A Regency Riding Hat - Sew What Happens

A woman smirks at the camera, She is wearing a black regency riding hat with a large bow and two tall black feathers on the front

For a little touch of the funébre for this Halloween season, I made myself a sombre woman’s regency riding hat.

In early October I scored a “Halloween bowler hat” at a local party store. It was on “pre-season pre-clearance sale” (Do they just make these things up now?!) and I reckoned the shape looked awfully like that of a woman’s riding hat in the early years of the regency period.

For example, these two riding hats from 1803:

1803 fashion plate of a woman in a navy blue riding habit and standing next to a horse — image via Candace Hern

And these two hats from 1797 and 1798, respectively (although in those white ruffles, I doubt the woman on the right ever went near a horse)

1797 fashion plate of a woman riding a horse and wearing a blue riding habit

1798 fashion print of a lady sitting on a horse and wearing a white ruffled dress with a purple spencer and black hat with a giant white feather

And my favorite, a portrait of Queen Louise of Prussia, painted in riding habit and riding hat by Willhelm Ternite in 1810:

Portrait of Queen Louise of Prussia. She is wearing a riding habit trimmed in gold braid, topped with a hat with a very large pompom — Queen Louise of Prussia by Willhelm Ternite c.1810 via wikimedia

This one is my favorite not only for that delightful feather pompom, but because the habit and hat still exist today in the collection of the Deutsches Historisches Museum in Berlin!

A black riding hat and a navy blue spencer trimmed with gold braid — image via Deutsches Historisches Museum

Onward, then, into the stash:

I picked out a pair of slightly distressed black antique ostrich feathers and a roll of vintage acetate ribbon in midnight purple-ish blue, tacked the feathers to the party store special, and whipped up a tastelessly enthusiastic bow (judging by period fashion plates, no pom-pom is too large. Just ask Louise of Prussia.)

a spray of black ostrich feathers with the bases sewn into a fold of black velvet

A hat balances on a knee. The hat is decorated with a wide blue ribbon and a spray of black feathers

The fact that I don’t own a riding habit is of no consequence. After all, nor do I own a horse. And based on that 1798 print with the white ruffles, the lack of either is no obstacle to a good feathered hat.

A black hat sits on a sofa. The hat is decorated with a wide ribbon and a spray of ostrich feathers. In front of the hat sits a navy blue bow

a hand reaches into a black hat. The hand holds a pair of pliers

It’s possible the same party store where I found the hat might also be able to supply me something in the equine line. The shop in question specializes in life size (or larger than life-size) skeletons of all sorts of creatures. A few horse bones and a dusting of phosphorescence would do me nicely, i reckon!

side view of a regency riding hat. it is decorated with a spray of feathers and a blue bow

A black regency riding hat sits on a table. it is decorated with a blue bow and a spray of feathers

After I’d completed my hat, I came across this fashion plate:

1795 fashion plate showing a woman in a red riding habit and a black hat with feathers. — image via World4

Finding this particular print made me feel quite inordinately silly with pleasure. The late 1790s are my regency wheelhouse. Spectral phosphorescent horse or no, I may yet have to make myself that riding habit!

A woman looks at the camera, She is wearing a black regency riding hat with a large bow and two tall black feathers on the front

Leave a Reply Cancel reply