I can remember that women always wore a hat to church, even as a little Sunday-school going girl I wore a straw hat. By the time I was a teenager we still wore hats for warmth in winter but only a pretty bow and/or flower concoction (I made my own) in summer, as a nod to the custom. However the older - my mother's and grandmother's generations - clung to their hats for a while longer. At weddings, the people in the wedding party wore hats but they became optional for other attendees. The girls/women who attended the Catholic churches wore the lace mantilla if they didn't wear a hat. This was in a country town in Oz in the late 50s-early 60s, I imagine it was the same the world over - it was a conservative time everywhere.

I thought Aretha looked stylish and certainly warm!

Cheers
JennieG