25 April 2023, San Diego, California, USA
If you are a Reader of 21st & 18th, you should know, I love Rick Steves.
For my entire life, well, since I could work the television remote, I have sought out Rick Steves’ Europe from Oregon Public broadcasting via KPBS San Diego as a means of escape from my perennially stressed and taxed mortal shell. Even as a young person I was always looking for escape. Look at me now, investing my personal time, the few hours at the end of my busy-major days, to escape into the minutiae of history at 21st & 18th.
They do say people never really change.
While recently enjoying an episode of Rick Steves, Milan & Lake Como to be precise, I was reveling in the Milan’s street scene of mid 2000s silk tanks, lowish rise jeans, and Italian women in skirt suits and big sunnies and while doing so was struck by how smart everyone looked. Even on this low budget, decidedly unfashionable show these few minutes of people passeggiata in Milan were fabulous, inspiring even.
This got me thinking, why is it that today, in 2023, there are very few cities and moments that can create this effortless fashion umami? There are events, and fashionable scene-y places, streets corridors within cities, restaurants, bars etc but this was a scene of scene-y-ness filled with people who were not trying. The ladies seemed effortless, all the old Italian men wore light wool blazers or maybe a sweater, there were cute bags, flats, loafers, heels, wedges of all sorts, very few denim sightings and hats (!).
After thinking about this Rick Steves epi for a smidge too long and now airing my thoughts here, I put my finger on it: These Milanese locals had done the 2020’s impossible, they dressed everyday tasteful without relying on logos.
There were hardly any logos in sight. No sports jerseys, brand logos, hats with logos, “pants” with circles at the lower back, nothing, and this lack of logos made this scene even more remote in time, despite it being only about 10 years old. If you captured a photo of a busy, fashionable block in any city today, you would be toiling in photo shop to erase at least one Lakers jersey.
In Milan and my Rick Steves episode, the lack of logos made room for cleanliness and, truthfully, style, and I am feeling inspired by it.
As I was planning for Hat Week’s Vintage Finds, I had a variety of hats in my arsenal at the ready for our history inquisition, but Rick convinced me to go another direction.
Rather than select a vintage hat with markings or logos, I actively selected a hat with no markings whatsoever. Absolutely none. No logo, no embossing, no unique coloring for differentiation, no dates, no provenance noted - nothing.
I give you the Madame X of headwear: Virginie
*Yes, since she has no label, I have named her1
Virginie is a mashup of the pill box with a smattering of toque and slightly reminiscent of the larger tea hats that became popular in the 1950s.
As you can see from Virginie’s base and construction, she was meticulously hand made. One can barely spy hand stitching or any glue, even over an estimated 70 years after being crafted. Millinery is a unique and special art, requiring incredible patience and technique - as I’ve been researching for Hat Week, I have come to classify milliners as couturiers who also majored in sculpture.
While Virginie has no markings, logos or brand identifying features, based on the age of the fabric and style, I date her as 1950s. Though she is timeless to me.
She is made from deep, arrowhead black velvet and features a bow flush with the back brim. The brim angles slightly out, which is why to me she is part pill box edging on tea hat. She is meant to sit atop your head though note the hair band, which would allow you to wear the hat further back on your head for a pill box, Jackie O vibe. Perhaps Virginie’s construction is so unique because she was a custom hat for a fabulous 50s lady? Given the lack of any markings or tag whatsoever, yes, I think she is bespoke. 10 points for Virginie.
It is also important to note that she looks incredible on, very very chic and wonderfully secure. In our next installment of Hat Week
we will be styling Virginie and friends for: Antiquated Traditions we Must Resuscitate.2
From her name (that I have bestowed) and cocktail elegance, I presume she could only be Parisian.
What was happening in Paris in the 1950s?
Well, WWII wrapped in the mid-40’s giving the country and its capital time to rebuild, Gustave Jules René Coty was president for majority of the decade and future president Nicolas Sarkozy was born in 1955 as was globally renowned cellist, Yo-Yo Ma3, Citroen debuted its new Saloon car4 at the Paris Motor Show, and the Le Mans Disaster5 takes place.
If you are visual and enjoy the below image, I recommend reading this Life Mag article on American gals in 1950s Paris. Prepare to rummage for your passport.
During this time, across the Western world, hairstyles for women became increasingly popular and varied for the everyday gal. At home styling tools and constantly new treatments and methods for taming or maintaining a hair style made hats less popular and more of a special event accessory.
