poke bonnet

There were many variations of the style, which remained popular throughout much of the 19th century.{{cite book|last1=Brooks Picken|first1=Mary|title=A Dictionary of Costume and Fashion: Historic and Modern|year=1999|publisher=Dover Publications|location=United States|isbn=0486402940|page=[https://archive.org/details/dictionaryofcost0000pick/page/27 27]|edition=1999|url=https://archive.org/details/dictionaryofcost0000pick|url-access=registration|quote=coal scuttle bonnet.|access-date=22 July 2015}} The Metropolitan Museum of Art notes that the poke usually had a small crown combined with a large brim extending beyond the face, providing a large surface for decoration.{{cite web|title=Poke bonnet|url=https://www.metmuseum.org/collection/the-collection-online/search/156141|website=metmuseum.org|publisher=Metropolitan Museum of Art|access-date=22 July 2015}}

This prominent brim shaded the face and, over time increased in size so that the wearer's face could only be seen from the front.{{cite web|title=Poke bonnet|url=http://www.britannica.com/topic/poke-bonnet|website=britannica.com|publisher=Encyclopædia Britannica|access-date=23 July 2015}} Typically, the bonnet would be secured by ribbons tied under the chin, which might also wrap around the bottom of the bonnet's crown, similar to a hatband. An 1830s version of the poke bonnet with ornate ribbon wrapping forms part of the Victoria and Albert Museum archive.{{cite web|title=Poke Bonnet|url=https://www.vam.ac.uk/users/node/17324|website=vam.ac.uk|publisher=Victoria and Albert Museum|access-date=23 July 2015}}

File:Magasin för konst, nyheter och moder 1838, illustration nr 24.jpg

The poke bonnet came into fashion at the beginning of the 19th century. It is first mentioned in an 1807 fashion report in The Times; the report describes designs made of willow or velvet with long ribbons and full bows on one side of the hat.{{cite news|title=Fashions for November|issue=7219|work=The Times|date=1 December 1807|ref=pg.3}}

By the 1830s, Englishwomen had adopted the poke bonnet. The new styles became widely popular and made the aristocracy less visibly distinct from the so-called respectable middle classes.{{cite book |title=Sacred to Female Patriotism: Gender, Class, and Politics in Late Georgian Britain |author=Judith S. Lewis |year=2003 |page=184 |isbn=0415944112}} The style is modest and was in line with English fashions after the ascension of Queen Victoria.Metropolitan Museum of Art, [https://www.metmuseum.org/collections/search-the-collections/156146 Mourning Poke Bonnet Collection].

A poke bonnet features prominently in the illustrations of Beatrix Potter's Tale of Jemima Puddle-Duck. Another appears in the First World War-era music hall song "In your little poke bonnet and shawl".{{cite web|title=1914, English, Printed music edition: In your little poke bonnet and shawl / written and composed by Alf. J. Lawrance. [music]|url=http://trove.nla.gov.au/work/152402772?versionId=166109924|website=trove.nla.gov.au|publisher=National Library of Australia|access-date=23 July 2015}}

• List of hat styles
• Salvation Army bonnet
• Coal scuttle bonnet

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{{commons category|Poke bonnets}}

{{hats}}

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Category:Bonnets (headgear)

Category:19th-century fashion

Category:Hats