Mourning hat

Crocker

ca. 1918 · silk, feathers · Costume Institute

Within the all-black palette required for the grieving widow, this hat by an important Manhattan purveyor of mourning apparel employs complex construction to exude a spirit of delicacy and refinement. The light feeling is augmented by the sparing use of feathers which spring fountain-like from each blossom. The flowers are beautifully conceived and fashioned to complement the sheer body of the hat, but given weight and substance by the incorporation of berry-like stamens. Frankly non-naturalistic fabric flowers were an important development of the later 1910s, and would continue to be a significant element in the millinery repertoire in subsequent decades.

Artist

Crocker

Date

ca. 1918

Medium

silk, 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 Helen Ray in memory of Mr. and Mrs. William Ray and Miss M. Ray, 1951