Does anyone remember when there was a hat shop in nearly every high street? Everyone wore a hat. Men bought their trilby, bowler or cap from an outfitters, but women chose a new hat from the imaginative range in their nearest hat shop.
I recall wearing a very fashionable hat when I went to meet my fiancé and he started to whistle a tune, which he said was called The Wren, because he said my hat reminded him of St Paul’s Cathedral. It took me a moment to twig.
Then came the trend for woolly hats, which kept not only your head, but your ears warm and didn’t blow away on a windy day. The knitted pattern was so like an un-used tea cosy in my sideboard that I sewed up the spout and handle holes and wore it. Since then everyone seems to wear a woolly hat for comfort and decorated with a competitive fluffy bobble of some kind.
Sylvia Stilts, London
