Woman's Bonnet

This is a woman’s bonnet consisting of a woven straw base with a shallow crown and narrow brim that has been folded up in the back. The straw base is covered in a weft-faced, camel/tan colored silk taffeta, multiple layers of black machine-made bobbinet netting, and beadwork trim. Beading consists of a combination of cut steel beads, round straw beads, and die-cut paper flowers. A cluster of faux flowers is attached to the brim on the proper left side with the branches continuing around the front of the brim to the proper right. Two silk damask ribbons are attached to the proper left and proper right sides, with the right ribbon longer in length than the left to allow for even ends when tying.

There are issues with dating this bonnet. Because custom apparel, such as millinery work (bonnets and hats), was still relatively expensive, it was common for women in the Victorian era, particularly those wishing to appear upwardly mobile, to remodel their existing apparel and update it with the latest trends. This bonnet may have evidence of just such remodeling. While the underlying structure of the bonnet is characteristic of fashion seen during the late 1860s and early 1870s, some of the bonnet’s decorative embellishments may have been added later. For example, the securing threads for the damask ribbons appear to be of a different color and denier than the threads used to sew other areas of the crown. Silk flowers were an extremely popular form of decoration during the Victorian era with subtle meaning imbued in each blossom. The flowers attached to this bonnet are of typical style and construction for the era, but contain a bead at the base of each rosette which may either be made from an early form of celluloid plastic, or more likely, composition, a glue/resin and sawdust mixture. Composition became widely used and available in the late 1870s and early 1880s, most notably in the production of dolls. Additionally, cut-steel beads were available as early as 1790 in England but became popularized in the 1880s when designers began to utilize beads produced in France. The presence of the cut steel beads and the flower stems suggest a later date for this object, probably the 1880s.

The photographs of this bonnet include several showing the layers of decoration, with steel-cut beads, net, taffeta, straw beads and flowers die-cut from heavy paper. One photograph shows the base of the faux roses, made from an unknown material, possibly a composition resin.

References
Emery, Irene. 1980. The Primary Structures of Fabrics, An Illustrated Classification. Washington DC: The Textile Museum.

Franklin, Harper. 2020. Fashion History Timeline 1860-1869. August 18. Accessed December 11, 2020. https://fashionhistory.fitnyc.edu/1860-1869/.

—. 2020. Fashion History Timeline 1870-1879. August 18. Accessed December 11, 2020. https://fashionhistory.fitnyc.edu/1870-1879/.

Segal, Troy. 2020. How to Identify Black Materials Used in Victorian Jewelry. August 26. Accessed December 11, 2020. https://www.thesprucecrafts.com/identify-black-materials-victorian-jewelry-149534.

Thornton, Jonathan, and William Adair. 1994. Applied Decoration for Historic Interiors Preserving Composition Ornament. Washington, D.C.: U.S. Dept. of the Interior, National Park Service, Cultural Resources, Preservation Assistance.

straw, yarn, silk, cut steel beads, thread, wire, possibly composition resin