With that, enter Virginie.
She is the epitome of elegance, the grace that cannot be taught yet is innate. As she is velvet, she cannot be worn everyday, or the fabric would wear and lose its luster. She is special. She was made for special occasions.
Because of her size, and brim width, she feels cocktail party appropriate. Too large for evening but the color and fabric and lack of coverage means she is not saving you from premature sun induced aging anytime soon.
Virginie is a no-nonsense, well made investment hat that is easy to affix, sans ladies maid6, yet she remains chic, elegant, feminine. She is black, a deep hue, that can be worn for a variety of events without being all too noticed.
If I were to posit, which I am in the habit of doing, I would say she was commissioned by a value and vogue conscious lady in France in the 1950s. A commissioned hat without a logo or brand tag would mean it was an investment, as most custom pieces are, however there being no brand present would have improved the price tag. Rather than buy from a large well known house the piece was sculpted by a lower-key master. With that, no doubt, Virginie was commissioned by a savvy value and vogue conscious lady.
As we often do at
, I like to consider the woman that designed and purchased this hat in the last century. What was she like? Did she wear polish on her finger nails? What were her hobbies and did she keep a journal? In said journal, did she write in cursive only? Or was she one of those people who, for some reason, writes only in ALL CAPS? Is she still walking this earth?Shall we ever know? But that is what also makes the Vintage Finds hunt fun. You cannot help but wonder: What if we did know?
To end this episode of Vintage Finds, I would like to close with 5 hats, avec logo, that you might consider adding into your collection.
I. Currently Outpacing other Milliners:
Rachel Trevor Morgan
Pale Blue Jackie O Pillbox with Silk Roses, Inquire for pricing
Lo. Lynch: I love RTM, her current collection effuses femininity and Liz Taylor power while managing to be classic and just the amount of over the top.
II. Effortless Grab for Chic Results
Eugenia Kim
Lo. Lynch: Every woman should have a hat such as this in their collection. It is necessary for skin care and such a simply strategy to elevating a dress, trousers, swim look, sport recovery, denim - truly anything. This is the hat I would like to gift to every woman of my acquiantance.
III. Sweet Collection Staple
Gigi Burris
Lo. Lynch: Gigi Burris is energetic and fun, writing a new chapter of millinery here in the USA, and I appreciate her realistic approach to current collections. This little confection is simple to style and unassuming in hue but packs a punch - it is a shape we do not often see anymore, but it is reminiscent of Jackie O and, like the world, we love a Jackie O moment.
IV. Special yet Majorly Re-wearable
East Village Hats
Lo. Lynch: I discovered East Village Hats in 2021 when I was living in NYC and I happened into their shop on a slow spring Saturday afternoon. There hats are incredibly well constructed and value is high, each piece is unique and, to me, has a distinctly downtown New York energy that could transfer into a Gilded Age week-end in Newport.
V. The Motherload
Philip Treacy
Lo. Lynch: Philip Treacy, I adore you. How can one not respect this beacon of Millinery excellence? No one does intricate-feminine-sophistication like Philip Treacy. His label always manages to debut pieces that have the technical construction of ChatGPT while maintaining the effortless calm of an ABT Ballerina.
Does the above confection look familiar? Perhaps because it is the favorite headwear style of a certain princess.
Kate Middleton, strong finale.
A bientôt,
Lo. Lynch
p.s. we will be back at the end of this week with Antiquated Traditions we Must Resuscitate: Hat Wearing. Subscribe here to receive our next Hat Week Episode direct to your inbox. Also feel welcome to follow us on Instagram at, 21st18th.
Virginie is named in the image of Madam X John Singer Sargent’s 1883/84 portrait
That segment where we do fabulous things of the past and document them in Instagram Reels, See A Tale of Two Tea Parties for reference
My sister, Beetle, and I recently saw Yo-Yo in concert and he was an inspiring delight. Like eating dessert for breakfast
Please have a Google here .- it may sound like a 1950s European station wagon but it is fabulous. Jay Gatsby would approve.
A major auto crash on 11 June 1955 during the 24 Hours of Le Mans motor race at Circuit The crash was so awful that large pieces of debris flew into the crowd of spectators, killing 83 onlookers and inuring 180, French driver Pierre Levegh was also killed in the deadly crash
This would have been ever important in the changing world that was post WWII
I enjoyed this Blog on vintage hats, and if you're keen, recommend giving it a read: https://vintagedancer.com/1950s/1950s-womens-hats-by-style/