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Fascinators: PROBLEMATIC

Caperton

Organizers have tightened the dress code for the Royal Enclosure at Ascot. Among the changes: no fascinators allowed.

The new dress code states: “Hats should be worn; a headpiece which has a base of four inches (10cm) or more in diameter is acceptable as an alternative to a hat.”

Of course this requires a reexamination of Feministe’s own policy about hat posts. Should we continue to include discussion of fascinators along with our standard discussion of hats, or should we move toward a more hat-centric model (including, of course, other headpieces of appropriate circumference)?

18 thoughts on Fascinators: PROBLEMATIC

  4. I, for one, cannot get behind a dress code that would prohibit the Princess Beatrice’s most excellent royal wedding headgear.

  6. Sorry, Royal Enclosure, but if I can’t wear my ostrich plume headband, AKA fascinator, then it’s no revolution.

  7. Many people have given up on “appropriate” dress (regardless of gender) for lots of events. I’m a gen-X gal, and I can remember when you NEVER went to the symphony in jeans.

    I took my kids to see a play the other day and I noticed a lot of people still dress up (no jeans or t-shirts etc) for theatre, even in small towns. Next time we go I’m going to try and uphold this as well. It’s just nice.

  8. Fuck the system. Write about fascinators. And let’s think about the narrow definition of a hat here. What of beanies? What indeed?

  10. The synagogue I attend is sufficiently “traditional” in its religious orientation that many (though hardly all) married women keep their hair covered in some way, shape or form during services (of course, our synagogue is also quite “egalitarian”, to use the term typically used in Jewish contexts, so many women just wear kippot — aka yarmulkes — just like the men do). However, some of the women do wear fascinators in lieu of hats if the fascinator is sufficiently complicated that you really cannot see much of the hair through all the bells and whistles involved.

    Of course, at a certain point, the complications tend to merge to form a de facto hat or need a hat to form their support-base in which case, I guess it’s called a “hatinator” (or so says wikipedia). So would hatinators be allowed? What about cocktail hats?

  11. EJ, it’s an attachment to a hat, an accessory for an accessory, and it is a fabulous thing in the world. Presumably they are banned because they take up extra room and block vision. Or maybe someone thinks they make women look like cheap whores? Either way, vive le goddamned fascinator.

  12. Why are you so focused on the oppression of the upper-class fascinator when so many baseball caps languish in poverty? Where are all the articles about them?? Or are you just ignoring the role class and money plays in hattism??

    But that aside, I personally would wear a hat with a diameter of five feet in protest of them taking away my god damn fascinator. Fuck that shit.

  14. Clearly, the hostility toward fascinators on display is an example of the insidious grip misogyny holds even on the minds of so-called feminists–after all, anyone can wear a hat, but fascinators are undeniably associated with femininity. I can’t believe that a so-called feminist blog would express disdain for something so clearly identified with wimyn.

  15. Many people have given up on “appropriate” dress (regardless of gender) for lots of events. I’m a gen-X gal, and I can remember when you NEVER went to the symphony in jeans.

    Jokes aside, I think it is great that not having certain types of clothes, not being able to afford them, (or yes, even just not wanting to wear them) is no longer as big a barrier as it once was ( in some places) to attending certain cultural events.
    It can especially be hard to be shamed for not having nice enough clothes as a child to go to the ballet or opera.

    As for fascinators *looks up fascinator* …. make them go away (accept for the feathery ones, the barrety ones, and the ones that look like beaded beanies… those I deem cute enough to stay).

  16. Shfree, I think I bought my fascinator for $12, which is probably less than the price of your average baseball cap. I’m not saying it’s as glam as the $300 version, but it makes me feel special. For a $12 accessory, that’s an achievement.

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