Evening toque

The museum's collection contains a number of ladies' hats spanning a thirty year period from the Brooklyn firm of West's, which was established in 1853. These hats come from three donors, each of whom gave multiple West's hats to the collection and no other milliner in greater quantity, suggesting that this was a business with a well-established aesthetic and variety of merchandise which could secure a loyal clientele. The innovative and robust quality shared by all of the West's hats supports this suggestion. In this toque, an elaborate combination of materials, including various shapes of sequins, paillettes and beads, is employed to create a glamorous effect. The highly textured and glittering surface is complemented by the vigorous burst of egret feathers.