IT'S ALL ABOUT THE HAT, OR TO THE STORY OF ITS ABOLITION: CLAIR HUGHES’ BOOK «HATS»

Abstract

This article reviews Clair Hughes' book «Hats» that was published by New Literary Review (in Russian: «Новое литературное обозрение») in 2019. The British researcher shows the history of hats through the prism of New European values, perceptions and etiquette. Hats act as the most important factor of democratization and emancipation. The author links hat fashion to the development of urban culture (boulevards, passages, cafes), entertainment culture (horse races, theaters, music halls, cinemas), youth subcultures (teddy boy, etc.). Clair Hughes pays close attention to the history of the cylinder and bowler hat, the Gainsborough hat and the Merry Widow hat, the cloche and the beret. The sources of the study are literary and pictorial works (by John Galsworthy, Henry James, Samuel Beckett, Walter Sickert, Henri de Toulouse-Lautrec, Georges Sera, René Magritte) and illustrated magazines. Hats on stage, in movies and sports, hats as markers of social differences, famous modifiers (Lucille, Rebu, Dache) and iconic images in politics, show business (Churchill, Sinatra, Max Linder, Chaplin, Buster Keaton, Marlene Dietrich, Audrey Hepburn, Faye Dunaway, Gene Shrimpton) are the subject of Claire Hughes' book. The author ends her study of New European fashion with a history of the rejection of hats in post-war culture.