Evening hat 1883 - 1887

Curator: Look at the “Evening Hat,” likely created between 1883 and 1887. It's attributed to Atherton Fine Millinery. We're showcasing this piece from the Met's collection today. Editor: My initial reaction is…melancholy, yet elegant. The stark black against what appears to be a veiled surface gives a sense of mourning or solemn occasion. Curator: It's fascinating to consider the production processes behind this mixed-media textile. You have velvet, feathers, and various embellishments, each representing different forms of labor and industries involved in its creation. It blurs lines, doesn't it, between fashion, craft and art object. Editor: Absolutely, and the use of black roses is heavy with symbolic meaning, connecting to ideas of grief or enduring love, given Victorian funereal rites and uses of jet jewelry. This was crafted at the height of mourning symbolism—perhaps not just for "evening" wear as we think of it! Curator: Precisely. Each element carries material and social significance—the source of the velvet, the dyeing process, the fashioning of feathers. These things also represent social class, trends in the period… It represents complex intersections between labor, materials and fashion itself. Editor: Think about it being wearable! The dark feathers signify transition, almost funerary connotations… The entire hat serves as a powerful nonverbal statement. It's an intimate and highly public presentation of the self, even emotion, laden with symbolic and coded messaging that everyone within the specific culture instantly understands. Curator: And consumption! Someone, a fashionable lady perhaps, had to have bought and displayed this hat. Think of the millinery trade at the time, a largely female work force. Were they creating high end materials accessible to everyone or simply just the social elite of the day? The Evening Hat gives pause to ponder these issues today, doesn't it? Editor: It does! Looking at the design and knowing the history behind it makes me look at its cultural narrative in different layers. Curator: Indeed!