Purple feather pillbox hat with open crown

Source catalog description

This description refers to material held by Smithsonian National Museum of African American History and Culture. Visual details below describe the original material.

A purple pillbox hat with an open crown. Purple ostrich feathers were applied individually to a base of stiffened milliner’s net and hand stitched into place. Stitched to the proper right front of the hat is a 5.5” wide double looped bow made from a purple grosgrain ribbon. The hat features an open 5” diameter crown that is covered with four layers of delicate nylon net. The edges of the opening have a metal wire encased in light blue synthetic knit fabric and the inside of the hat is unlined. A blue 5/8” wide synthetic Petersham ribbon is hand sewn to the inner brim and at each interior side is a single brown plastic comb, attached to the interior of the hat with a 2” length of elastic cording.

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