Mrs Berto Blog: Urban Butterfy

Well howdy there my little Muffin Toppers, I'm Maria from Urban Butterfly , for those of you who may not be familiar with it, it is a little style and vintage blog where I post up what I've been wearing and babble about frivolous stuff.

I'm 30 years old, live in the South of England with my husband, 2 rather mothered cats and two smelly rabbits, one of which I swear is plotting world domination! I'm a yoga loving compulsive shopper with an affection for the 1940's and 50's and all round chatterbox.

So you may be asking why I'm loitering here, well, the lovely Katrina asked me to guest post while she gets her nose to the grind stone with her studies.

Now readers of my blog will know I have an obsession with head paraphernalia, be it a head scarf, wig or headband. But my ultimate joy is wearing a hat. I feel in years to come I may be that eccentric old lady in the big hat wearing bright red lippie!

But sadly long gone are the days where a hat is worn by us ladies as part of our everyday wear. There was a time where it was deemed vulgar or improper to be seen out without one.

Take a whirl back to my favourite era, the 1940's; I spoke to several of my elderly ladies that I care for in my community about how millinery fitted into their everyday life. Even for ladies that had little money, which was more often than not during this time, said they were never seen in a formal or social situation without arriving in a hat. It might be one that they had owned for years but still it was pinned on with pride.

One lady I spoke to grew up in a very deprived area of East London said me to " my darling, a hat and a good pair of gloves were always worn, otherwise you weren't fully dressed"

Sadly through the decades society has lost this love affair with millenary and most of us now would only opt to wear a hat or fascinator for events such Royal Ascot or weddings, and even at weddings the passion seems to be wavering.

I love to browse Esty for vintage numbers and scour charity shops, as they can be rather expense accessories to purchase.

I'm in the market for a new hat at the moment both for Twinwood Festival and to add to my collection.

Here are a few on my wish list: