Bonnet of white chip, trimmed with a long white plume. The inside trimming is of Ophelia velvet. (Godey’s, September, 1864)
Bonnets – The capes of the bonnets have almost entirely disappeared. In fact, in Paris, not only the capes, but the crowns also, have disappeared. The bonnets there, during the past summer, have consisted of a straw or tulle front, profusely ornamented with flowers and lace, and only a half-handkerchief of lace falling over the hair at the back, this being trimmed with sprays of flowers – no crown, no cape. It will be seen that we are fast approaching thse models by one of our wood-cuts. Still, the apprehension of neuralgia will prevent us from adopting this style in full for the winter. A Paris authority says:
“The bonnet shape, as it now stands, is small in every respect, and is not intended to hide either hair or face; on the contrary, it seems rather to connive at showing both. The mass of hair at the back, the bandeaux in front, the ears and ear-rings are all left unconcealed. A vast quantity of both white and colored tulle is worn about the bonnets of the present day, which proves soft and vastly becoming, when brought in such close contact with the skin, and will be found advantageous to both old and young faces. Long tulle strings are very general; and tulle is frequently arranged in such away as to do away with the necassity of a cap at the sides. Instead of being placed as a scarf upon the outside of the front, it is placed upon the edge, thus falling half inside and half outside the bonnet; a quilling is then unnedassary, the plain tulle scarf providing equally as becoming, and not crushing so easily as the quilled blonde.” (Peterson’s, September, 1864)
If I Had My Own Blue Box: 