The Australian Racing Museum is thrilled to present its latest exhibition - Keep it Under Your Hat: The Secrets of Millinery.

 

Throughout history, hats have always made striking fashion statements. In all their different styles, moods, and shapes they mirror the social and political changes of the last hundred years. Passionately adored by some, hats are dismissed as “old hat” by others. People keep secrets “under their hats,” make decisions “at the drop of a hat”, and pull tricks “out of a hat”. “I take my hat off to you” is considered a great compliment. Hats are often admired, may be ridiculed or hotly debated, but they are always remembered.

 

From the early 1900s the hat has played a major role in society: from a head covering to preserve decency to an accessory to set an outfit off to its best effect. Up until the 1950s headwear was a virtual necessity for women outside her own home. The fashion revolution of the 1960s and 1970s shunned hats. More recently however, women have again enthusiastically embraced headwear, with the racetrack providing a welcome opportunity to dress up and express oneself through the wearing of a hat.

 

The recycling and remodeling of styles echoes both social change and the imagination of the milliner. Well known shapes such as the close fitting cloche of the 1920s, the simple boaters of the war years, the pillbox of the 1960s and the flamboyant shapes, sizes and head turning trims of the 1990s all hark back to earlier styles.

 

This exhibition looks at the amazing range of styles, materials and trims used in millinery over the past 100 years. Hats provide us with a vignette of society, with changes in style reflecting the social, economic, political and environmental events which have shaped our history.

 

 

Adult $9

Concession/Seniors/Students $5

Children Under 12 years old FREE