Description:By the beginning of the First World War, women’s hats had assumed gigantic proportions. The corsets fashionable at the time tended to push the body forward at the bust and out at the rear; a large hat created some balance to the silhouette. This hat, made from straw, is adorned with a magnificent black ostrich feather, which is still in excellent condition. It was probably made between 1909 and 1912, and would have been very expensive.
The maker, Emilie Maison Française of 12 Ethel Street, Birmingham, had an advertisement in Edgbastonia magazine in May 1914. France, traditionally a centre of fashion, entered what became known as la belle époque in the early twentieth century: ‘the name was a tribute to the fashions which flourished there in an extravagance of silks and satins, ribbons and laces, flowers and feathers and jewels, making Paris more than ever before the Mecca of fashion for all the world’.<small><sup>1</sup></small> The rest of Europe and America tended to follow Parisian fashions. We cannot assume, therefore, that Emilie Maison Française was in fact run by French milliners – they may merely have assumed a French name to add credibility to their business and enable their customers to indulge in the illusion that they were wearing genuine French couture. We find many examples of such ‘frenchified’ businesses in and around Birmingham, for instance Mesdames Niblett, Crighton and Burton of New Street.
Edgbastonia, in its early editions in 1881, featured regular articles from a Paris ‘correspondent’, which encouraged Edgbaston residents to see themselves as culturally on a par with the Parisian scene. In fashion terms, there was personal interchange between Birmingham and Paris. Edgbastonia (May 1906) advertised the fact that dressmaker Miss Muriel Hocking of 59 Hagley Road, who already prided herself on bringing Parisian style to her customers, has now been to Paris personally to bring back designs. Miss Hocking had only recently set up on her own, having left Agnes Edwards et Soeurs of Broad Street, another business with French pretensions, in 1905.<small><sup>2</sup></small> Dressmakers crossed the Channel in both directions: Miss Howlett of Islington Row proclaimed in Edgbastonia (March 1906) that she has been joined by Mme. Florence Tarzy, a Parisienne, and the business was now to be known as Mesdames Howlett and Tarzy.
We do not know who originally wore this hat with its ostrich plume. But we know that its owner was among the wealthy middle class of Birmingham, perhaps a resident of Edgbaston or another well-heeled suburb. We also know that its makers, Emilie Maison Française, advertised to the ladies of Edgbaston through Edgbastonia, and that by choosing a French name they marketed themselves as purveyors of authentic Parisian style.
<font color="#666633"><small><sup>1</sup> Elizabeth Ewing, History of 20th Century Fashion (London: Batsford, 1974), p.4
<sup>1</sup> Edgbastonia (June 1905)</small></font>