That's why the lady's a Vamp

For some reason my internet broke last week which made me realise that I am way too internet dependant and without etsy, my blog and skype I actually have a whole lot of free time.  Add to this the fact that the internet works my TV too and I really was at a bit of a loss.  After making A LOT of new hats, starting pilates again, finally getting round to reading War and Peace, getting blisters from playing too much guitar and almost losing my voice after a full on Karaoke session I felt a trip to the video shop was needed.  This (accompanied by the oppressive heat and crazy wind from the approaching typhoon) led to three days on the couch in my pants, eating ice lollies and watching the first series of the Vampire Diaries in its entirety.

It seems the world has gone vampire crazy in the last few years, but living in my Japan bubble, I have missed most of the hysteria (though I do own all the twilight movies), thus diaries vs twilight is the only comparison I can make and while both of them have rather shaky story lines and equally bad leading ladies (though diaries girl does seem to have a little personality and occasionally some balls as opposed to Bella Swan who has single handedly put the feminist movement back 50 years) there is no comparison when it comes to vampires. I am team Salvatore all the way. Observe...

Here be Edward Cullen trying his hardest to look like a dreamy vampire and though he does have a certain charm I am more taken in by the idea of a grand piano in an overgrown field next to a lake, he needs to get his feet of my piano!

The Salvatore brothers on the other hand (both oldskool and present day) are just crazy hot and actually act like vampires and do bad stuff instead of being all tortured and emo like Mr Cullen.  

This however is a hat blog not a hot teenage vamp fan page and all my rambling does come to a hatty point.  You see my favourite parts of the Vampire Diaries are the little flash backs to 1864, a land of corsets, tail coats and of course hats!

and so today's blog is dedicated to the hats of the 1800's.

For guys this was easy.  The 1800's were the time of the top hat.  Originally made by a French Milliner based on a Chinese design the hats found their real home on the streets of London where it quickly became very ungentlemanly to be seen without one.

For the ladies the start of the century was all about the bonnet in its many forms.

As the century moved forward the fashion started to change toward two radically different fashion styles.  The first was the big hat which carried through to the beginning of the 1900s.

and the second was the completely opposite trend toward simple Grecian inspired headdresses.

A style immortalised by Alphonse Mucha who arrived on the scene in Paris at the beginning of 1895.

Love big hats. Love top hats.  Love pretty headdresses. Love Mucha.  Love looking at the Salvatore Brothers.  All in all I think I simply love the 1800s.