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570 Sargent Avenue
Location Map
"A History of Hats'
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Location: SW corner Sargent & Furby; East Face
Occupant: Akin's African Restaurant
District: West End
Neighbourhood: Spence
Artist(s): Danielle Trudeau
Year: 2015
Sponsors: West End BIZ
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Gloria Cardwell-Hoeppner: "The 500 block of Sargent Avenue was home to both Duncans
Millinery and Dallian Hat Shop. Coincidentally, next store was James Steven's Barbershop. Over
the years, a beauty parlour and shoe shop rounded out the retail offerings but Duncans, also
known as The Missus Duncan Millinery was a mainstay on the block, contributing to ladies
fashion needs for approximately 37 years."
"People have been covering their heads for centuries to protect themselves from the sun, heat or
bitter cold. To cover up unruly hair or a lack of hair or proper etiquette that is appropriate for the
time; as part of a uniform, to show respect or unruly hair- or just for fashion. Hats in all sorts of
styles and materials for men and for women have their place in history; and although not as
popular as they once were they are unlikely to go out of style- they just adjust with the
times."
"I also want to thank Christian Cassidy of the blog West End Dumplings for giving us the idea for
this Mural through his history of the Hood building (which housed the millinery hat shop, beauty
shop and barbershop mentioned above). It is our pleasure to remember that history with this
colourful and fun Mural."
Danielle Trudeau: "As you can see here we do have an arrangement of hats all through an era and
all different areas of the world. We have it arranged as if you were viewing it through a store
front- taking a peek inside the windows to see all these bright and colourful hats that we have.
You'll also notice the info cards that you might actually see if you were inside a store that was
selling hats, giving a little bit of information and the time period that it comes from."
Walkthrough: {Photo 2) "Because our business owner is from Nigeria, they made the request to
include a traditional headdress called an Aso-Oke (bottom left). This type of head wrap is
beautiful with gorgeous colours and textures. We have some other hats which we are more
familiar with: a Baseball Cap, a Sun Hat."
"In the next window, one of the depicted hats is actually one of the oldest in history- the Egyptian
Conical Hat, which was depicted in a tomb painting from Egypt dating to 3200 BC. The Tricorn
Hat is associated with pirates and the Navy. The top shelf is a hat called the Capotain, most
associated with the Pilgrims."
"In the middle window (Photo 3) the hats with the flat crown and brim turned up all the way
around are from this earlier era. The middle shelf has Greek Fisherman's Hats and the top
shelves have Bowler Hats, In the front is a table with more colourful hats. We've got Cloche
Hats on the upper level of the table which were popular from the Roaring 20s. I learned that the
proper way to wear a Cloche hat is that you're supposed to pull it far down over your nose so that
you have to actually have to lift your head to see! Wearing it would give off an 'aloof' look
which some really liked."
"Below them we have the Fascinators. They've really gotten a lot more popular lately. There's
no limits when it comes to Fascinators. They tend to be smaller pieces and they can be very
colourful and super elaborate. I had a lot of fun painting these ones because I could do anything
and it would be considered OK!"
"In the next panel (Photo 4) we have another cabinet filled with other hats. The Straw Boater
hats, different types of Fedoras. Bottom row is more Pork Pie hats and Straw hats."
"Moving on to our last window we've got our Kentucky Derby hat which has been popular since
1875. It has become very popular to wear these huge elaborate hats. I had a lot of fun
researching these hats- super colourful, super dramatic. I just HAD to include the toque, which is
a Canadian staple with our crazy cold winters. We also have a couple of additions to keep up with
the themes- I've got the snow globe with the Toque; an image of the state of Kentucky to go with
the Kentucky hat."
"On the bottom shelf we've got the Cowboy hat with lasso; and the Top Hat- both iconic ones!
Originally Top hats were made with beaver pelts; so I included a representation of a beaver pelt
as an addition. More recently they started upgrading to the use of silk; and that's why have that
drape of silk to show the transition from beaver pelt to silk."
"It took about two months from start to finish- there is a lot of detail. It was a pleasure working
on it and it was a big learning experience. I really loved doing it."
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