Text d Hats in the 1980s

From 1980 the media focus on Lady Diana Spencer the patron saint of hats, placed British milliners in the international limelight. As the Princess оf Wales she was fre­quently photographed wearing hats, during day and evening, creating an appealing and accessible endorsement both of hat-wearing and of the domestic milliners whose designs she favoured. Her honeymoon hat of 1981, a tricorne decorated with a single feather designed by London milliner John Boyd, generated up tо six years of business for Luton hat manufactures serving the huge demand for high-street copies. Before this lime London milliners had found their greatest media exposure in the fashion reports of the seasonal collectors.

London also saw the flowering of a new generation of highly talented young innovative and often iconoclastic milliners during the 1980s. Stephen Jones set up his own label in September 1980 after graduating in fashion design from St Martin’s College of Art Friends from the London club scene formed the earliest fans of his sometimes witty, always beautifully crafted hats: soon he was creating couture-level millinery for top international fashion designers as diverse as Jean Paul Gaultier. Jasper Conran and ' Cоmme des Garoons. A fine example оf Jones's work is the green and yellow silk 'twist­ed hat with coq feathers. This design was featured on the cover of the Christmas 1992 edition of latrel providing Stephen Jones with the first media exposure оf his own label сcouture designs.

Another young millinery talent to emerge during this period was Kirsten Woodward, whose surreal talents were spotted by Karl Lagerleld, chief designer at the House of Canel. Woodwand’s millinery subsequently enhanced many of Chanel’s catwalk –shows in the 1980s which in turn won her huge international acclaim.

Text e Handbags

Vogue welcomed in the New Year of 1947 with a plea for elegance, and suggested that until the 'aesthetic atmosphere' had returned women should concentrate on accessories. In this era of 'make do and mend', many women simply had their expensive pre-war handbags renovated or remodelled. Women of all incomes relied on accessories as a way of creating a new look, and there were numerous patterns available for those who wanted to make their own leather and fabric bags.

Wartime fashions had made a virtue out of a necessity: as everyone had to carry, a gas mask a shoulder bag was obviously practical. But military and wartime associations were left behind when the overarm bag came in. The new fashion, as described in Vogue 1947, was for elongated bags in leather or satin, deep rather than wide and carried by slender handles. Bags moved clown the arm from the shoulder, and were worn hooked over the elbow with the handles circling the wrist. Although jewellery, bags and evening hats were still unrationed by 1948 there was a 100 per cent purchase tax on feather goods and metal was in short supply. A good-quality handbag could cost much more than the outfit it was worn with especially if it was a Utility suit in need оf fitting; by accessories. A cedar crocodile bag with matching cigarette case, compact and purse cost 32 10s in March 1949: in the same year a tan-and-blue tweed suit by Jaeger Utility was 6 3s 8d. In the late 1940s handbags in patent leather were fashionable and leather with white top-stitching was common. Fabric drawstring styles were available in tweed and plaid. Gradually a wider range of colours became available: a double handled Waldybag was featured in Vogue in August 1949 in red lizard skin. In contrast to practical wartime shapes, small rigid bags with loop handles were developed in a variety of forms from a milk can shape to that of a miniature hatbox. Pigskin or hide shoulder bags with horse-brass fastenings were available, but these were clearly specified for country wear.

Evening bags were highly decorative, and became less inhibited as tin- British social scene was re-established. Cocktail bags were designed to dangle from the wrist, leaving hands free to deal with drinks and cigarettes in long holders. Materials and decoration varied from delicate petit point, learned with .I filigree silver сlasp and сhain on a bаg by Duvelloroy, to snakeskin dipped in real gold as in a bag from Galeries Lafayette and black satin piped in gold kid in a drawstring style by Bembaron. Aage Thaarup made matching hats and bags in brilliant bead embroidery in red on black. Women were reminded that accessories were unlimited if one had the funds.