My Hat It Has Three Corners.......

"My Hat it has three corners, three corners has my hat and, had it not three corners, it would not be my hat". I still remember this song from my childhood at a time when "HATS" are really on my mind. I love hats and rarely wear one now. The ones I do wear are to keep my head warm and the sun off my face.

I think maybe I should have been born a Brit or an African American church lady as they seem to be the only groups who continue to wear decorative ones. At this time of The Royal Wedding, Easter and the "Bonnets" once associated with it plus, the Kentucky Derby, can't quit thinking about hats.

In the Middle Ages the church decreed that a lady's hair must be covered thus, began the woman's journey into the world of millinery. By the 18th century the art of creating head wear became a woman's profession. I wonder now if this might have been the first foray into females who worked outside the home. OK, we all know what the actual first one was.

In the years that followed elaborate hats were worn by the wealthy and those who churned butter wore bonnets. It was at the turn of the 20th century that the average woman dressed her head. The most common place to wear one was church. After the depression began the every occasion movement. I think that the everyday woman of the decades 30's through 60's use of chapeaus had something to do with the horrible hair styles they had. If you really think about it, the last time an average woman wore a hat came just after Jackie Kennedy's pink pillbox in 1963.

Sure there were the floppy ones of the 60's and 70's but, by this time the fancy hat had, once again, become a staple of the more glamorous and sassy. I'm sure the reason for this was the advent of hot rollers, blow dryers and really great hair color. Why on earth would a girl spend the time and money with these marvels only to cover up the result?

As I've said one group of women who still wear hats are Black church ladies. They are grandmothers now. Their daughters, like us White girls, spend a fortune to make their hair perfect and will most likely not be willing to mess or flatten it out. As for the Royals......How many 28 year old women still wear a hat with a feather on it to an event? Only in England. Another source for viewing a fine hat are worn by the wealthy women at The Kentucky Derby. Hats are now for the regal and wealthy but, I do see ads for them at a reasonable price. I wonder if the common hat will ever come back?