Panama hat

Eugénie Safontas

ca. 1928 · straw, silk · Costume Institute

While little is known about the milliner Eugénie Safontas, the quality of the hats given to the Brooklyn Museum collection by Mrs. Frederick H. Prince, Jr. bearing the label of her shop in Biarritz indicates she adhered to the highest standards of craftsmanship. In this example from the late 1920s, she has created a women's summer hat cleverly uniting the woman's cloche style with the man's panama style in vogue at the time. Made of fine balibuntal straw like a man's panama hat, it also bears the characteristic crown ridge of the man's style. Instead of the traditional smooth grosgrain hatband however, the milliner has worked the silk ribbon to create a tailored leaf-like garland, bringing a feminine touch to this stylish hybrid.

Artist

Eugénie Safontas

Date

ca. 1928

Medium

straw, 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 Mrs. Frederick H. Prince, Jr., 1967