Hat

Madame Suzy

ca. 1940 · wool, silk · Costume Institute

Creative shapes made hats of the 1930s and 1940s distinctive and desirable. In this example from Parisian designer Madame Suzy, the crown and visor have been formed from a single piece of felt and the overall shape resembles a man's golfing hat of the period. Rather than arranging the ribbon into a feminine bow or placing it more conventionally, the designer inset it into the crown and simply folded it at the back of the hat. This simple treatment foreshadows the restricted styles of wartime Paris when the millinery industry was sharply curtailed by a lack of materials, transportation and labor.

Artist

Madame Suzy

Date

ca. 1940

Medium

wool, silk

Culture

French

Department

Costume Institute

Credit line

Brooklyn Museum Costume Collection at The Metropolitan Museum of Art, Gift of the Brooklyn Museum, 2009; Gift of Janet Chatfield-Taylor, 1957