Easter Bonnets
"In your Easter bonnet
with all the frills upon it,
You'll be the grandest lady in the Easter parade"
Easter Parade by Irvine Berlin
We may all be able to whistle the tune but the Easter parade is much older than Irvine Berlin’s 1948 musical. The New York Easter Parade dates back to the middle of the 1800s. After services at one of the fashionable 5th Avenue churches, such as St Patrick's Cathedral, the social elite would parade down the Avenue to show off their new Easter hats and dresses.
Still today, the parade is all about the hats—lavishly decorated, from the exquisite to the outlandish. Although the traditional Easter bonnet is a hat with depictions of Easter and spring with bunnies, flowers, eggs, etc., bonnets have been imagined into all kinds of themes and extravagance fair beyond the more traditional imagery.
It’s said that the wearing of Easter bonnets or smart hats represents an old tradition that entailed wearing new clothes at Easter to coincide with the approach of summer, and a promise of renewal and redemption. In particular, during the depths of the Great Depression, a new hat at Easter (or even a refurbished old one, perhaps with a feather or scarf) was a simple luxury for many without ‘breaking the bank’.
Images: Easter Parade, New York. Courtesy of @tankulesh
Wishing you a very Happy Easter from the Selvedge Team
with all the frills upon it,
You'll be the grandest lady in the Easter parade"
Easter Parade by Irvine Berlin
We may all be able to whistle the tune but the Easter parade is much older than Irvine Berlin’s 1948 musical. The New York Easter Parade dates back to the middle of the 1800s. After services at one of the fashionable 5th Avenue churches, such as St Patrick's Cathedral, the social elite would parade down the Avenue to show off their new Easter hats and dresses.
Still today, the parade is all about the hats—lavishly decorated, from the exquisite to the outlandish. Although the traditional Easter bonnet is a hat with depictions of Easter and spring with bunnies, flowers, eggs, etc., bonnets have been imagined into all kinds of themes and extravagance fair beyond the more traditional imagery.
It’s said that the wearing of Easter bonnets or smart hats represents an old tradition that entailed wearing new clothes at Easter to coincide with the approach of summer, and a promise of renewal and redemption. In particular, during the depths of the Great Depression, a new hat at Easter (or even a refurbished old one, perhaps with a feather or scarf) was a simple luxury for many without ‘breaking the bank’.
Images: Easter Parade, New York. Courtesy of @tankulesh
Wishing you a very Happy Easter from the Selvedge Team