HINTS FOR THE SELECTION OF BECOMING AND APPROPRIATE STYLES IN HEAD-GEAR.
Closely allied to the subject of hair-dressing is that of head-gear.
Indeed many of the hints regarding appropriate coiffures for certain
styles of faces are equally applicable to the selection of suitable hats
and bonnets. The choosing of millinery is the more momentous of the two,
of course, for I need scarcely remind you that Nature left us no choice
in hair. No matter what its color or texture we desire to keep it and if
we are wise we will make the best of it.
In regard to hats we are personally responsible and our follies are upon
our own heads.
The power of caricature being greater in hats than in hair-dressing, is
it not fit that we should give careful and intelligent consideration to
the selection of our millinery that the ugly lines in our otherwise
beautiful faces may not be at the mercy of mocking bunches of ribbons,
comically tilted straws, or floppy bits of lace?
The Magic of The Bonnet.
Once upon a time, I think that was the exact date, there was a man
distinguished in a certain kingdom as the ugliest person in the realm.
According to a blithe romancer, he was so distinctively unpleasing in
form and feature that he challenged the attention of the king who, in
whimsical mood, made him a royal retainer. The man so conspicuously
lacking in beauty enjoyed his eminent position and privileges for some
time. But even ugliness, if it attain distinction, will excite envy in
the low-minded. A former associate of the unbeautiful man in invidious
temper brought the news one day to the king, that there was an old
woman in his domain that was uglier than the lowly-born man who by
kingly favor held so high a place. "Bring her to the court. Judges shall
be called to decide. If she is uglier she shall stay and he shall go,"
was the royal mandate. When the old woman appeared she was easily
decided to be by far the uglier of the two. At the critical moment when
the king was upon the eve of dismissing the man from his retinue, a
friend of the unfortunate shouted, "Put her bonnet on him!" This was
done, and lo! a fearful change was wrought. By unanimous acclamation he
was declared to be "the ugliest creature on earth."
The old woman, true to the instincts of her sex, refused to wear her
bonnet again. Like many of her sisters of modern times, she had not
before discovered the possibilities in a bonnet to enhance the beauty of
the face or decrease its charms.
If woman could see themselves objectively, as did the old woman, they
would keenly realize the necessity of considering the lines of hat or
bonnet in relation to those of their faces, and would learn to obscure
defects and bring into prominence their prettiest features.
As there are a few rules to govern what each type should select, every
one of the fair sisterhood has an equal opportunity to improve her
appearance by selecting in the millinery line the distinctive adornment
suited to her individual style.
[Illustration: NO. 22]
For Women with Broad Face and Heavy Chin.
By a curious law of contrariety the woman with a broad, heavy chin seems
to have an ungovernable penchant for trig little round bonnets, or trim
turbans with perky aigrettes, like that in sketch No. 22. By obeying
this wilful preference she obscures whatever delicacy may be in the
modelling of her features and brings into conspicuous relief the
ugliest lines of her face. Her chin is apparently increased in heaviness
and the broadness of her face is made prominent. She could easily have
restored the artistic balance to her facial lines by wearing a large
hat, rather heavily trimmed, as in No. 23, thus effectively modifying
the strong curves of the chin and signally improving her appearance. If
a woman's face is fairly proportioned, not too short for its breadth,
and she can not afford plumes, this type of woman can still give a
becoming balance to her face by adopting hats that are trimmed with
flamboyant bows that flare horizontally across the hat, diverging from a
central knot in the from.
[Illustration: NO. 23]
For the Woman with Tapering Chin.
[Illustration: NO. 24]
The woman who is the exact opposite of the type with the ample lower
jaw, but whose chief disadvantage lies in her broad, manly brow and tiny
tapering chin, should avoid all horizontal trimmings, bows or broad
hat-brims. It is clear, in No. 24, that such trimmings increase the
wedge-like appearance of the face and give it the grotesque suggestion
of an ordinary flower-pot in which grows a sickly plant. This type can
perceptibly improve upon nature by choosing the style of hat and
neck-gear shown by No. 25.
[Illustration: NO. 25]
The crinkly ovals that form the brim of the hat, and the soft, graceful
arrangement of the hair in front that decreases the too broad effect of
the brow, and the full fluffy ruff snuggled up closely to the chin,
produce a pleasing transformation of the meagre-looking original that
to the uninitiated seems little short of magical. The broad, cravat-like
bows, and the flaring ones known as "incroyables," were beneficently
wedge-like faces and throats that have lost the seductive curves of
youth.
Hat for the Chubby Woman.
[Illustration: NO. 26]
That amiable type of woman formed conspicuously upon the circular plan
often unconsciously impresses the fact of her fatal tendency to
rotundity by repeating the roundness of her globular eyes, the disk-like
appearance of her snub nose and the circle of her round mouth, and the
fulness of her face by wearing a little, round hat in the style
portrayed by No. 26.
