Distance: A Few Blocks, Home Yoga
Ciwt has a longtime fascination with hats and a small collection. She can actually look quite fetching in them, but rarely wears one. For one thing, there is the near constant wind in San Francisco. But, mostly it is a matter courage. Wearing a hat, a true chapeau, takes a certain amount of courage and willingness to be 'seen.' The proper way for a lady to wear one is Always; when she completes her ensemble with the right hat, she wears it throughout the day or evening, inside and out.
Some viewers - especially men - admire and are intrigued by such a feminine high fashion (and individual) statement. Others damn with faint praise, sideways looks or actual negative comments. No matter what the reaction, you keep the hat on; it can be nerve wracking.
Even in the late 19th century when propriety demanded a hat be worn outside of the home and you were not fully dressed without a hat, wearing one was dicey. Hats may have been everywhere but they were not taken for granted. People noticed them and had opinions about the wearer's tastefulness, class, morals, character - sometimes positive and more often critical. All this at a time when individualism was not valued as it is in our country today, so Ciwt can just imagine how painful it could of have been for women who had chosen the 'wrong' hat, but then had to go about wearing it throughout the entire day and evening.
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