Evening Republican, Volume 23, Number 88, Rensselaer, Jasper County, 10 April 1920 — Novelty Models in Spring Hats [ARTICLE+ILLUSTRATION]

Novelty Models in Spring Hats

Liberal coats of lacquer are applied to 'every sort of fabric for millinery use, frayed out horsehair cloth and violently thrusting feathers vie with gayly dyed raffia and spun glass. There are not so many monkey hair scalp locks as during the winter season, notes a prominent fashion writer, but their place is taken by turbans of lizard skip. Chinese hats have imitation queues dangling from their crowns and Egyptian hats have colossal earrings dangling from each side, while naive fruits, flowers and vegetables decorate hats of every description. The first, if not the last, word of any talk&bout early spring hats is news of the waxed and varnished fabrics which are sq pronouncedly in evidence. Beginning with that curious substance cellophane, which is conjured Into so many forms, everything glitters, bon, satin, feathers and straw. Cellophane, as a braid in rather wide strips, resembles a flat, shiny straw, but there are many genuine straw braids which are treated to a highly polished finish. Raffia, which is used so extensively In a decorative way, Is also finely shredded and varnished appears like a delicate, silky floss, of which draped turbans are made and veiled with tulle. Another strange fabric, spun glass, twisted and as tough as wire, is made use of in a similar manner. No End to the Unique. But there is no end to the unique and Interesting substances which French milliners have been experimenting with in these early hats, whether to eke out a scarcity of straw, to distract attention from a lack -of originality in design, or merely from caprice, it is impossible to say. How

many of them will find permanent favor and last over into the normal spring hat season will develop, later. Grass cloth of various weaves and pnder such suggestively barbaric names as Batavia and Congo doth 18 much used and its [semi-transparent and extremely pliable texture makes It desirable for the somewhat bizarre and informal hats wlch were once delegated to the sports wardrobe. Hindu turbans, plaited and embroidered toques, as well as larger shapes, are produced from these primitive fabrics and are often embroidered with colored wools and gayly dyed raffia. Hairlike Hindu cloth, which may be crushed to look like skeins of silk or pulled apart to the fragility of a spider’s web, is another of these drapable fabrics, and a really beautiful French hair cloth has been produced which may be softly draped or blocked Into stiff, high crowns. These hair cloths are lovely in color, for even such gorgeous tints as burnt orange, topaz and mint green are considerably softened by the transparency <rf the fabric. Built Over Lining of Taffeta. They are frequently built over a lining of - taffeta in a different color, especially in the case of the small draped turbans or toques. One of these turbans in high favor is a twist of cherry colored hair cloth tied around the crown lining In gypsy fashion and without other trimming than a single frayed out end, which falls over one ear. The hair doth hats with mushroom brims and high crowns are more often than not decorated with thin ostrich plumes in the same color as the hair doth, or there maybe a straggling spray of waxed flowers stretched across the crown. _ ; Milan straws and colored leghorn are still to be had in this welter of fabrics strange and unaccustomed, and they, as well as straws of rougher braids, will undoubtedly appear in

greater numbers later In the season. At the same time there aremany satin hats and hats of faille and tafifeta combined with straw. Ribbon hats are having a great success, and the ribbon Is used in many interesting and amusing ways, among them the fashioning of it into wings. Both silk and velvet ribbon are woven into a plaided fabric with strips of cellophane, and a clever little hat with a narrow upturned brim is concocted of alternate strips of ribbon and straw, which are twisted slightly on the crown and terminate at the top in a crisply tied ribbon bow. The Egyptian Influence. The only new note in line is provided by the Egyptian Influence, so much talked of. In so far as bats are concerned, the Egyptian inspiration has rather attractive results. Which are only possible . with the hair bunched out over the ears according to the prevailing fashion. This balances the thrusting out of the hat brim over the ears and its characteristically flattened front. The line is accentuated by spreading wings, by clumps of flowers and in a rather spectacular manner by large pendant glittering ornaments resembling earrings. In a general way any hat which points out over the ears confesses Egyptian inspiration, a hat which is draped with a gracefully flung back veil Inherits from the Spanish and a hat with a peaked crown acknowledges Chinese influence. The hat brim turned back from the face has found so much favor with women of all sorts and conditions that it is still a feature of the vast majority of the new hats, whether their brims are broad or only an inch wide.

These brims are frequently embroidered or trimmed with flower petals SS sprays of flowers. a ljSr>rait and Vegetable*. - Large turbans are not unusual, and all manner of little toques and berets have made their appearance in their accustomed manner. Among these era extraordinary embroideries in brightly dyed straws and applied silken figures, the latter outlined with a gay Chinese cord. A curious decoration makes a thing of wonder of a soft full beret tn gray blue ratine. The color is produced by sprinkling the surface with pears, peaches, plums and cherries in soft yellow leather, painted in the most realistic manner by hand. The vines and leaves which connect these products of the orchard are worked In colored raffia. '' Contrary to the usual practice, the early spring models are frequently fldwer trimmed, and extraordinary fruits and even vegetables are to find favor, the latter of course on sport hats. Large flat flowers are applied to the entire surface of a hat or flowei petals may decorate the upturned brim, Little rosebuds border a dost Atting toque of blue straw and two discs are solidly packed Witt roses over the ears, thus proclaiming itself an Egyptian hat. The remarkable flowers and fruits which trim the spring hats are made by hand of bits of silk and velvet Wheat and grapes are mads as jhot taffeta and velvet plums of natural size and coloring are arranged with sprays of wheat and small velvet , now* ere to produce a subtle and lovely bit of color. A huge pink silk rote wl» foliage and a long soft stem is rre. quently the only decoration of which * hat can boast

No. 1—Beret Covered With Painted Kid Fruit, No. 2—Straw Hat Trimmed With Glycerined Feathers. No. 3—Chinese Hat of Ribbon and Straw. No. 4—Haircloth Hat With a Wreath of Handsome Flowers and Fruit.