The photo above is a publicity shot for the silent film and burlesque comedy, Desparate Dud, The Plumber. The Hat-pin in Film: Desperate Dud Kalem Company Inc., 1915, New York: Kalem Company Inc., Museum of Modern Art Library, New York, Media History Digital Library Keep reading to see examples of the hat-pin-turned-weapon as referenced in films, a ballad, and actual stories in the news from this period! Hat-pin Defense, 1904, San Francisco Sunday Call Many felt this was a handy weapon that could aid women in need of a defense, and the fear of its use was referred to as “The Hatpin Peril.” In 1919, an ad for a film called “Bare Fists” teased viewers with the catch phrase “If Men Use Their Bare Fists to Fight Life’s Battles, Should Women Resort to the Hat-pin?” Still from the American western film Bare-Fisted Gallagher (1919) with Agnes Vernon and William Desmond, on page 1750 of the JMoving Picture World, Jesse D. Hat-pin, late 19th century, American, likely glass and silver, Cooper Hewitt, Smithsonian Design Museum, 07 / Public domain Much the same way you might carry pepper spray today. There were many news stories that told of unaccompanied women in public that used hat-pins to ward off unwanted attention, or that felt safer going out unaccompanied knowing they could use a hat-pin if needed. Venturing out alone, women needed to be able to protect themselves on the street and while using public transportation. This was emboldened, in part, by the independence that developed out of the biking craze of the 1890s. More and more women in this period also began to enter public life unchaperoned. Particularly around 1900-1912, hat-pins were used as a defense tool against a type of leering, aggressive male known as a “masher.” The hats worn during this period had reached enormous proportions, so it followed that a large hat-pin would be necessary to secure the millinery. There are actually accounts of hat-pins used as a weapon and it was alluded to in many films and stories. Platinum, sapphires, diamonds, 1910, France, Cooper Hewitt, Smithsonian Design Museum / Public domainĪ hat-pin could be a luxurious finishing touch or an innocuous practical measure, but they could even be used as a weapon in a pinch! More like a needle than a knife, hat pins could still inflict damage if necessary. A high-fashion hat-pin and its box by Cartier. This simple method secured the hat to the wearer’s head and left both ends of the pin exposed, which provided an opportunity for embellishment. This would have pierced the back or side of the hat material (like a needle threaded through fabric), grabbed the hair of the wearer underneath for stability, and then pierced through the hat again with the middle of the pin covered by the hat material. The hat-pins this post concerns are those shaped like a long needle. Hat styles changed continuously, reaching their most dramatic proportions in the early Edwardian era, around 1910. While hat-pins are no longer considered a necessary finishing touch on our ensembles today, for women in the 19th century, and until the popularity of the close-fitting cloche hats of the 1920s, they certainly were! Hat-Pin Girl by Charles Dana Gibson, ca.
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