Head Girl

HATS OFF TO HELEN

Jane Dale meets designer Helen Nicholls a lady that simply loves hats and designer bags, and who doesn’t?

Hats have a long history. One of the earliest known was worn by a bronze age man whose body (including his hat) was found frozen in ice on a mountain between Austria and Italy. Archaeologists believe he had been roaming these mountains some 5,500 years ago.

One of the first hats to be depicted anywhere in the world was found in a tomb painting at Thebes and shows a man wearing a straw hat.

tThe hat has been, and still is worn for protection from the elements, for ceremonial reasons (think Mortarboard), religious purposes (a bishops Mitre or a Sikh Turban), or for military purposes. During the middle ages the wearing of a certain style of hat was to distinguish social status.

It wasn’t until the late seventeenth century that women’s headgear began to emerge in its own right and not be influenced by men’s hat fashions.

You can read the full article in the latest edition of Thame Out.