Hat

Estelle Mérshon

ca. 1910 · straw, silk, bird, feathers · Costume Institute

Amelia Beard Hollenback (1844-1918) was the wife of prominent financier and philanthropist John Welles Hollenback (1835-1927). As the lines of fashionable clothing began to become sleeker and simpler in the period after 1908, millinery responded with simpler but highly dramatized designs. This hat employs effects typifying the period - impressive size, asymmetrically turned-up brim, contrasting color facing, and trim of limited material but strong presence and space-expanding lines - to achieve its great sense of drama, high glamour and style. The typical oversize crown served to coordinate proportionally with the large hairstyles of the period. The wings used are most probably gull, which was noted at the time as being particularly desirable.

Artist

Estelle Mérshon

Date

ca. 1910

Medium

straw, silk, bird, feathers

Culture

American

Department

Costume Institute

Credit line

Brooklyn Museum Costume Collection at The Metropolitan Museum of Art, Gift of the Brooklyn Museum, 2009; Gift of Amelia Beard Hollenback, 1966