A year after R. Turner Wilcox received rave reviews for her ultimate fashion reference, The Mode in Costume, she made up our minds to zero in on one chic category to offer it the close-up it deserved. The result is this odd handbook that covers the all over the world evolution of almost five thousand years of hats, hairstyles, and headdress for both sexes. Since earlier period, women and men have used hats and headgear for the whole lot from adornment and protection to setting up their rank in society. With hundreds of illustrations and fascinating text, this comprehensive survey extends from 3000 B.C. to mid-twentieth century.
The showcase depicts an astonishing range of women’s styles — Egyptian headdresses, Spanish mantillas, French straw sailor hats, buckle-trimmed tam-o-shanters, wedding veils, bonnets, snoods, and jeweled crowns. Men’s headwear includes feather-trimmed turbans, soldiers’ helmets, cowboy hats and top hats, derbies and boaters, berets, sombreros, and Homburgs. Hairstyles run the gamut as well: ringlets, topknots, and spit curls, ponytails, pageboys, and poodle cuts, in addition to pompadours, mutton chops, and crew cuts. With delightful details on jewelry, cosmetics, and beauty treatments, it is a unique reference that fashion designers, stylists, and historians will treasure.