Hat c. 20th century

This hat, of no known date, was crafted by an anonymous artist using an array of textiles and adornments. It's a real material exploration. What strikes me is the mix of patterns and textures. There's the quilted red section, juxtaposed with a floral print, a brocade, and another with geometric shapes. And then those coins down the side, like a cascade of golden punctuation marks. The stitching is quite pronounced, almost like a drawing in thread, revealing the maker's process. You can imagine the artist handling each piece of fabric, deciding where it should go, how it should fit, like a collage in cloth. That combination of careful arrangement and intuitive placement reminds me of a painter like Miriam Schapiro, who fearlessly combined different patterns and materials in her femmages. This hat is a reminder that art isn't just about painting or sculpture, it's about how we engage with the world around us.