From the beginning of time, hats have protected our hair and head against unpleasant weather and dust. Because hair washes in the 1940s were infrequent, a Hat was necessary to keep the dirt away. However, 1940s hats did not provide only that protection. They often revealed the economic situation of the owner. While many civilians put up with wartime difficulties and found an alternative headwear such as headband or hairnet which would not mess up the famous 1940s hairstyles, others refused to leave home without a proper hat.

Luxury 1940s hats for extremely fashionable clientele

Hats were one of those 1940s fashion items that were not rationed. Yet, high-quality raw materials were scarce which made designer hats luxury products. Clientele that considered itself extremely fashionable and could still afford buying expensive accessories, wanted hats like those they saw in period dramas. Talented milliners (people involved in designing, making, trimming or selling hats) such as American Mr. John, the creator of Vivien Leigh’s iconic hat in Gone with The Wind (1939), knew exactly what they liked. He used unusual decorations and designs to create new extravagant and chic hats for these ultra-fashionable women.

Some people called his designs insane, ridiculous and absurd, but others – those who choose to wear them – believed they were really amusing and extremely chic. One way or another, his hats were much in demand during the 1940s and even the 1950s. Mr. John was later said to be as famous in the world of hats as Christian Dior was in the realm of haute couture.

Classic 1940s hats for modest budgets

An ordinary 1940s girl was looking for something more practical, something that would simply stay on her head, something she could afford… Some designers believed that there was a hat for every kind of face and having little money to spend on clothes was not a valid excuse for going about in dull or unimaginative costumes. Not while sweaters and suits came in such variety and at prices within the most modest budgets. Manufacturers found ways to make hats cheaper without sacrificing their good points. They stuck with classic hat styles from the previous decade. Less decorations made the hat cheaper and multipurpose (it could be worn for all kinds of occasions). They often copied the latest from the designers who had to work hard in order to substitute the much loved cloche hat which had become obsolete somewhere between 1933 and 1934.

Classic 1940s hats were actually variations of their predecessors. No, they were not boring because they were slightly exaggerated. They were bigger than normal or smaller than normal, or floppier than normal. They were all hats one could wear with cotton stockings and unvarnished fingernails. They were the kind of hat one did not get sick of and that men liked too. They were one of those accessories that brought some color in the 1940s fashion.

1940s hat styles in the post-war period

Apart from the broad-brimmed sun hats, women’s 1940s hats were growing smaller as the decade progressed. Most of these small hats tended to sit farther back on the cranium where they were attached to the hair and held in place with special hairpins. These artistic creations also required hairstyles that would accommodate and complement them.

In the post-war period, when more raw materials were available, designers could finally establish the look in their own craft. Christian Dior adapted the cartwheel hat for his New Look outfits making it into a mushroom hat or a mushroom cloche. This new hat style usually had a minimal crown and a very wide brim. Sally Victor was another designer who presented new ideas. She took a look at the 1940s hats from the point of view of the customer. While presenting Sally Victor’s hat collection for spring 1947, magazines announced the decline of doll hats and the obsolete fabric or elastic bands that used to keep them in place. The new generation of hats promised to fit right down on one’s head, and stay there; that is, to be comfortable.

No more heavy, dangerously balancing creations were to be seen. Bonnets, berets, bowlers, sailors and plenty more, were now in fashion. The new 1940s hats appeared in all the simple, standard shapes. They came small, medium or big, to be in scale with every woman. Not since before the war women had seen such variety and such beauty.

Materials were simple but varied. There were lacy, transparent straws. Beautiful rough straws and smooth ones, too. Plenty of fabrics and felts. There were lovely flowers, many of them handmade in France. There were rich imported ribbons, delicate veils, and colored feathers – endless beautiful fixings. Fruit theme was also very typical of post-war American millinery.

Lilly Daché, a French-born and US-based milliner, who was said to make as much as 30,000 hats a year, had a strong influence on 1940s hat styles too. In 1941, she presented a half hat – a close-fitting design hat which covered one part of the head, but it was not until the post-war era that it became popular. Often decorated with details such as sequins and veils, it was suitable for day and evening wear. In 1949, she presented yet another new style – a two-way theater hat.

This was a late 1940s hat that was designed to have two different profiles. One was meant for the street and the other for the theater while the performance was on. As the curtain rose, the larger top element of the hat was to be removed leaving only veiling and ornaments.

The most popular of 1940s hats

Berets. Shortly before the 1940s began, berets conquered western women’s fashion. These hats were associated with France and therefore sometimes called French berets or French hats. Most berets were black, red, brown, moss green, white and dark blue.

The beret was among the most popular 1940s hats due to its functionality and ability to transform the look in several different ways depending on how it was worn. Most 1940s women wore this soft and flat-crowned hat flat on the head in a ‘pancake style’, set back in a halo style or slightly tilted on one side. The brim could be tucked under or pulled down covering the ears.

