Today, hats are worn primarily on celebratory or festive occasions, but in the 19th century, hats and bonnets were an essential element of every woman's wardrobe. Beginning in the 1890s and continuing until about 1915, many hats were extremely large and served as an ideal canvas on which to display a variety of trimmings, feathers included. Egret, heron, hummingbird, pheasant, ostrich, seagull and peacock were all popular as sources of feathers, though milliners did not limit themselves to these birds alone. As you can see from the image below, creative milliners went far beyond the use of a single elegant plume. Sometimes an entire wing was given pride of place, or even a full bird, as in the example below.
Hat
c. 1905
Purchase
2008.25.17
