Victorian Hats

From Francine Mathews:

For much of the 1880s and 1890s, a woman's headgear was in transition: from the bonnet style, tied under the chin with ribbons, that dominated fashion around the Civil War, to the hat--a decorative structure that might or might not cover the ears.  Bonnets were still worn when Jennie Churchill moved through the decade of her thirties in London, but they were no longer the helmet-like poke bonnets of her childhood. Although they tied under the chin, most managed to perch on the top of a lady's hair, almost like bird nests. Hats, which did not tie under the chin but rather had to be pinned to a lady's hair, hid almost nothing of the elaborate coiffeurs common to the late Victorian period. (Read more.)