heart of glass: the hat

This morning, I went around the corner to the York City Art Gallery, which is tiny, but charming and FREE! And to my pleasant surprise, they had the cutest little exhibition going on, called "Hats: A Celebration of the Hat," which included over twenty hats from different periods, accompanied by paintings and drawings, all featuring hats!

This AMAZING hat by Stephen Jones was made for an Italian fashion editor in the 1980s.

Outside of the York City Art Gallery, just around the corner from me.

The Hats exhibition.

Fabulosity.

"The Height of Fashion." So Marie-Antoinette.

Preciousness.

This painting has an interesting story. It is based on an eighteenth-century (I believe) play. Basically the woman in the background, the wife, has just found her bald husband (in a time where men were never supposed to reveal their shaven heads, which were covered by wigs) sleeping in a rather compromising position with another lady. Instead of being jealous, the wife worries about her husband catching cold with his bald head exposed, so she covers it for him...

Evensong at Westminster Abbey, with the boys' choir in mortarboards.

Lovely quotes about hats all around the room...

An Edwardian lady in black.

I just love this.

Her polka-dotted veil is amazing!!

Twenties girls.

Sadly the lights were not in my favour when photographing this one, but I love it just the same.

This drawing is by a man named George du Maurier, who, turns out, was the grandfather of Daphne du Maurier of Rebecca fame (my favourite book ever, btw). Anyway, it has an adorable French poem accompanying it which made me giggle. Loose translation: "He was born near Choisy-le-Roi; Latin caused him terror; And math gave him colic, and Greek gave him colds. This was me." Unfortunately it doesn't rhyme in English. But he wears a dunce cap that says "idiot" and a sign that says he's lazy!