A Year in Millinery Fashion – 1864

Fig. 3 is a bonnet of white crape, with curtain and strings of green silk. At the top of front is an ornament, composed of a piece of green silk edged with broad black lace, and having on the left side a tuft of black feathers. (Godey’s, July, 1864)

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Fig. 4 is a bonnet composed entirely of fullings of white tulle. The curtain and strings are of violet silk. At the top of front is a group of violet feathers, and in the cap are some bows of violet ribbon and a few violet flowers. (Godey’s, July, 1864)

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Hats have high crowns, and the feathers are mostly arranged in tufts in front instead of round the border or brim; peacock’s, heron’s, and kingfisher’s, indeed, every variety of feather, is brought into requisition for these hats; but in Paris a decided preference is shown for the eagle’s plume for this purpose. (Peterson’s, July 1864)

The mention of the eagle’s plume makes me wonder how many of the fashionable millinery feathers came from now endangered birds.

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