eighty one years ago yesterday to August 12, 1938 and Queen Mary in a wonderful summer lace dress topped with a draped (and feathered!) toque hat.August 13, 2019 12:33 am
eighty one years ago yesterday to August 12, 1938 and Queen Mary in a wonderful summer lace dress topped with a draped (and feathered!) toque hat.
Photo from Getty as indicated
Posted by Royal Hats
Categories: Vintage: Hats From The Past
Tags: The Late Queen Mary
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How has the color lasted? I have a hat from 2001 that used to be the same color, but now the draping and the hat are different shades of blue… I wonder if there’s anything I could do.
But I digress. I love “then and now” photos! Fascinating!
By sleehauser on August 13, 2019 at 4:10 pm
Great discovery, Jimbo! I still wonder about the backstory. (In my imagination, she was tired of it and passed it on to her maid, who never wore it and whose family held on to it until years later….) It looks as though it’s in perfect condition, too. The color is so pretty, and the details show up much better than in the grainy black & white photo. Makes one wonder how many more of these confections are sitting around in private collections.
I didn’t comment yesterday because I didn’t have anything else to add to what everyone else said: I like the black hat better on its own, but the yellow better with the ensemble. This is one of HM’s more successful tams. And, yes, I was struck by the difference between the black and white and color photos! Well done, as always! Do you have more This or Thats in the works?
By mittenmary on August 13, 2019 at 3:20 pm
This is an amazingly minimal look for a woman who held on to the dress code of years past long after it was outdated. Exposed ankles! The hat is great, but it’s the jewels that really catch my eye — nothing minimal there!
By mittenmary on August 13, 2019 at 1:01 pm
Jimbo, what an amazing find! This vintage hat is wonderful and the colour is so soft and pretty.
Queen Mary epitomizes the word “statuesque” for me. And like her granddaughter, she could wear hats well!
By Patricia on August 13, 2019 at 10:39 am
The hat below, though probably not the same hat as today’s post, came out of a 73 year storage. In 2011, the young lady shown here actually wore Queen Mary’s 1938 Royal Ascot hat. We see it in living color. How cool is that???? Enjoy!
June 16, 2011: Royal Ascot (Lucy Hemelryk)
Embed from Getty Images
By Jimbo on August 13, 2019 at 8:20 am
For real, Jimbo? Purchased at an auction or…? Hope you will share the story!
By mittenmary on August 13, 2019 at 12:56 pm
Mittenmary, I surely could not make this up. Simply click on the photo and you’ll be directed straight to the source. I stumbled on this blue hat when trying to find another outing of HatQueen’s post today. Color adds such a greater dimension to those old black/white photos, don’t you think? Did you like yesterday’s “This or That?”
By Jimbo on August 13, 2019 at 1:26 pm
Astounding find, Jimbo. Seeing one of these hats in colour makes me realize how beautifully it is made. That draping is exquisite.
By HatQueen on August 13, 2019 at 3:06 pm
Jimbo, this is amazing! I wonder why Miss Hemelryk paired this delicate blue treasure with a bright red dress though.
The hat doesn’t look exactly the same as the one in the black and white picture (the draping on that one looks more like a braid) but certainly very similar. It may very well have been made by the same milliner.
What is the John Lewis archive by the way? Isn’t John Lewis a department store?
By Wies Mauduit on August 14, 2019 at 1:46 am
Unbelievable find Jimbo! Pure gold.
The hat you found could be this one here, worn with a brooch at Trooping, 1935 and 1938:
Embed from Getty Images
As you say, the hat shown in the post looks a little different. It could be the second from the left on the top row here:
https://royalhats.net/2013/11/13/solving-a-millinery-mystery/ There’s no brooch on that hat: but the brooch worn right on the collarbone in both pics looks the same. If it is the same, then the trim is probably fabric, not feathers: although nearly all photos in those days were “touched up” in the studio, usually by someone who wasn’t present when the photo was taken; so, some “artistic licence” may have been taken with the trim in the closeup linked pic. I’m pretty sure that the odd “veiling” effect around Queen Mary’s face in the embedded pic of her on the balcony, above, is due to an effort by the studio to crop out some unwanted effects in the background.
By mcncln on August 14, 2019 at 2:44 am