Vintage Ladies Hats of the 1940s: A Buyer’s Guide to Shapes and Materials

Forties hats split into two families — close-fitting caps and berets, or dramatic brimmed picture hats — and shape, material, and trim decide everything.

Wartime changed what milliners could make, and the shortages show up in the hats themselves. Buyers hunting for that look run into the same trap: treating the whole decade as one silhouette. It wasn’t. The 1940s produced both the snug little calot and the wide cartwheel brim, often in the same catalog. Judging a vintage piece means reading its three buyer cues in order — shape first, then material, then trim — because exact materials and decorations varied by maker, country, season, and wartime availability. That makes “1940s” a broad style label, not a standardized spec sheet.

The Core 1940s Shapes and How To Tell Them Apart

A 1940s hat usually reads as smaller, more restrained, and slightly masculine or military-influenced next to the ornate styles of earlier decades. Within that leaner silhouette, a handful of shapes dominated.

• Beret. Round and usually felt, worn flat or tilted to one side. Straw versions existed for warm months.
• Turban. A wrapped head style. Cotton or rayon handled work and casual days; rayon velvet dressed it up.
• Snood and headscarf. Practical hair-covering shapes, common as casual wartime headwear.
• Picture hat or cartwheel. The large-brimmed fashion statement of the decade.
• Tilt and percher. Small hats balanced forward on the head rather than pulled down over it.
• Pillbox and calot. Close-fitting, minimal, and quietly everywhere in the era’s photos.
• Toque. A tall, brimless cylinder with no fuss and no wide brim.
• Sailor or skimmer. Braided straw, wide flat brim, shallow crown — the summer staple.

Securing these styles rarely involved a chin strap. Hats were pinned in place with hair pins, rubber combs, clips, or bobby pins, which is why so many surviving pieces carry small puncture marks near the crown.

Materials: Winter Felt, Summer Straw, Wartime Substitutes

Felt and velvet carry a winter look, while straw and braided straw signal summer. Many silhouettes stayed the same across the seasons — a skimmer appeared in braided straw for warm weather and in felt or velvet once it turned cold.

The material story gets interesting in 1940. Italian straw imports ceased that year, so milliners reached for raffia and starched cotton lace as substitutes. Some sources also note wired or stiffened lace and other improvised materials filling the gap. Assuming straw was the only summer option misses a real chunk of the decade’s production.

Trims, Fit, and What To Check Before You Buy

Ribbons, bows, feathers, flowers, beads, veils, and brooches were the standard decoration vocabulary of the decade, and wartime hats leaned on homemade or improvised trims when supplies ran short. That improvisation is part of the charm, but it’s also where condition problems hide.

Surviving vintage hats are fragile. Delicate feathers, veils, lace, felt, and straw all suffer from moisture, crushing, and rough handling — a bent straw brim rarely returns to shape, and old netting tears at the slightest tug. Store a piece flat or on a stand, keep it away from damp, and skip anything that looks like it’s already cracking along the crown.

A working knowledge of the shapes and materials does the heavy lifting, but if you want the hunting already done, this roundup of best 40s hats for ladies narrows the field to pieces worth a closer look.

For deeper reference on the decade’s headwear, the University of Kentucky’s fashion library maintains a guide covering hats of the 1940s and 1950s with documented shapes and materials.

Frequently Asked Questions

Is a beret considered a 1940s style?

Yes. The beret appears throughout the decade in both felt and straw, worn flat or tilted at a slight angle. It sits in the close-fitting family alongside the calot and pillbox, so it’s one of the more versatile 1940s shapes to hunt for today because it works across seasons and outfits.

Why were raffia and lace used instead of straw?

Italian straw imports stopped in 1940, cutting off a major supply. Milliners substituted raffia and starched cotton lace, with some also using wired or stiffened lace. That’s why a genuine wartime summer hat may look nothing like classic straw yet still be entirely period-correct.

Do 1940s hats use chin straps?

Rarely. Most were held in place with hair pins, rubber combs, clips, or bobby pins rather than straps. That’s why original examples often show small pin marks near the crown — a normal sign of wear, not damage, and not a reason to pass on an otherwise sound piece.