V&A
Golden Straw Sculptural Hat with Shot Silk Trim
Great Depression · 1930s · British
Designer
Marshall and Snelgrove
Production
ready-to-wear
Material
straw with shot silk trim
Culture
British
Movement
Art Deco
Influences
Art Deco sculptural forms · modernist architecture
This avant-garde hat features a dramatic sculptural silhouette with straw woven into bold, sweeping curves that create an abstract ribbon-like form. The golden straw construction shows precise millinery technique, with the material shaped into flowing loops and curves that extend asymmetrically from the head. Shot silk trim in burgundy and bronze tones adds lustrous contrast against the matte straw texture. The hat sits at an angle on the head, typical of 1930s millinery fashion. The construction demonstrates the period's embrace of modernist design principles, translating architectural curves into wearable art. This piece represents the sophisticated millinery craftsmanship of Marshall and Snelgrove, reflecting the era's tension between economic constraint and continued pursuit of fashionable luxury.
hat
Connected To
Influences·modernist architecture
SHARED30 years · cross-category
These pieces speak the same modernist language across three decades, both treating their materials like architectural elements rather than mere decoration. The suede oxfords' clean, unadorned silhouette and the hat's bold geometric spiral both reject ornamental excess in favor of pure form — the shoes through their seamless construction and minimal profile, the hat through its dramatic sculptural sweep that turns millinery into wearable sculpture.
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