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. This is the only short style of the group, with curls tightly clustered all the way round. Dressed close to the head, in common with natural hair and hats of the period, the wigs 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. The wigs capture naturalism in a playful, artificial way that does not pretend to fool the eye; however, the narrow distinction between the real and artifice at the time is evident in the stylised depiction of hairstyles in the magazine Good Housekeeping in 1930 that seem more like our wig hats than real hair. (See Additional Images)