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Here’s why. Hats have an interesting social history spanning fashion, class career and age. Their three main uses are fashion, safety and status. On display around the walls were paintings of people wearing hats. While it was clear that the curator had gone through York Gallery’s collection and picked out every suitable painting involving hats, there was a nice variety of people, time periods and genres. Although there are no terribly modern paintings (the most recent I saw was from the mid thirties), there are some nice works, some very pretty of thirties women in cloches, and some very old, dark and bewigged. Under each painting is a short piece of writing about the hats concerned, some informative and some less so. The collection tied in nicely with Yorkshire history, in particular portraits of Goodricke and Wentworth and the standard of artist was high - I spotted a Hepworth and a Bernini.
The paintings on their own would not have made for a terribly exciting exhibition, but the main focus of the room is the t-shaped catwalk in the centre of the room which displays hats on tall poles. Again, each piece has a caption and a short fragment of social history written about it. There is a nice selection of types of hats - from fashion items from various periods to hats belonging to different professions, the police, surgeons, or the army for example, and also different social classes. At the front in a glass case is a Stephen Jones creation from the V&A - the Anna P. Hat. The hats themselves span a disappointingly short time-period but together as a spectacle are very pleasing to the eye.
The curators had clearly thought very hard about this exhibition. The layout is lovely, and the catwalk in particular works very well, as do the quotes printed on the sides of the catwalk. The content too has a nice mix of artsy and fun, involving books for adults and children, masks, and a selection of hats to try on at the end. I particularly liked the sombrero, top hat and tricorn, but there are plenty more (although a few are from H&M!). In conclusion, if you’re seeking an adrenaline rush, head to Flamingo Land, but if you feel like getting a bit of light culture or even if you just like hats, then give this exhibition a try.
Hats is showing at the York Art Gallery until 23rd January 2011.
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