A motor car for the Mad Hatter: fashion-conscious Friday Lady heads out in a Buick

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Is there a better way to establish the era or the year of an old photograph than by looking at the buildings, motor cars and other vehicles seen in it? Perhaps there is. Fashion, ladies and gentlemen, is another excellent way to determine time or even place. Dresses and trousers, glasses and haircuts, and even jewellery and watches, are fine indicators when it comes to placing a picture within a particular epoch, too.

This lovely photograph gives little doubt about the era it was taken in thanks to both the car and the lady, who clearly was a dedicated follower of fashion. It’s the hat most of all that gives away the Edwardian timeframe. Around 1910, it was not unusual for a hat to be wider than a woman’s shoulders. Hat brims were often at least twice the size of the head on which they were precariously perched. They were often adorned with exotic feathers, which generated an unusual campaign movement objecting to the slaughter of birds for the decoration of ladies' heads, and before long the very short-lived fashion gave way to others less likely to incite opprobrium!

Turning our attention to the car, we believe that this is a Buick of 1910 vintage, making it an early product of the General Motors Company, founded in 1908 when William C. Durant amalgamated the existing Buick, Cadillac and Oldsmobile companies. The Buick line was the most successful of the three and by 1910 was producing a variety of two- and four-cylinder vehicles. Which model might this be? We'll leave that for you to determine. Feel free to add further information about those beautiful houses in the background, too…

Words: Jeroen Booij; Picture: source unknown

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