Emily Post on Hats

The general rule is if you wear an afternoon dress (meaning a dress not suitable for general wear on the street) in the evening, then you should go without a hat, but if you are wearing a street dress, then you should wear a hat.– Emily Post on CBS Radio

Shall I Wear a Hat With Afternoon Dress?

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Dear Mrs. Post: We seldom wear formal clothes in our simple community, which fact I contend is no reason why the ladies here may not go to evening parties wearing afternoon dresses and no hats. Don’t you agree with me? There are several new residents who have been turning up on such occasions with hats on. 

Answer: The general rule is if you wear an afternoon dress (meaning a dress not suitable for general wear on the street) in the evening, then you should go without a hat, but if you are wearing a street dress, then you should wear a hat. But whether the hats you describe are bad form or not, depends entirely upon their type. In other words, if they are an indoor type of hat, they are quite as suitable to wear with afternoon dresses as to go without. In fact, they are decidedly a fashion of the moment. 

Seek Local Custom 

Dear Mrs. Post: Should the ladies pouring at a formal tea wear hats? Common sense seems to be the basis of your etiquette, and in my humble judgment hats at this time do not sound sensible. 

Answer: This question is best decided by the arbitrary custom of each community. In New York, for example, a deputy hostess always wears a hat unless she is a house visitor, and even in this case she is likely as not to wear one. Neither dress or hat for a deputy hostess should be too tailored.– By the World's Foremost Authority on Etiquette © Emily Post, 1937

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