| Fanny & Vera Home About Us News Links Contact |
A simple, neat hairstyle was all a lady really needed when she was indoors. A bonnet or hat was essential when ladies ventured outside, however. One always wears a hat or bonnet when in public!
Bonnets
were functional or purely decorative in nature. A bonnet kept your head
warm in winter, protected you from the sun in summer, preserved hairstyles from
the ravages of wind, or displayed your elegant good taste with their elaborate
decoration. Fancy bonnets were generally held in place with long, flowing
ties or ribbon (a yard is not too long) so that a lovely bow could be tied under
the chin and the ends would flutter down as far as the waistline.
Spoon Bonnets These were very fashionable during the Civil War. The spoon bonnet served no function other than to frame the face with an elaborately decorated brim. The brim rose straight up off the forehead and was sometimes quite tall. The decorations on this type of bonnet were placed inside the brim, rather than on the crown. The inside brim was decorated with rows of ruffles, lace or silk flowers. These bonnets also featured a bavolet. Younger, wealthier or more fashionable women would be most likely to adopt this style of bonnet.
Sunbonnets
The ubiquitous sunbonnet was universally worn in a variety of fabrics form plain
to fancy. They were designed to shade the face & neck from the tanning
effects of the sun. The brim of fabric bonnets, most often identified
with frontier and farm women, was usually stiffened with inset slats of wood
or by sewing rows of piping to the fabric, so that it projected over the face
and provided shade. These bonnets covered the hair completely. A
little fabric or lace "cape" was attached to the back of the bonnet
to shade the neck and disguise untidy nape hairs. This cape was also called
a bavolet or curtain.
Sunbonnet brims were sometimes crafted of straw in a variety of styles, and were plain or decorated with fabrics, lace, ribbon or braid. Silk flowers were very popular for adorning bonnets--feathers did not come into style until after the war. The inside brim of fancy sunbonnets were often decorated with rows of ruffles or lace.
Civil
War era women wore a variety of styles in hats. Fabric hats in numerous
styles were created. Felt and fur hats kept the head warm in the winter.
Since reenactments are generally held in the summer, you will see many straw
hats in evidence. Straw hats were light, they could breath, and they shaded
& cooled the wearer.
Large straw sunhats were used then, as today, for maximum cooling and shade in the hot sun. The period term for these hats were "Chapeau du Jardin" (Garden hat). Plain, undecorated versions would have been donned by working women toiling in the sun. Elaborately decorated versions were worn by the more fashionable, sometimes embellished with lace or veiling draping from the edges.
These were elaborate little confections that were pinned into the hair. Their purpose was to neaten up appearance or to camouflage thinning hair in older women. Generally, these were worn around the home or to casual occasions among friends. Caps can be a very effective ploy to hide a modern or short hairstyle when at a reenactments. Excellent for covering up a bad hair day, too.
Caps were worn back on the crown of the head. The fabric of the cap was usually long enough to conceal the hair to the nape of the neck, occasionally longer. Caps were often elaborately decorated with lace, ruffles, ruching or ribbon.
For more images of period hat styles, be sure to check out Miss Vera's Millinery! This page features numerous period images of bonnets, as well as museum photos of actual Civil War era bonnets & hats.
Drawing from the Carson Collection, images from collection of Fanny & Vera