Elegant and eccentric - Easter bonnets on parade

A black and white photograph of three women wearing Easter bonnets. Jackie Harris wearing a hat with filled black gloves made to look like hands wrapped around the front of the hat. Toni White is wearing a wide-brimmed hat with a box made to look like a cottage on top complete with straw and Jody Sherwood is wearing a hat that looks like a toadstool. They are all wearing black tops and looking directly at the camera.Getty Images

The competition in 1974 - Jackie Harris wears Many Hands Make Light, Toni White wears Cottage while Jody Sherwood wears Alice Where Art Thou

Traditionally, Easter was a time to wear new clothes. After the self-denial of Lent, it was a chance to celebrate in style - and represented the emergence of a new, reborn, person.

Samuel Pepys wrote in his diary in 1662 about getting new clothes for his wife "against Easter" and Shakespeare's Mercutio asks, "Didst though not fall out with a tailor for wearing his new doublet before Easter?"

It was considered lucky to first wear new clothes to church, and many people would proudly display their new garments by taking a promenade afterwards through town - hence the Easter parade.

But if a new outfit is beyond the budget - a newly trimmed hat would suffice.

And this was a sentiment indulged by the then London Tourist Board which obligingly ran annual Easter Bonnet competitions.

So take a look.

A black and white picture of a ten-year-old toy poodle, Mame, from Westminster with her Easter bonnet, having a try-out for a special dogs Easter bonnet contest which was held for a dogs charity in April 1969. Getty Images

Toy poodle Mame mournfully reconsiders her life decisions - what led to her wearing a hat in 1969?

Sylvia Edwards wearing "It's all in the Balance". 26th March 1974. The hat, partly made from wire wool, has a decoration of traditional weighing scales on the top.Getty Images

Sylvia Edwards wearing It's all in the balance, possibly created from a sieve and wire wool in 1974

Sylvia wearing "Jeepers Creepers". 26th March 1974. A hat which has an animated face of big lips and eyes with lots of "legs" around the edge of the hat.Getty Images

And it's Sylvia again - clearly an introvert, this time wearing the understated Jeepers Creepers

24th April 1943: A model wearing an Easter bonnet, decorated with a bird, designed by milliner Rose Bertin. Getty Images

This was a perfectly ordinary hat until Esther left breadcrumbs on the brim in 1943

24th April 1943: A model wearing an Easter bonnet designed by milliner Rose Bertin. She is looking up in this black and white photograph at her hat which has a fluffy top and black net down the backGetty Images

Sticking with the wildlife theme, this confused hedgehog became caught up in a net

Easter bonnets being made at Edward Mann Ltd. hat factory in Stoke Newington. Roped in by the girls as models while the Easter bonnets are finished off, are Martin Levy, the works foreman, and Basil Mann (with glasses) a director of the firm. The girls are Alice Carter, with long hair, and Christine Rose, who are both machinists, 22nd January 1969.Getty Images

Martin and Basil enjoy their bonnets in 1969 at the Edward Mann hat factory in Stoke Newington

A woman is pictured at looking at a three quarter angle towards the camera. She is wearing a hat shaped like a giant bow and has a thick necklace on and flowers on her shouler.Getty Images

This fetching affair was described as "a definite sign of spring"

A portrait of an elegant woman wearing a large Easter bonnet, late 1940s or early 1950s. The bonnet is full of flowers and has a teddy on top.Getty Images

"This old thing? Just Marks and Spencer..."

A giant picture hat massed with spring flowers, the brim is circled by a picket fence and agate with a trellis and covered with rambling roses, March 1969. The hat is modelled by a young woman who is smiling at the camera and holding the end of her hat.Getty Images

This - called Bouquet Garnis - was a winner in the "Mad Hat" class in 1969 - the winner was Wendy MacInnes, a fashion student who was awarded £15 for her creation

March 1940: Danish milliner Aage Thaarup and a mannequin modelling one of his designs, an Easter bonnet decorated with snowdrops, at his Mayfair salon, London. Getty Images

Far too subtle to be a proper Easter bonnet - Danish milliner Aage Thaarup adorned his creation with snowdrops in 1940

16th March 1972: A model wearing a straw hat stretching to her waistGetty Images

A worthy winner of the "Mad Hat" category in 1972

Isabel Babianska models an Easter hat named Ladies Day from Gina Davies' Easter collection of spring 1961. It is made of black straw, trimmed with a white slub silk brim and a large flower. Getty Images

"No, I am certainly not entering the 'Mad Hat' class"

22nd March 1956: French star Line Renaud in London with her new collection of hats. She is pictured throwing them up in the air, an opened suitcase is pictured by her side.Getty Images

Hats finally sent Doris mad as she hurled them all in the air and cackled

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