I had an opportunity to meet Shon Miller, the force behind The Mad Hatter’s Tea Party earlier this month. She specializes in top hats, as well as other vintage hats from various periods. Hats are not all you’ll find packed into her cluttered but beautifully styled booth at various expos she attends. She also offers purses, compacts, vanities, silhouettes, combs and hatpins.
A understated woman, she didn’t want to be photographed, but let’s just say she had interesting jewelry, hat and a colorful shawl that you’d want to stare at for awhile. Full of knowledge, she attempted to explain some of the history behind hats and combs.
Who knew there was that much to combs? She had a pretty extensive collection to show off at the recent Vintage Fashion Expo in the Bay Area although if in California, you can head to her San Carlos, CA location on Laurel Street to see more.
It turns out that there’s a whole world behind COMBS, yes, combs for your hair and they start as far back as the early 1800s. And, of course, the French are the magicians behind comb making. No discussion of Art Deco combs would be complete without a mention of Auguste Bonaz who Shon says was a “master.” He was THE comb maker of the Art Deco era and products of atelier Bonaz are highly sought after and every comb collector should try to include something of his in their set.
Who knew?
Below are some of the combs Shon had in her showcase. The ones on the left although it’s not easy to see the details, are from the 1830s and 1840s and the range she had in four different closed glass cases went through to the 1950s. Price range for the early ones? In the thousands, notably the ones made from tortoise shell and other delicate materials that are hard to find.
A little about Bonaz? Apparently he was a GOD of combs :-) Maison Bonaz was founded towards the mid 19th century by Cesar, and was located in Oyannox, an area of France celebrated for comb making. His son Auguste opened a branch in Paris, which continued in business until 1982. The atelier Maison Auguste Bonaz is the most celebrated of all the Oyannox workshops, and received special mention for comb design in the Paris Exposition of 1925. It was from this event, the Exposition des Arts Decoratifs et Industrielles Modernes that the shorter term Art Deco is derived.
According to Shon, there’s a comb museum today in Oyannox, which remains the center of comb making in France. It touts collections by Arbez-Carme, Clement Joyard, Auguste Bonaz and Robert Bollé and houses more than 5000 pieces. (one of these days, perhaps I’ll go through there and can see it. Sometimes it’s the most unusual niche museums which are the most interesting such as the one I still think about to this day: The Museum of Brands in England, which I first saw close to twenty years ago).
And her hats were just as amazing. Have a meander:
The below hats are smaller in size. Referred to as Loli (mini) hats, Andrea Edelman is the woman behind this collection. She has a shop in San Jose, CA called Lucrezia’s Delight where you can see some more of her designs.
Renee Blodgett is the founder of We Blog the World. The site combines the magic of an online culture and travel magazine with a global blog network and has contributors from every continent in the world. Having lived in 10 countries and explored nearly 80, she is an avid traveler, and a lover, observer and participant in cultural diversity.
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