to 1966 and a perplexing hat worn by Princess Margaret to a service at Westminster Abbey. To my dear reader sleuths- any front views you can provide to help make sense of this hat (shape, colour, material) would be greatly appreciated!
Embed from Getty Images
Photo from Getty as indicated
Royal Hats 
Another reader shared this link of wonderful photos of Princess Margaret opening the Manchester College of Art in 1966, wearing this same hat. This gallery gives fantastic views of it from all angles.
https://www.flickr.com/photos/mmuvisualresources/with/5836541788/
There are certain Hats from the Past which I long to see in colour, in quality photos and video — those all-or-nothing hats which exist outside the narrow realm of good taste –which are either going to look jaw-droppingly sensational — or terrible. For me this is one of those hats. Sigh.
My theory was blown out of the water when I realized her kids weren’t old enough for it to have been a craft project.
Brilliant job everyone- thanks for finding front views of this hat which has turned out to be even more peculiar than I thought!
It appears the Lord Mayor is looking askance at Princess Margaret’s hat as well.
Full length shot from Manchester College of Art, October 22, 1966
Gosh, this is a weird style! Reminiscent of the hat shape the Queen wore for Prince Charles’ investiture, but clearly Margaret decorated with all the ends of ribbon she had left over from gift wrapping… I guess the hat shape was a Thing back then, but then look at all the ruffled collar and cuffs etc that are added to the very … er…Textured hat! It wasn’t a sleek era, was it?
Bristol, I absolutely agree!
Embed from Getty Images
Great connection. Queen Elizabeth’s tudor investiture hat was by Simone Mirman, who by then was a longtime milliner to her and other members of the royal family. Perhaps she made Princess Margaret’s hat as well?
Interestingly, though we’re not seeing it in color, the heavily woven fabric on the back of the coat, with all the stuff at the neck, looks remarkably similar to the “tribal” coat of Princess Diana that we were discussing in the previous post!
The helmet shape is very similar to the hat QEII war at the Investiture of the PoW a couple of years later, presumably this was an actual hat shape of the 60s.
Indeed- great catch. As I suggested above, perhaps both these hats were made by Simone Mirman?
Mirman died in 2008 — her obituary in The Guardian (https://www.theguardian.com/lifeandstyle/2008/aug/14/fashion.britishidentity) makes a specific point of mentioning her helmet style hats, including a couple of styles that sound even stranger than the one we’re discussing here, and her use of unusual materials.
Such a great article. “The royals began to patronise Simone, and the Queen and the Queen Mother later granted her their warrants. All three women wanted different personal styles. The Queen Mother harked back to the aureolate hats of her youth, wide-brimmed and cargoed with frail flowers and feathers; Princess Margaret wore whatever was most modish.”
I think that sums up this hat.
That article was excellent, Matthew.
Thank you so much for sending me to her obit. What a life! I’ve just read it to my husband who doesn’t have much of an interest in hats and he loved it!
rather unfortunate
It must have been something else when there was a breeze in the air!
i was wondering if it was some sort of snood….
Hat Queen the festive season is upon us! Well done for making me laugh with this one.
It appears to be something of a Christmas pudding/giftwrap theme. I think the front view is nicer – almost like a witty sort of wig.
It looks like the kind of hat you would make if the only materials you were given were 100 first place state fair ribbons. Strange.
Oh Princess Margaret, you had some interesting styles! 😉 I found a front view here: https://cdn.shopify.com/s/files/1/0257/3165/products/dfpa46797_grande.jpeg?v=1497469761
Wow. It’s more zany than I expected.
I think I prefer the back. Thanks for supplying the photo 🙂
It looks like some kind of helmet from a weird suit of armour.