Cloche Pins

When fashions changed from the large hat that demanded a hat pin to make it secure, to the close fitting cloche hat, hat pins were not abandoned but redesigned. Pins now no longer held the hat but adorned it, many made of the most modern material of the time, plastic.

The 1920's

The 1920's brought a change in popular culture with fashion as one of its most important elements. The expansive curves and fussy outlines of the 19th century were banished, making way for a sleeker and more slender silhouette.

Through advances in modern technology, the simple tubular dresses of the 1920's could be efficiently mass-produced, to provide inexpensive yet stylish ready-made fashions for working-class women. Chain stores appeared and a standardised sizing system was introduced for ready-to-wear clothing. A modern synthetic fibre called 'rayon' became a popular inexpensive substitute for silk.

Soft blouses and jumpers were worn, and as a result of the attention focused on youth, the image of the ideal feminine figure was transformed from the matronly S-bend figure of 1900 to the youthful, flat-chested boyish figure of the 1920's. This androgynous look was also a reflection of women's desire to compete with men in many aspects of their lives.

The leading milliners of Paris introduced the cloche style hat, which became a trademark of the decade. The cloche hat almost entirely hid the cropped hair, save for the fringe and perhaps a single, brilliantined kiss curl lying like a comma against the cheek. The cloche hat was bell-shaped and its deep snug-fitting crown and narrow brim covered the were made of satin, silk velvet, rayon faille, rayon horsehair, straw, felt and solid or printed forehead and concealed the hair to the nape of the neck. Cloches cotton. The Renée of Pudakota’s cloche hat featured on the front page of Newsletter 86 was of black felt joined to a cashmere pashmina.

by Sally Moorehead