Easter topping: Some still wear bonnets on holiday
Some still wear bonnets on Easter
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| Marjie Kennedy wears her Easter bonnet outside of Christ Church Cathedral. | ||
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Each year on Easter Sunday, Marjie Kennedy peers over the church balcony of the choir loft, spotting the women who proudly display their Easter bonnets.
While marveling at them, she counts how many women choose to dress up their Easter outfits with a spring hat just like she does. Twenty years ago, she estimates she would count as many as 30.
These days, she can count the bonnets on one hand.
"Every single year when I was a kid, for Easter, we'd get a brand-new dress and a brand-new hat," said Kennedy, 57, of South St. Louis. "I have a sister that's just two years younger, and a lot of times we'd get similar-looking hats and dresses. Sometimes my mother would sew and make the Easter dress, but we would always buy a hat."
Although it's a tradition that isn't as popular as it used to be, Kennedy doesn't mind. She has continued to wear a bonnet each year.
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"I guess everybody's unique, but I'm willing to wear things that not everyone would wear," she said.
Sure, Kennedy has her fair share of classic spring bonnets, adorned with pastel-colored ribbons and flowers. But her favorites are the ones that stand out — her bold black and gold hat she purchased at Ann's Hat Boutique on Euclid and her bonnet with a large peacock feather that gets a lot of admiration.
St. Louis hat and jewelry designer Allyson Bailey Wilmowski has her own unconventional style of Easter bonnets she sells on her Web site,www.buffalobluedesigns.com, and in Paste Crafts in Soulard. She chooses to make bonnets that attach to headbands.
"I use a lot of feathers and straw bases," Bailey Wilmowski said. "The Easter bonnets I've made are little tiny straw hats, and then I attach flowers and butterflies and lace. Then I attach the whole thing and sew it to a headband. It's good for kids and adults." Bailey Wilmowski's four types of Easter bonnets are hot sellers. She also creates custom designs.
She made the decision to add the Easter bonnets to her collection as something new and fun for the spring. Selecting a hat to match her dress is a big part of her Easter memories as a child.
"My family was always really into dressing up and having the egg hunt," she said. "I always got dressed up and wore the little hats and lacy dresses. We always got a new one every year and got to pick it out. It's a fun thing for kids as well as adults."
While Bailey Wilmowski has noticed a decline through the years in the number of women wearing the accessory on Easter, she is beginning to see them emerge again.
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