[Illustration: NO. 27]
The curls of her bang, the feathers in her hat, the high collar of her
jacket make more significant the fact that her lines are not artistic
and that her face is unbeautifully round. She can enhance her charms and
apparently decrease the too spherical cut of her countenance by adopting
the mode illustrated in No. 27. The angular bows on the hat, the
geometric lines of the broad hat-brim, the precise cut of the lapels on
the corsage, the neat throat-band and V-shaped vesture--all insinuate in
a most engaging way a dignity and fine, high-bred poise totally
obliterated by the circular style of dress erroneously adopted by the
misguided woman in No. 26.
[Illustration: NO. 28]
For Women Who Have Sharp and Prominent Profiles.
In buying a hat many of the "unfair sex"--as the modern wag dubs the
progressive sisters who wish to have all man's rights and privileges and
keep their own besides--never seem to consider their heads but from a
front point of view. In consequence, as sketch No 28 hints, a head seen
from the side frequently appears, if not idiotically, very
inartistically, proportioned.
[Illustration: NO. 29]
Occasionally a hat presents as comical an effect in a from as in a side
view, as may be seen in No. 29. The wearer was an elderly woman with
gray hair which hung down in a half-curled bang on either side of her
thin face. Her hat which was simply "dripping" with feathers suggested a
fanciful letter "T" and exaggerated the thinness of her face in a
remarkably funny way. The feathers overhanging the brim increased the
broadness of the hat, and looked singularly waggish fluttering against
the spriggy-looking projections of gray hair. The rules for the
wedge-shaped face, as may readily be discerned, apply here.
[Illustration: NOS. 30 AND 31]
Women who have sharp and prominently outlined profiles have a curious
tendency to choose hats, the brims of which project too far forward in
front, and turn up too abruptly and ungracefully in the back.
As shown in No. 30 the protruding brim gives the head and face the
unattractive proportions of the capital letter "F." The length of the
nose is emphasized by the line of the hat-rim above it and it appears
unduly obtrusive. The flat arrangement of the hair and the curve of the
hat-brim in the back also exaggerate the obtrusive qualities of the
features. By choosing a hat somewhat similar to the one sketched in No.
31, the unattractive sharpness of the profile is modified, and the
alert, agreeable quality of the face, that was obscured by the
shelf-like brim, becomes apparent. The observer feels, if he does not
voice it, that it is a progressive spirit advancing forward instead of
an ungainly head-piece that looks like a curious trowel.
For the Woman with an Angular Face.
[Illustration: NOS. 32 AND 33]
The woman with the angular features presented in No. 32 should not wear
a sailor-hat or any hat with a perfectly straight rim.
The sailor-hat or any style bordering on it should be selected with
utmost discrimination. This mode is unbecoming to a woman more than
forty; or, to one who through grief or worry prematurely attains a look
of age, or to one whose features are irregular. The straight brim across
the face is very trying. It casts a shadow deepening the "old marks"
and instead of being a frame to set off, it seems to cut off, the face
at an inartistic angle.
The woman with angular features, as may be seen by No. 33, can wear with
impunity, and always should wear, a hat the brim of which is waved,
turned, twisted, or curved in graceful lines. The uneven brim of her hat
makes an effective complement to the angularity of her chin, which is
further softened by the feathery ruff that encircles her throat. The
curves of the ostrich plumes, and the studied carelessness of the
arrangement of her coiffure, subdue the angles of her face which are
brought out in unbecoming prominence by the sailor-hat.
Women Who should Not Wear Horns.
The velvet horns on either side of a hat, the steeple-like central
adornments that were once much in favor, and the Mercury wings that
ornament the coiffure for evening dress, produce some startling,
disagreeable, and amusing effects not altogether uninteresting to
consider.
Faces in which the eyes are set too near the forehead acquire a scared
look by being surmounted by a bonnet upon which the trimming gravitates
to a point in an arrangement not unsuggestive of a reversed fan, horns,
or a steeple.
The most unpleasing developments result from the wearing of the
horn-like trimmings either in velvet or jet. If the face above which
they flare has less of the spiritual than the coarse propensities in it,
the grotesque turns and twists in the head-gear emphasize the animality
in the lines characteristic of low-bred tendencies, and the whole
countenance is vulgarized. One face acquires the look of a fox, another
of a certain type of dog, and so on.
The most amusing exaggerations of distinctive facial lines are produced
by Mercury wings. The good-natured woman of the familiar type depicted
in No. 34 brings every bovine attribute of her placid countenance into
conspicuous relief by surmounting her face with the wings of the
fleet-footed god. The cow-like form and serenity of her features are
made laughably obvious.
[Illustration: NO. 34]
Short, delicately-faced women can adorn their coiffures with Mercury
wings with most charming results. Wings, or perpendicular bows, add
length to the lines of the short face, giving it a certain suggestion
of refinement and distinction that is wholly destroyed by the wearing of
any trimmings that show at the sides.
NO MATTER WHAT THE PREVAILING STYLE THESE RULES MAY BE PRACTICALLY
APPLIED.