Bonnets for Today’s World

I designed a Bonnet years ago when our company was new. I know what it’s like to be outside; the heat in summer, bugs in spring, sunburnt necks, hair jostling around everywhere, hanging down your sweaty back and darn it’s cold for those northern gardeners who are outside digging out root veggies in fall. The head needs outerwear.

I had seen Bonnets in a lot of Art showing them from previous centuries. Sometimes they had lace, ribbons, and other bits of fancy. They were lovely and inspirational. Alas, I design for work. I have set up an imaginary shop in the intersection of dirt and fashion. I don’t see a need for fancies,  I see a need for a bonnet that covers, is lightweight, stays in place, prevents Black Fly and Mosquito bites and washes up well.

I designed the brim to be quilted so that it is both soft when you stuff the hat unceremoniously into your pocket or apron and will hold shape when worn to keep the sun out of your eyes. I designed the ruffle at the neck to keep your skin hidden from bugs. The back body of the hat will hold a lot of hair in its elasticized back.

Homespun was the original choice, It is very lightweight and works well outside. You could wear the Bonnet loose, untied or tied tight in place. You could also adjust the brim to fall where it’s needed.

 

 

The new news is that we have added denims to our Bonnet collection.   We kept the batting as cotton only as it warms in winter and doesn’t make you sweat in summer.

 

We note that we are encouraging the Bonnet to have a reappearance into our lives. Bonnets disappeared from closets over the last few generations; there was a reason they lived there for so many centuries beforehand. They are useful, purposeful and really should have never gone away. We have now added denim, both black and the light blue.

 

The Blue is a gentle soft pretty pale blue and the black is more of a rugged, classic look.

 

 

When we had our retail store, our local customers referred to this as The Black Fly hat as here in Northern Vermont, we suffer with Black Fly Season. Every area has their more prominent bugs, or weather conditions.  We hope these Bonnets find a way to serve as as well as they have served us.