Do you own a hat? Other than a baseball cap? How would you feel about wearing a hat... every day? Well, if you were around in the 1920s, you would have been intimately familiar with hat-wearing, hat-caring, and hat etiquette!
While researching everything about L.A. 100 years ago, the thing that struck me over and over were the fashions and the hats! So many hats. Did people really wear hats every day? Or through the lens of time, and the camera lens, it just appeared that way. Let's find out.
Men With Hats
- Outside
- At sporting events (inside or out)
- Riding public transportation
- Inside public spaces such as post offices, airports, and hotel or office lobbies
Men Without Hats
- Inside your home or someone else's home
- While eating at home or in a restaurant
- When greeting someone (apparently, this could just be a tip or nod without removal)
- In a house of worship, (unless a hat or head covering is required)
- At work indoors (unless required for the job)
- Inside buildings such as a school, library, or courts of law
- At a theater or movie house
- During the national anthem is played
- When the flag of the United States passes by, as in a parade
So, men were generally expected to wear hats outdoors, with a few exceptions. Clearly, hat-wearing in photographs was something of a gray area, as we'll see in the images from the time.
There were other rules, too, like the famous (or infamous) Straw Hat Rule. I couldn't believe it was real... but it absolutely was. "Straw Hat Day" usually took place in May or June, signaling the seasonal shift from felt to straw. Then, on September 15, it was back to felt.
This custom appears to have been encouraged—if not outright promoted—by the hat industry. Why not create a reason for everyone to buy a new hat? And if you were caught wearing a straw hat after September 15? You ran the risk of having it snatched off your head and smashed. How often that actually happened is debatable, but it did happen!
Men's hats came in a variety of styles. Straw hats included boaters, gamblers, and Panama styles. Felt hats were primarily fedoras, but the Homburg, derby, newsboy (or news cap), and even the top hat remained in play for very formal occasions.
Men and women followed different rules when it came to hats.
Women With (Fashion) Hats
- In someone else's home*
- At luncheons, weddings, and garden parties
- In a house of worship (unless a hat or head covering is required)
- At a theater or movie house
- During the national anthem
- When the flag of the United States passes by, as in a parade
Women Without Hats
- Anytime it blocks someone's view, such as at a wedding or in a theater
- Indoors at work
*Women left their hats on indoors because they were still considered "out" as in the public eye. Once 'safely' home, they could remove them.
And here, at least to this librarian, is the interesting part. As you can see from the photos below, many women are without hats! Almost all of the "librarians at work" photos show hatless women, going about their day. Were they considered rebels? Were the pictures taken in the middle of the workday, so even though they were outside, they didn't see a need to re-don their chapeaux?
When women did wear hats, the brimless cloche was especially popular. However, women enjoyed far more variety than men. Styles included wide-brimmed hats, bucket hats, berets, and turbans. Unlike men, I found no hard seasonal cutoff between straw and felt styles for women.
For formal dress, women typically did not wear full hats. Instead, they chose headpieces such as fascinators, crown-style adornments, or simply an elegant hairstyle.
Please enjoy these photos from our collection, along with advertisements courtesy of the Vogue archive, and the Los Angeles Times via Proquest Database. And check out Central 100, a year-long celebration that brings together residents from all corners of Los Angeles. With or without a hat!
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