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Lonely Ladies in Hats
Saint Catherine’s day is the day of the unmarried woman
InFrance, there are many towns that are associated with manufacturing of one kind or another, often in traditions that go back centuries. Millau, for example, is associated with leather gloves, while Aubusson is famed for its hand made tapestries. The next village up from where I live once employed thousands of people in the manufacture of straw hats and boaters, while the village after that became famous for its felt head wear.
Today, most of these ancient crafts have all but disappeared — killed off by a lethal combination of industrialization and cheap imports. Those businesses that do still manage to limp along, do so either as desperate tourist attractions or because of the tenacious characters inherent among the last craft making families.
Hats in France are going through something of a revival, though few are locally made anymore. They may be worn either for reasons of practicality or as fashion statements. Go to almost any street market and you are almost bound to find a hat seller showing off his range of largely foreign goods.
