Tin Hats for All

UK, 1941. Director Pathé News.

In British Pathé’s Tin Hats for All (1941), fashion speaks about anti-bourgeois sentiments and national pride. The film shows the mass-production of steel helmets in a British factory, referred to by the male voice-over as “the latest British style of metal millinery in the making”. This is followed by a sequence showing two women dressed in sober civilian clothing, supposedly representatives of the general public, who try the helmets on and look at each other, and in a pocket mirror: helmets too can be fashionable if worn with the right flare!

Presented as part of the programme Wardrobe Emergencies: Fashion and the Second World War Conflict, curated in collaboration with the Imperial War Museum, London.

Past screenings

Between Stigma and Enigma – London
Saturday 20 May 2006, 20:00 | The Horse Hospital
Wednesday 24 May 2006, 18:30 | ICA, Cinema 2