Top Hat

In the 1920s my paternal grandparents left Iran for Palestine before settling in the UK in 1928. Here’s a photograph from that era showing my grandparents all dressed up. David Aminoff, who I knew as BOBO is in a top hat and is holding a cane and his wife Dvora aka BIBI is wearing a fur coat – possibly squirrel – and has a clutch bag and cloche hat. They are both wearing leather gloves. I don’t know the occasion and cannot identify the leafy, domestic location. What I find striking is the relishing of an appearance of dapper, sophisticated Britishness:

The image is embossed at the bottom where I can make out the name of the photographer and studio address – R. Mason of Lower Clapton Road. My grandparents lived in Stamford Hill and must have used the local photographer to mark this formal occasion.

I’m in the process of adding images and text to my Ancestry project. Do check it out!