Label ‘Modes et Robes Edith Young’

This and the other three examples in Related Items are part of a number of evening hats in the John Bright Collection made in the form of wigs. Dating from the late 1920s to the early 1930s they are based on current hairstyles executed in metallic thread or braid. Whether long or short in style the focus of the hair lay towards the base of the head, either above the neck or either side of the face. Dressed close to the head, in common with natural hair and hats of the period, the wig-hats appear helmet-like, conforming to the current fashionable silhouette that was sleek, smooth and glossy, and embracing the contemporary aesthetic of unashamed modernity. They contributed to the light-catching qualities of the beaded, sequined evening dresses with which they were worn.

This is the second of these wig-hats in the headphone style, with plaited ‘hair’ wound round over the ears. Unlike the other example that bears some semblance to real hair, albeit of wire, this has been made of metallic braid. A further wig hat in the collection, not included on the website, takes artificiality one step further, being made from brown fabric, run through with gold thread, ruched with machine stitching into a marcel wave.