1960s Sun Hat, Glasses Included

The 1960s may have been the time that women’s hats were on the wane, but they sure put out some wild and crazy beach hats.   Many were Italian straw creations, and were decorated in all sorts of ways, most of which reflected a tropical vibe.  There were hats that sprouted a straw palm tree on the crown, and hats covered with seashells.  I’ve even seen them covered with fishnet with tiny plastic fish caught beneath.

But my all time favorite is the beach hat with built-in sunglasses.  This hat came in lots of different color combinations and several different shapes, but this one in orange with blue lenses is a classic.

I tried in vain to find a reference to this hat in my collection of 1960s magazines, and an internet search was not much more fruitful. I found only two vintage images.  One was dated to 1965, and came from a Dutch magazine.  Since I was not sure of the origin of the scan I’ll not post the photo here, but it is my hat in red straw.  The other was not dated, but looks to be a bit earlier, and is the hat in tan.

As always, any additional information is greatly appreciated.

A couple of years ago an updated version of the sunglasses hat was available at Kate Spade.  Fell free to speak your mind, because I like the vintage one better too!

photo copyright Kate Spade New York