“This is just what I want,” she said. “How much is it?”
The milliner told her the price was eighty-five dollars.

“But how can you charge eighty-five dollars for this?” the customer asked.

“It's just some ribbon and flowers you put together!”

In silence the milliner ripped the stitches
he had so deftly sewn a few minutes before
and handed her the flowers and ribbon.

“You may have these with my compliments,” he said. “Now make yourself a hat.”

1950 by Eve Tartar

Every woman would like a definite formula for choosing a becoming hat. It would be easy enough to walk into a shop and buy one if the same rule could be applied universally.

The charm of millinery owes its secret to the element of surprise. The importer of millinery goods in Dorothy Canfield Fisher's story “Hats” is made to say, “Style is one of the great obscure mysteries of life.”

Hats are not like anything else you wear. They have their functional purposes, it's true, but hats are concerned primarily with charm, not usefulness. A dashing hat is a pleasure not only to its wearer but to everyone who sees it.

While money is an important factor in the choice of a hat, a woman of good taste can frequently complete her costume with a low-priced though suitable and becoming model. One lacking taste would accomplish less with more money. If a woman has unlimited means, the problem need not be great, for she can place herself in the hands of an expert. There are artists in hat design who make a study of each customer and create a model uniquely suited to her personality.

The qualities that make a hat look as though it had cost 100's of dollars are artfulness, inventiveness, imagination, and flair.

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