Gown, 1857-1859

Bonnet, 1848-1857

During the 1850s, popular women's hairstyles were exaggerated at the front, puffed out at the sides, with hair pulled back low on the neck; and hat shapes changed to accommodate this. This is an example of such a hat. It is smaller and the crown does not extend as far out as hats popular in the previous decade. It does however, have a bavolet- the flap of fabric at the base of the crown which covers the nape of the neck- which also began to disappear around this time.

The boys and girls' illustrated bird book

Illustrated t.-p.

The white pigeon, and The mimic

The electronic version of this item was provided by the Wayne State University Library System and is freely accessible through the Wayne State University Libraries Digital Collections.