KinSource - Tale of the Week - On The Under Brim

KinSource

Minnesota Tales

The St. Paul Daily Globe, June 3, 1900, p. 18

ON THE UNDER BRIM.

The Stretched Out Bow Replaces the Conventional Facing.

A new method of facing the brim of a dress hat, to be worn at a lawn or garden party is to do away with the usual under-brim facing which was once conventionally supplied in velvet, silk or lace. This new facing does not go all the way around the brim, but manages to frame the face in a manner even more becoming than the old-style flat facing. It is nothing more nor less than a ribbon bow, voluminous as to loops, and stretched out sideways so as to face the front and side of the hat, always intervening between the head and the straw brim and crown. Neither is it a flat lining, for loops of ribbon are superimposed one upon the other, the ends pulled out softly and stretched to hide the straw brim, as well as to overlap the under loop, just as the rose petal rests on petal, yet more opened in a freshly-opening flower.

Two shades of a color or two colors that look well together are combined in the same bow. Very often a "bouquet" of tints is used, four pale or deep tints and loops of white ribbon all combined together. The tender, soft and opalescent hues are used, as under-brim bows, because they blend successfully. Another advantage of using several colors in this bow is that it permits the hat to be worn with toilettes of different hues, whereas if the facing were of a single color, especially if this be a "pronounced" color, then the same hat commits you to a frock to match. The stretched-out bow is a feature of under-brim decoration. It distinguishes the 1900 chapeaux from those of former seasons. Taffeta ribbon, glistening and changeable, is the best medium for these bows, being more modish than satin ribbon just now.