The Edwardian era was the golden age of millinery, something of a craze one might argue, in which the ornamentation of hats, particularly by the use of exotic feathers, sometimes whole birds and various bits of unfortunate animals, became ever more elaborate. Looking back across the years at how our forebears lived their lives shows, if nothing else, how times, sensitivities, and of course fashions, have changed over the last century or so. In an increasingly technological world it comes, therefore, as something of a surprise to discover today’s enormous and growing interest in period fashion around the globe – particularly from the Edwardian era – and it was this interest, in the main, which prompted me to research and write this book.
Today, the modern fashion industries across Europe, the UK and America continue to be amazing innovators, and major employers, which is another sound reason for researching their origins. Having made that point, however, one cannot hide from the fact that in more recent years, the feather, as a fashion accessory, used so widely back in Edwardian times has made something of a ‘comeback’ via many of the celebrated fashion houses around the globe. Fortunately, these come from environmentally sustainable sources (so we are told) which offers a degree of reassurance in our ever shrinking world – a world in which both animals and birds seem to be forever fighting a rearguard battle and, sadly, losing.
Initially, the basic concept behind this book was to showcase my comprehensive Edwardian postcard archive of beautiful and, at times, almost unreal feather covered female hat fashions of that era and to give the reader a flavour of those early twentieth century years. The work features numerous pretty young ladies of the day from all walks of life and has been purposely written in an unpretentious and nontechnical manner. Hopefully you will find the historical background of the Edwardian fashion era and how it related to ladies hat fashions of the period informative. I have also included some amusing happenings and anecdotes here and there in relation to my postcard collecting ‘jaunts’ over the years in my search for Edwardian ladies and their hats, achieving, I hope, a reader-friendly overview.
However, life is never simple and as I began to research and organise my material for this project, I got something of a nasty surprise as it soon became obvious that there was much more to the subject than I, in my ignorance, had previously imagined. Little did I realise when viewing my postcards, the carnage that was going on in the background. What had started out in my mind as a fairly light-hearted offering about fashionable, frothy Edwardian ladies’ hats based on images from my collection, rapidly turned a very sinister corner. I soon discovered a very brutal and dark story behind all the glamour of the ‘Plume Boom’ (as it was sometimes known), which was readily depicted on the postcards of the day.
The storm clouds of fashion, aided by the ever-expanding postcard industry, were brewing, and little did unsuspecting bird populations around the world realise what was heading their way! In hindsight, this was an episode in fashion history for which many unthinking, money-seeking individuals of the era, from the northern coasts of Britain, to the Everglades of America and even further afield, should have hung their heads in shame.
Sadly, as you will read further on, making money (and there was much to be made) on the back of incredible cruelty towards birds purely to satisfy ladies’ fashions of the day, and the hanging of heads in shame were invariably a considerable distance apart. It really was quite an eye-opener, and not in the best sense of the word at that. Murdering millions of birds just to be able to put their feathers on top of ladies’ hats or ‘enhance’ various fashion accessories doesn’t earn the human race many brownie points in my opinion but sadly, extremes often occur when ‘crazes’ take hold.
Having made that point however, one should emphasise that the ostrich feather industry in South Africa was (and is) a very different scenario; the birds there were usually ‘cropped’ at regular intervals rather than being cruelly exterminated by the feather hunters. Indeed, to counter accusations of cruelty from around the globe, many feather suppliers and bird breeders were at pains to point out that the feathers they supplied were gathered purely from the birds’ natural ‘shedding’ process. Maybe some were telling the truth?
Over and above this, one has to take into account working conditions and deprivations endured by those at the lower end of the social scale, especially in the millinery sweat shops found in places like New York. Having made these points however, one has to reflect upon the fact that the dreadful goings-on in the early twentieth century, as far as birds were concerned, in a way set the tone for better things to come and the establishment of many great conservation organisations in operation around the world today.
And so read on, but be prepared to be shocked by what was happening in the world of birds and millinery in the early 1900s.