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The Jewish Chronicle

Hats off to traditional style

Our excuse is that it is Pesach in a couple of weeks.

March 10, 2010 16:11
Hat £429, Gabriela Ligenza, 5 Ellis Street, SW1; Orange silk dress, £379, gold knot cuff, £159, all at Fenwick, W1; sunglasses, £228, Oliver Goldsmith

ByJan Shure, Jan Shure

2 min read

Our excuse to photograph a confection of gorgeous hats is that it is Pesach in a couple of weeks, when Jewish women traditionally think about acquiring a new spring hat.

We have been looking at the prettiest and most stylish hats, some appropriate for synagogue, some for weddings or other special occasions.

If the pictures have a slightly vintage feel, it is because hats — the decorative kind, as opposed to the practical kind we wear for cold weather, skiing or sun protection — are, sadly, an anachronism in 2010.

Those who wear hats — the Queen, women attending afternoon weddings, Ascot and other ritzy race-meetings and, of course women who attend synagogue (once mainly those who attended Orthodox shuls, but increasingly, those who attend Progressive congregations, too) — are rapidly becoming as endangered as the polar bear.