The ''Chapeau à la Paméla'', Pamela hat or Pamela bonnet described a type of straw hat or
bonnet
A bonnet is a variety of headgear, hat or cap.
Specific types of headgear referred to as "bonnets" may include
Native American
*War bonnet, feathered headgear worn as an earned military decoration by high-ranking Plains Indians
United King ...
popular during the 1790s and into the first three quarters of the 19th century. It was named after the heroine of
Samuel Richardson
Samuel Richardson (baptised 19 August 1689 – 4 July 1761) was an English writer and printer known for three epistolary novels: '' Pamela; or, Virtue Rewarded'' (1740), '' Clarissa: Or the History of a Young Lady'' (1748) and '' The Histo ...
's 1741 novel ''
Pamela; or, Virtue Rewarded
''Pamela; or, Virtue Rewarded'' is an epistolary novel, epistolary novel first published in 1740 by the English writer Samuel Richardson. Considered one of the first true English novels, it serves as Richardson's version of conduct book, condu ...
''. While Pamela hats and bonnets underwent a variety of changes in shape and form, they were always made from straw. The mid-19th-century version of the Pamela hat was a smaller version of an early 19th-century wide-brimmed style called the gipsy hat.
18th-century origins
In 1793, the French actress
Mademoiselle Lange, appeared in a stage adaptation of ''
Pamela; or, Virtue Rewarded
''Pamela; or, Virtue Rewarded'' is an epistolary novel, epistolary novel first published in 1740 by the English writer Samuel Richardson. Considered one of the first true English novels, it serves as Richardson's version of conduct book, condu ...
'', written by
François de Neufchâteau
François () is a French masculine given name and surname, equivalent to the English name Francis.
People with the given name
* François Amoudruz (1926–2020), French resistance fighter
* François-Marie Arouet (better known as Voltaire; ...
. For the role Lange wore a straw hat which became known as a ''chapeau à-la-Pamela'', and she is credited with popularising the style. Straw hats ''à-la-Pamela'' were popular for informal wear and widely worn well into the 1810s.
In August 1815, ''
La Belle Assemblée
''La Belle Assemblée'' (in full ''La Belle Assemblée or, Bell's Court and Fashionable Magazine Addressed Particularly to the Ladies'') was a British women's magazine published from 1806 to 1837, founded by John Bell (1745–1831).
Publishi ...
'' reported on the continued popularity of the ''chapeau à-la-Pamela'', worn far back on the head with a tulle and lace cap underneath.
Mid-19th century
The Pamela hat, which first emerged around 1837, was a version of the gipsy hat with a smaller brim.
Gipsy hats were wide-brimmed straw hats worn in the first four decades of the nineteenth century, always with ribbons attached to the crown and coming over the brim to tie under the chin.
[ A variation on the gipsy, where the wide brim was bent downwards by the ribbon ties, was called a witch's hat.
In 1837, Pamela hats and gipsy hats were listed separately as fashionable headgear for that year. By 1842 the Pamela hat was described as a "half-gipsy hat" being made of coarse straw with ribbon trimming, while the Pamela bonnet sloped backwards to reveal the wearer's ]ringlets
A ringlet is a type of hairstyle. Ringlets are often also known as princess hair or corkscrews. It is achieved by wrapping a lock of hair around the length of a thin curling iron The curls can also be achieved by hair rollers. Loose ringlets c ...
. The Pamela bonnet, which was narrow-brimmed with a flat back and trimmed with ribbons and flowers, was fashionable in the 1840s and 1850s.[ By 1847 Cunnington noted that the Pamela shape was falling out of favour.][
In May 1856 '']Godey's Lady's Book
''Godey's Lady's Book'', alternatively known as ''Godey's Magazine and Lady's Book'', was an American women's magazine that was published in Philadelphia from 1830 to 1896. It was the most widely circulated magazine in the period before the Civi ...
'' described the Pamela hat as a wide-brimmed, flat hat of straw tied under the chin and trimmed with flowers. It was described as a suitable hat for little girls. In March that same year, Godey described the Pamela bonnet as the latest Paris fashion, made popular by a milliner called Alexanche, and published a fashion plate
A fashion plate is an illustration (a plate) demonstrating the highlights of fashionable styles of clothing. Traditionally they are rendered through etching, line engraving, or lithograph and then colored by hand. To quote historian James Laver ...
showing how the brim rounded off at the ear like a gipsy hat. By 1858, Godey's were advising readers that the Pamela hat was appropriate only for children, or for wearing on holiday as resort wear
A resort (North American English) is a self-contained commercial establishment that aims to provide most of a vacationer's needs. This includes food, drink, swimming, accommodation, sports, entertainment and shopping, on the premises. A hotel ...
. At this time, Godey informed its readers that an alternative name for the "Pamela flat" was "Equestrienne".[
The Pamela bonnet was a fashionable option once again in 1865. In 1872, Gipsy and Pamela hats were both listed as options, both much reduced in size, while larger gipsy hats were known as Dolly Varden hats.]
Gallery
File:Chapeau à la Paméla - Costume Parisien, 1801-2.jpg, 1. ''Chapeau à la Paméla'', 1801-02
File:Brooklyn Museum - Un Chapeau Pamèla - Honoré Daumier.jpg, 2. ''Un Chapeau Pamèla'', c.1845
# ''Chapeau à la Paméla'', fashion plate published in ''Costume Parisien'', 1801-2
# ''Un Chapeau Pamèla'', caricature by Honoré Daumier
Honoré-Victorin Daumier (; February 26, 1808 – February 10 or 11, 1879) was a French painter, sculptor, and printmaker, whose many works offer commentary on the social and political life in France, from the July Revolution, Revolution of 1830 ...
of a woman trying on a Pamela bonnet, c.1845
See also
*Bergère hat
A bergère (French for shepherdess) hat is a flat-brimmed straw hat with a shallow crown, usually trimmed with ribbon and flowers. It could be worn in various ways with the brim folded back or turned up or down at whim. It is also sometimes call ...
*List of hat styles
Hats have been common throughout the history of humanity, present on some of the very earliest preserved human bodies and art. Below is a list of various kinds of contemporary or traditional hat.
List
See also
*List of headgear
References
...
References
{{Pamela; or, Virtue Rewarded
Hats
19th-century fashion
1793 introductions
Fictional costumes
Pamela; or, Virtue Rewarded