Unknowing visitors to the Hood Museum of Art might wander into the museum's newest exhibition and believe themselves to have stumbled upon an antiquated department store.
But "Completing the Picture: Hats, Fashion, and Fine Art" is anything but a simple display of women's fashion; instead, the exhibition surveys the ever-changing world of women's attire from the 1820s through 1930, emphasizing the importance of hats in developing the signature looks of the periods.
In its integration of costumed mannequins, oil paintings, photographs and other media, the exhibition characterizes the importance of hats as both complementary to the rest of the clothing ensemble and significant commentary on the woman herself. Whereas hats no longer play so persistent a role in women's fashion today, they were an integral component of women's attire until the middle of the 20th century.
"Generally, fashion has always been a statement of who people are inside. It was almost a moral obligation for women to dress appropriately," Public Relations Coordinator Sharon Reed said.
Curated by Margaret Spicer, professor of drama and adjunct curator of the Henry Williams Costume Collection, "Completing the Picture" features clothes from various time periods -- many of the pieces are well over 100 years old.
The collection of clothing in the exhibition owes its breadth and availability to the well-maintained museum costume collection that was created by former drama professor Henry Williams, who collected historic clothing for the purpose of theatrical research and never intended the clothing to be worn as actual costumes. The Costume Collection is now housed in climate-controlled storage in the Hood Museum.
Beginning with the 1820s, the exhibit is arranged chronologically with its twenty mannequins and related fine art. The exhibit uses the mannequins and other media as a jumping point from which to explore the history and evolution of hats through the decades and their relationship to the societal expectations of women at the time.
The exhibition's earliest examples are from the 1820s and 1830s, when women's fashion began featuring a "more romantic line" than that of its predecessors, Reed said.
Whereas a high waistline was extremely fashionable in the early years of the nineteenth century, the beginning of the 1820s saw the reappearance of the corset as it came back into style. As a result, women's dresses featured widening waistlines.
One of the exhibition's centerpieces, a painting of Mrs. Daniel Webster from the Hood Museum's permanent collection, demonstrates the high fashion of the 1820s. Mrs. Webster is depicted in a gray silk dress, which seems to complement the painting's focal point, a wide-brimmed hat. The hat, with its silk and bows, adds an elegant and distinguished air to Mrs. Webster, who had worn this outfit at the laying of the Bunker Hill Monument cornerstone, the dedication at which her husband delivered the keynote address.
At the same time, the exhibition features some differing opinions on the fashions of the 1820s and 1830s, not all of which are praiseworthy. For example, the caricatures of Robert Cruikshank, in his "Monstrosities of 1827," poke fun at the fashion trends of the day. These caricatures further depict the fashions that characterized the period and exaggerate their unmistakable features.
The relative audacity of the 1820s and early 1830s fashions gradually faded as a much more modest style came into place in the late 1830s. This period saw a simplification of women's style, resulting in a reduction of the size of women's skirts and outlandish hairstyles. Most noticeably stressed in the exhibition is the emergence of the head-hugging bonnet.
"These bonnets were not only for keeping out the sun and the wind, but were also a form of modesty," Reed said.
The simplified styles of the late 1830s, as epitomized by the bonnet, suggests much about women's roles during the period. As reflected in the shielding qualities of the bonnet, women sought to appear demure and feminine. The bonnet style did not vanish from women's fashion as the styles moved away from understatement; instead, the often-modified bonnet would remain an important component in women's fashion for the next three decades.
The styles of the 1860s, though, were similar to those of the late 1830s in their emphasis on simplicity. The Civil War era called for modesty in the use of materials in women's clothing. The fashion lacks excess, as can be seen in the flat hats and the absence of frills. This was an era that did elicit drama in women's dress.
The Civil War-era styles stand in stark contrast to those representing the 1880s. Two mannequins and John Singer Sargent's painting," Madame Escudier," demonstrate the high fashion of that period. In "Madame Escudier," Sargent captures the elegance of the period in his depiction of a woman with white ribbons that adorn her hat and complement her black dress.
About halfway through the exhibit, the importance of etiquette and fashion is explored. Two mannequins are dressed in "appropriate" attire for mourning and for wedding. The rules of etiquette for mourning were the most particular and stemmed from British regulations. For example, there were specifications determining what types of materials could be worn during certain phases of the mourning period.
The lines of women's clothing started to trim down in the early years of the twentieth century. The clothing became less extravagant and leaned toward more masculine styles. This fashion transformation has paralleled the growing independence for women in America. There was a desire to assert independence in women's fashion, while still maintaining femininity.
Large hats took center stage in the years before World War I, as can be seen in one of the exhibition's greatest works, a painting by Lilla Cabot Perry entitled "The Black Hat." The main feature of the painting, as its title suggests, is a black velvet hat that crowns the sitter's head. The size of the hat draws attention to the subject's suggestive face and eyes.
The exhibition concludes with the styles of the 1920s. The fashion of the 1920s marks a dramatic movement in women's fashion, creating an entirely new look. The years following World War I presented the end of the restrictive women's styles of the past, such as corsets and petticoats. The accentuated waistlines so prevalent throughout the preceding century were all but gone. The 1920s woman was one of "modern sophistication," Reed said.
While women's fashion moves in many directions decade to decade, hats remained an integral part of the overall appearance women hoped to create until the end of World War II. The collection of hats, dresses and accessories on display in "Completing the Picture" offers a rare glimpse into the styles of the past and their connections to the roles of women in American society.
