Hats Off to the 20th Century

A lively program titled, “Treasured Toppers,” will be presented at  6:30 p.m. Monday, March 14 , at The Timbers of Shorewood retirement community, 1100 N. River Rd., Shorewood. The public is invited.

Susan Koh-Jankowski of Roselle will take audience members on a trip through the 20th century using not a time machine, but vintage hats. She employs music, humor, fashion, history and nostalgia to recall the days when hats were as necessary as gloves, and a lady wouldn’t dare be seen without either.

Kohl-Jankowski’s hat collection, which numbers around 500, started in 1992 when her daughter-in-law gave her several hats as props for her still-life paintings. The number of hats grew and became a wonderful collection that she exhibited at various local venues.

Since she’d been a children’s storyteller at the Roselle Public Library, the development of a narrative program to accompany the exhibit was the next step. She read all she could about fashion, the women’s suffrage movement, inventions, hair styles, history, wars, Hollywood, etc., all of which influenced hat styles.

Kohl-Jankowski models hats from 1900, and she relates each hat to its era. For example, in 1916 when the women’s suffrage movement was in full swing, women replaced their frivolous flowery hats with fedoras as a sign of strength.

The Timbers of Shorewood is a rental retirement community which provides independent and assisted living apartments and a full schedule of activities and services. Furnished apartments are also available for a short-term stay - a weekend, a week, a month or longer.

The event is free and open to the public. Reservations are required. For more information or to register, call Shelly Goggins at 815-609-0669 or visit http://www.timbersofshorewood.com.