Vigo County Historical Society

Historical Treasure Article

Historic Treasure of the Week - November 9, 1986
By Susan J. Dehler
Vigo County Historical Society

"Stylish headdress"
Pins fashionable, sometimes dangerous

In 1908, the Sears Roebuck and Co. catalog declared that "a beautiful head of hair is a woman's crowning beauty." In its "Department of Human Hair Goods," Sears made this possibility available to all women who could afford the various curls, puffs, braids and switches necessary for a stylish headdress."

In the early 20th century, pompadours were popular. The hair was brushed into loose, full rolls around the face. A rat (or pad) over which a woman's hair was arranged created a large, sweeping coiffure. Barrettes, pins and combs were quite ornamental, but also kept the rats and wigs in place.

Hats were large and elaborate to complement the stylish effect of women's hair. Adorned with flowers, ostrich plumes, ribbons and lace, hats were at once the crown of a woman's "crowning beauty" and an unmanageable weight atop her head. To keep the whole arrangement intact, hat pins were used to clamp hats to natural or store-bought hair.

Hat pins quickly evolved from 8- to 10-inch steel pins, which ranged in style from utilitarian in nature to elaborate gilt-stemmed ornaments made from rhinestones, sea shells or pearls.

The hat pins on display in the main west hallway in the Historical Museum of the Wabash Valley demonstrate the variety of shapes and sizes.

Although long hat pins could be useful devices to protect women fronm attack, more often they were menaces to unsuspecting passers-by. In 1913, The New York Times published the following account: "A friend of mine, while riding on the Brooklyn elevated recieved a deep and painf ul cut from a hat pin which protruded over two inches from the hat. It began to swell, and at the end of a week his chin had swollen to twice its normal size. He was compelled to go to a physician who told him that blood poisoning had set in, and an operation on his chin would be necessary."

Such reports of injury compelled some states to pass ordinances prohibiting the wearing of hat pins if they protruded at least one-half inch without protection on the points. In New Orleans, six women were arrested and appeared before the courts "for wearing hat pins that were too long."

Although stores stocked had-pin protectors, many women would not buy them. But what the law could not dictate, fashion could. By the 1920s, women were bobbing their hair and wearing small hats which hugged their heads. As women pursued another image of beauty, the menacing hat pin became an endangered species.

The Historical Museum of the Wabash Valley, 1411 S. Sixth St., is open from 1 to 4 p.m. Sunday through Friday.