Dinner hat

Kathleen, Inc.

ca. 1942 · wool, feathers · Costume Institute

Originally adapted from a style of hat worn by the fashionable Empress Eugénie, wife of Napoleon III, and blasted back into popularity after being worn by Greta Garbo in the 1930 film Romance, the Eugénie hat was extremely popular during the 1930s. Usually worn provocatively tilted over the eye and decorated with feathers, the style had many manifestations, one being this particular hat covered in ostrich feathers that are billowing over a flat form. The ostrich feathers used in this well-crafted example are delicately varied in color so that it has a distinctive flower-like appearance.

Artist

Kathleen, Inc.

Date

ca. 1942

Medium

wool, 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 Mrs. Garrett R. Stearly and Mrs. Peter V. D. Voorhees in memory of Mr. and Mrs. Edward Dreier, 1959