Although my selection of studio photographs usually features double portraits of affectionate gentle

Although my selection of studio photographs usually features double portraits of affectionate gentlemen sitting together, I happened across this picture taken in the Floridsdorf district of Vienna, c.1900, and was so struck by the spectacular hat I just had to give him a moment in the spotlight! An opulent concoction of feather and flower atop what appears to be a relatively everyday and sensible gent’s hat, we can only guess at what prompted him to wear such magnificent and overblown decoration for his photograph, and if, indeed, he wore this on a more regular basis than the single occasion on which it was recorded!