Turbans and turban hats. There was no other as simple and multi-purpose style among 1940s hats as a turban. During the war, turbans were probably the best way to cover the head without having to buy a fancy hat. Turbans did not let women’s hair get fuzzy while setting their pin curls. Turbans kept the Rosie the Riveters’ hair safe and clean while working in wartime factories. Turbans could even ‘hide’ wartime difficulties while soap and water to wash the hair were in short supply.

Turbans were so attractive in their simplicity, that even high fashion designers liked them. High fashion designers made turban hats from better materials such as silk and used some decorations. The variety of materials and styles made turbans perfect to be worn with practically anything, from modest day dresses to formal suits and glamorous evening gowns. They could even complement bathing suits.

Sailor hats. This flat-crowned 1940s hat style was similar to the boater hat used by men. Sailor hats or simply sailors were usually trimmed with wide ribbon bands, bows, veils, flowers and feathers. A nice sailor hat was a spring-time must-have of every American woman. Exactly as with anything else in the 1940s fashion, it was all about being functional. Braided sailor’s wide halo straw brim was perfect for both framing the face and shading it as spring and summer approached. The 1940s sailor hats had deeper crowns to actually fit the head and stay well anchored.

In the spring of 1944 sailor hats made their annual appearance but, contrary to custom, they lingered on throughout the year. With some adaptations made they become a year-round wear. In the winter, straw was replaced with other the materials like felt, fabric and yarn. A slight change in height of the crown or wide of the brim and you had a completely new sailor hat. Due to the endless variations, this 1940s hat was worn by the young and the old in many different ways.

Pillbox hats, toque hats and fez hats. These were oval or completely round, brimless 1940s hats with fairly straight vertical sides. They were small hats with minimalist or no decoration. All these hats usually came in solid colors used in the 1940s.

Pillbox hats differed from other styles due to their flat top. They could be made from a variety of stiffened materials, including wool felt, velvet, fur and straw. With the help of hatpins, pillbox hats sat comfortably either on top of the head or were slightly tilted on the side. They were perfect for daytime activities or evening gatherings. Pillbox hats were especially popular in the second half of the decade.

Toque hats looked like layered pillbox hats. The fabric was sometimes wrapped in a way that they reminded more of turban hats (in that case they were called turban toques). The top of toque hats could be either rounded or peaked (usually on one side). They were mostly worn on the top of the head or tilted on the side. Wool felt and velvet were common materials used for the 1940s toque hats. Trimmings could include anything from flowers and feathers to veilings and scarf streamers.

The fez hat, named after a Moroccan city, was another headwear initially used by men. It was typically made from wool felt and looked like a cone with its top sliced off. It featured an original fabric and clothing decoration called ‘tassel’ which was attached to the top of the crown. Some fez hats in female version still look quite close to the original version of the hat. However, as a 1940s hat fez has been transformed into different interesting designs.

Half hats: casque, capulet, calot. Some 1940s hats including casque, capulet or calot were women’s favorites in the early 1940s because they allowed women to style their hair and wear it all out.  The calot was usually a brimless hat with rounded crown, shaped to be worn close to the scalp and far on the back of the head. However, it sometimes had a cuffed brim in front and was called a capulet hat after Juliet Capulet from Shakespeare’s Romeo and Juliet. Bobby pins, hatpins and special combs helped to keep these small 1940s hats in place. Crotchet or made from any other material, calots could be simple in design or trimmed with flowers, net veils, feathers, bows and similar decorations.

Casuqe was another similar hat that was meant to frame the wearer’s face. It extended from the back of the head looking like a decorative helmet. This brimless 1940s hat became known as a casque (French for a helmet). Casque hats were mostly decorated with leaves or feathers.

Bonnets. The term has been used for wide variety of hat styles, but the 1940s bonnets were usually made of soft material such as velvet. Bonnets designed by Florence Reichman in the post-war period were based on late 19th century Edwardian style. They could be brimless or have a small, face-framing brim as their predecessors. What the modern bonnets did not have anymore was the obsolete chin strap. By the end of the decade bonnet designs became very feminine. 1940s bonnets were generously decorated with flowers, ribbons and cockades. Like most post-war hats, they were comfortable and did not mess up hairdos.

Bowlers and bretons. The bowler or a derby was usually a hard felt hat worn by men. It had a rounded crown and a narrow bumper brim. In the 1940s he bowler hat was often decorated with ribbon bands, bows or feathers to get more feminine designs so that women could wear it too.

1940s hats called Bretons or Bretonnes were similar to bowlers in form. They also had round crowns and upward-turned brims which exposed the face as they were worn tilted to the back of the head. They could be made from felt or straw.

Cartwheel hats and mushroom hats. After people had seen Vivien Leigh’s huge cartwheel hat with green ribbons in the 1939 film Gone with the Wind, the Cartwheel hats became extremely popular among common women. It was a saucer-shaped design with a low crown and a wide brim. It may be made in a variety of materials, including straw or felt. After the war new styles with deeper or open crowns appeared. Dior’s version of a cartwheel hat was called a mushroom hat and was usually made from straw.