Previous events: Feb 2006
Poor Man's Gold

Discovering Small Museums: Luton Museum and Art Gallery
Poor Man’s Gold
Where did you get that hat?

For attendees of The Costume Society study day Poor Man’s Gold on Saturday 25 February 2006 the answer had to be Luton. The day gave us a feast of historical, creative and technical knowledge and skill. Dr Elizabeth Adey aptly began the day by describing how Luton developed as the centre for hat making and straw plaiting in England and gained prominence over nearby rivals St Albans and Dunstable. By the 19th century it could be rightly known as ‘strawopolis’.

The next talk was given by Veronica Main who has spent many years both working with straw and researching the history of the industry in England and throughout Europe. Her passion for and expertise in the subject became abundantly clear as she guided us through a history of wearing straw from Pisanello’s painting of St George in his straw hat to a Balenciaga suit produced from straw. Veronica’s talk also illustrated the amazing versatility of straw as a medium for making and decorating clothing and accessories: straw plait for hats,straw embroidery, straw sequins and even fabrics from straw. Particularly fascinating was her discussion of the innovative 19th century Swiss straw industry. As well as producing straw plait for hats it borrowed many techniques from passementerie and making a special straw cord known as Schnürli, the Swiss worked straw with other materials such as shells and horsehair to form a wealth of trimmings. After lunch we were able to see some exquisite examples of straw hats and embroidery from Luton’s own collection including woodchip hats from the 18th century and a beautiful 1870s fan with straw embossed handles. We also were treated to a demonstration from Veronica. Expertly working and explaining Veronica took us through the different stages of preparing the straw, including the selection of stems and the splitting of the straw. She showed us how the Schnürli cord was produced and used it to make examples of different trimmings. She also demonstrated how straw was prepared for embossing and producing sequins. The day was beautifully finished by a talk from Marie-Louise, a milliner who has produced hats for many people including Sarah Kennedy, Ava Gardener and the BBC's former royal correspondent, Jenny Bond, who always wore a Marie-Louise hat for Royal Ascot. Her talk looked at sources of inspiration for her work and also provided a wonderful insight into the realities of working in the hatting trade in Britain today. She discussed the difficulties of working in an industry where there are fewer and fewer suppliers and retail outlets for hats. But she also highlighted the joys of her millinery career with experiences such as working with Thea Porter and producing hats for Ascot-goers. Her life-long interest in historical style was clearly evident not only in the chronology of images she presented but also the wonderfully varied, vibrant and skilful collection of her own hats which she brought along for members to both examine and try on.

Review by Alexandra MacCulloch