11

THE NEW SPRING HAT.

QUAINT AND PICTURESQUE. If you want to have an ideal spring hat, you can quite truly take a 'flower-pot, or a waste-papor basket, or a' bee-hive, or. a mushroom—any little thing like that—and, having copied its shape in. coarse. Btraw, and lined: it with silk, and sewn round it a wreath of roses closely packed; together without foliage, or a wreath of plum-leaves with clusters ■of very large, black; shiny plums, like -swollen cherries, you may consider your hat nearly trimmed. . Then'you may fasten thereon, at tho back, two long streamers, and in front, among the flowers or fruit, a tuft of ospreys;,(quite regardless of the massacre that was dono to' get them)and thenbehold your now spring hat. It does not sound very beautiful, but it will be in reality quite charming, and; very becoming. That is the impression; of the typical , hat left, on one's; mind, after -.'a'hasty : glance'at. many .of tho new season's models.- •

i , The, merry widow has not gone out of fayour-T-far from it, • and it . is wider than over, with an even wider crown—but the now shapes that have como represent the hewer, if not -more popular ideas.'. The tiny small; hat that : is all crown is J called . the cabriolet— because it harks, bait to the. fashions of those .days when the short word cab, was still' unknown, and cabriolet was the elegant term. Of - many ;pf the hats it may be said that they are entirely composed _of crown,-and, jn. most of them, the brim is non-existent. But so wide-are, tliey that;one-does not know whether, it is the crown that has swollon out to tho diameter of a brim, .or the brim that has gathored and bulged itself, up into a crown. -Some of them, arc very high. - One, with a width, was at least ten inches,m height, and that is a considerable addition to : ..the stature of a- lady, whose hairdressmg' has probably given her several extra inches: : Some of thfe beehive hats fall so low at the back as .to hide the hair, and only tho hair aV the -side of tho.-head is left visible- - 'Silk has gone out, of favour, • except 'as a ] lining, aild-the hats .are composed of straws of'every-sorty ranging from tho very fine' tagel straw to a wheaten straw as coarse as straw can.be.- - Some of-tho hats combine two sorts,-,tho; coarsest- with the very finest straw,'and it may be said that nearly all of them have- an upward tilt tat tho Bide.' ■ Mole colour'is still much-11/evidence, and vheliotfope: and all shades vof blue are to be

■ .very'pqptilar, with> yieiix'rose;; a.••green•'that 'is■ too, vi\Q':io}{ba~^TpnzQ r i': : &ns .amethyst. ; It : ;b'as; •■ J been.;, 'f oiind „ .that, mole ■. -;. colour, : and'/':cuinamoiibrown','. 'combine, : charm-' t : ihgly/ though'one' would mot.have expected' it, and a':dolightfurhat':of mole colour tagel straw, lined with ' cinnamon'; brown and 1 •wreathed with straw colour roses, and wheat 'ears "is another .expected mode to receive consideration. trimming is: to lie . very . closel/to th'e.straw; and many of;the.hatfi are brimmed with what oan only he called; mats of roses—the tiny Banksia roses,- full-blown, sown' together asr closely as possible.'. .One .charming.\model,j;of-a mushroom Vsha'pey of iwhite: chip,' ;;'was,' trimmed with peach ' and, heliotrope-coloured ribbon, and two 'long 1

bapda of matted .--roses' in the same shades crossed , the crown from edge to edge. Another similar shapo was trimmed with diamond-shaped mats of tinted cowslips,:that reached from the top to bottom'of the crown; pissing,:, oifer - narrower .bahd of . royal ,bluo velvet ribbon. ' i,; ', ■

; Gold and' Silver tissue, ijs : deal used, especially gold; and ithere are-cleverly' eonstni'cted flowers.of gold tissue, with hearts.of tintod , silk,-- that : suit • -the early-Viotwian style of the hats. One such hat was trimmed with, bronze .tapestry, roses, ■ Withhold wrose centres, and, ;oyer the .white' hdt>- was -thrown a quaintly i plretty;.:veil: of' -b/ackvlace.':» v:. Some of. the flowers used are ridiculously small. , -'Roses ' are -the fayouiite,.-but those, roses-- ore. 'sometimes no largor than, a , pillule. A beehive jiat-of rustic stra'w;i trimmed with - frills'.of;' black lace, -black,'velvet ribbon,: ,and,. wreathsVof':-these, -tiny vroses was very-;attractive;. .The 1 arrangement, of .• the ribbon'' is apt to ;be. as; stiff ,as - that' of the flowers, and oAe .finds great splashes of stiffly-plaited.ribboii, completing the prim de oo'ration of a hatvthat-might havetbeen-Wurn by' a v'most -sedate , great-grandmbther, but will probably addrn the fluffy head of a hockey girl. • v .