The Headpiece Style and Design inspired from Victorian Era

Head-Piece Style and Design Inspiration

My final concept idea of the visual product is that of headpiece inspired from the Victorian era, Steampunk and the character of Effie Trinket from the The Hunger Games film. What made me to design this concept its  because I am big fan of headpieces and hats and wanted to so something related with fashion but different. I wanted to relate the theme of time with the concept and I think they are going to fit perfectly. As I mentioned in previous blog posts about the product,is that both era's ( Victorian and Steampunk) are linked with each other and reflect changes that occurred by time such as The Machine Age and technology that started to develop in the 19th century, also the time of mass production and commerce. Steampunk is more post-apocalyptic style  and technology. Although the Victorian era lasted for 64 years through out Queen Victoria reign I am going to focus on the late Victorian style since steampunk is more inspired from the late years of the century. Regarding film The Hunger Games is a post-apocalyptic film and the eccentric character of Effie Trinket brought me some ideas especially her edgy costumes and head-pieces.

Victorian Headpieces Style 

Spoon Bonnet c.1860 Henry Ford Historic Costume Collection.

A hat / headpiece  from the beginning was considered as a necessity to complete and outfit also an accessory.In the middle ages the church ordered that hair must be covered. Milliners of  that time were more of stylist until it became a profession and created many beautiful headpieces to complete an outfit. In the beginning of the century were in vogue the bonnets some of them big,puffy and fully decorated. By the 1860 the bonnets became smaller and shallow shapes and a peaked crown that was decorated with flowers which was called the 'Spoon Bonnet' as seen above. 

Later in 1865 the 'Fanchon' was popular, this was smaller, triangular shaped piece of straw or silk material with wide ribbons. In the 1860's were hats re-introduced again such as Glengarry highland caps, pork pie hats, Tyrolean peaked crown hats and little doll hat styles. The later were decorated with feathers and cockades. As time went by in the 1870's-1880's bonnets were associated with a matronly image and '3 story/ flowerpots' tall hats were introduced which was a revival to women's riding in the late 18th century and copied from men's style covering the same period. Men's fashion inspired women's fashion due to women's  participation in sport and outdoor activities such as the 'Trilby's' and 'Boaters' were appropriate with formal clothing. The hats decreased in size but increased in width along time. 

Canadian Fanchon Bonnet ( right side) c1866 

             

Flower Pot Hat c.1885

                                                  

Vintage Fashion Guild,2013. The History of Women's Hats. [online] Available at: < http://vintagefashionguild.org/fashion-history/the-history-of-womens-hats/ >
[Accessed 6 January 2014]

The Henry Ford,2005. The Henry Ford Costume Collection. [image online] Available at : < http://dlxs.lib.wayne.edu/cgi/i/image/image-idx?med=1;rgn1=hfhcc_su;q1=Clothing%20and%20Dress;sort=hfhcc_su;c=hfhcc;back=back1370377118;quality=0;view=entry;resnum=14;chaperone=S-HFHCC-X-28.706.2%20EM02A28_706_2D.JP2;entryid=x-28.706.2;viewid=EM02A28_706_2D.JP2;cc=hfhcc;np=next;evl=full-image >
[Accessed 9 January 2014]

Vintage Fashion Guild, 2013.  The History of Women's Hats. [image online ] Available at : < http://vintagefashionguild.org/fashion-history/the-history-of-womens-hats/ > 
[Accessed 9 January 2014]