Gilded Age Hat Tipping Fashion

Gilded Age Fashionistas claimed bragging rights! – What the girls are now doing … A San Francisco invention that has caught on in New York and Chicago…

TIP THEIR HATS

It is the fashion in the East now for girls to tip their hats by way of salutation.

The New York damsels were the first who had the courage to expose their pre- cious bangs to the elements whenever they met a friend. Then the Chicago girls followed their example, and now the fashion has reached San Francisco.

Etiquette has not yet asked ladies to tip those dainty little creations, all lace and feathers, nor yet the towering flower-gardens that are the bane of our theaters. The hat that girls tip is a special headgear, warranted to be put on and taken off easily, and to stand hard wear and tear. It was patented by a San Francisco firm, so that for once we can claim the glory of having dictated fashion to the East.

Untrimmed the hat looks a sort of cross between a cook's cap dyed black and a man-of-war’s man's hat. It is only when examined conscientiously that its entire originality is discovered. Upon a circular band of straw, an inch and a half in depth, is posed a plate of fine chip straw about ten inches in diameter. The front of the band is pleasingly ornamented with a strong peak of glazed leather, which can be firmly grasped and used to raise the hat, without any injury to the entire construction.

The hat has quite a rakish appearance when trimmed. This is usually done by encircling the band of straw with ribbon and velvet and gracefully tilting up one side of the brim, with flowers or a plume of feathers. –San Francisco all, 1893

🍽️Etiquette Enthusiast, Maura J. Graber of The RSVP Institute of Etiquette, is the Site Editor of the Etiquipedia© Etiquette Encyclopedia