This basketry hat was made by Ina Caraway, a milliner who operated in Springfield, Missouri from 1939 through 1941. Caraway wove this hat from straw, dyed or painted the material purple, and then folded, sewed, and molded it into a bonnet-style hat; she then lined the hat with synthetic cloth and grosgrain ribbon. The finishing touches were a green paper bow covered with feathers and netting that covered the face of the wearer.

Hats like this are Caraway’s version of the round-brimmed, bonnet-style hat. This style of hat was inspired by 1860s bonnets, which became very popular in the early 1940s following the debut of the movie “Gone with the Wind” in December 1939. Bonnet-style hats were seen as a romantic symbol of the past, as well as a way to create one’s own romance, with advertisements calling them “beau-catcher bonnets” and “heartbreakers.”

 

 

 

For more information, you may contact the researcher(s) noted in the title of this exhibit entry, or Dr. Billie Follensbee, the professor of the course, at BillieFollensbee@MissouriState.edu