Buying a new hat, with the attendant trials and tribulations, is a significant event in so many of our novels. Upset after the return of her son to boarding school, the Provincial Lady writes, "feel that life is wholly unendurable, and decide madly to get a new hat". Living in the provinces, though, she is horrified to discover that "no one is wearing a brim, which discourages me—partly because I have nothing but brims". The sitter in  A Lady in Black (c1926, Kelvingrove Art Gallery and Museum) by Scottish Colourist FBC Cadell models the ultimate, sophisticated, un-provincial hat with a brim.