Titanic Era Hats: Original Photographs from the Mobile Millinery Museum

With so much interest in our current exhibit of Titanic era Fashions,  I decided to post a few images from the period, to prove that everyday women really did wear those hats!

Sisters Mildred and Ella Philip enjoy an afternoon at the beach
with their cousin, Will Lidell

Although these women are very covered up for an afternoon at the beach, note the loose silhouette and daring V-necklines that were in fashion at the time. The hats are variations on the boater style to perfectly complement their sailor collar outfits.

Bride Kitty Hillyer and her sister Jessie wear
the latest in millinery fashion c.1912. 

I've always loved this picture of my great aunts in their Edwardian wedding attire, but it wasn't until I digitalized this image that I was able to recognize the locket around Kitty's neck. It is a gold Victorian piece her mother (my great grandmother) wore on her wedding day. I found it some years ago in my late grandmother's things and now I treasure it as my own. As for the fashions, note the three quarter sleeve, the V-motif bodices and the asymmetry of the wide-brimmed hat.       

My grandmother, Jane Christina  Philip on her wedding day

Oh how I wish I had this hat in my archives. Notice the white ostrich plumes that adorn the crown. In 1912, 'Willow' ostrich was all the rage. These were ostrich feathers which had been elongated by hand-tying extra fronds to the ends of an 'ordinary' ostrich plume.   

And now for those Titanic era dresses...

Evening wear c.1912.

The woman seated in this photograph is Mrs. Florence Clark of Clark's Pork and Beans fame. The woman to her left wears an oval shaped brooch set with seed pearls which was handed down to me. Again, until I digitalized the image, I had not recognized the pin.

What's in your Grannie's attic?

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