"Bowlers, being so hard, were often associated with situations where one might get hit on the head; and were also the symbol of the foreman. "
Oh, I didn't know that! Over here bowlers are thought of as very British and vaguely upper-class.
There were also, for women, complex rules that I never quite internalized about when you wore a hat indoors. Basically, if you were a visitor in somebody else's house, you left your hat on, but there were exceptions depending on how long the visit was. In church and in restaurants and in theatres you always wore your hat. There are chunks of the 18th/19th centuries where, when at home, you wore a special indoor headcovering.
One of my principal screams when watching any historical drama is "Where's your hat, lady?!??!!" There are lighting problems, and the leading lady doesn't want her face obscured, and in most of the medieval period (whatever you mean by that) almost none of the hair was visible at all, and as a result you wind up with stuff like the signature Tudor hood being worn as a sort of hairband holding back the long, luxurious hair. IIRC there are many scenes in Downton Abbey where the older ladies are wearing hats and the younger not.
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Date: 2012-02-02 05:36 pm (UTC)Oh, I didn't know that! Over here bowlers are thought of as very British and vaguely upper-class.
There were also, for women, complex rules that I never quite internalized about when you wore a hat indoors. Basically, if you were a visitor in somebody else's house, you left your hat on, but there were exceptions depending on how long the visit was. In church and in restaurants and in theatres you always wore your hat. There are chunks of the 18th/19th centuries where, when at home, you wore a special indoor headcovering.
One of my principal screams when watching any historical drama is "Where's your hat, lady?!??!!" There are lighting problems, and the leading lady doesn't want her face obscured, and in most of the medieval period (whatever you mean by that) almost none of the hair was visible at all, and as a result you wind up with stuff like the signature Tudor hood being worn as a sort of hairband holding back the long, luxurious hair. IIRC there are many scenes in Downton Abbey where the older ladies are wearing hats and the younger not.