Check out these gorgeous hatpins on display at the MSU museum. This exhibit really sparkles!
Hatpins date as far back as the 1400s, when they were used to secure wimples, a cloth headdress that covered the hair and neck (think: nuns). Their height of popularity ran from the 1880s until the 1920s, when the snug fitting cloche rendered the hatpin obsolete. Hatpins range in size from 6 to 12 inches.
Fun fact from the MSU museum — Did you know the hatpin was once considered a concealed weapon? Michigan state senator Joseph Bahorski introduced legislation in 1925 making hatpins over 10 inches in length, a concealed weapon. But Michigan wasn’t the first. According to the American Hatpin Society, in 1908 Arkansas and Illinois state law required women to carry permits if they wanted to wear a hatpin longer than 9 inches.
The pin on the far left reminds me of the stick pin I used to wear in my cowl neck sweater. Remember those? No permit required, but sooo 1980s.
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