Judge — May 18, 1912 — page 3: what you’re looking at

What you’re looking at

# "Springing Hats" - Judge Magazine This page satirizes women's elaborate spring hats through a portrait and accompanying verse. The illustration shows a woman in profile wearing an ornate hat decorated with pearls, plumes, buckles, and ribbons—typical of early 20th-century millinery excess. The poem mocks these extravagant creations, describing a hat that once belonged to a Spanish naval ship ("When Dewey sunk the Spanish ships"), now repurposed as women's fashion. The joke equates women's hats to salvaged military debris—absurdly oversized, ragged, and patched with lace and ribbons. This reflects contemporary satirical criticism of women's fashion, particularly the impractical, wasteful nature of elaborate hat decoration that dominated the era. The reference to Dewey suggests this is from around the Spanish-American War period (1898).