Putting candy into colorful plastic eggs and eating marshmallow Peeps are relatively modern Easter activities. But some holiday traditions date back further ― like dressing up in a special spring outfit to celebrate the holy day.
From ornate hats (Queen Elizabeth set a high standard) to colorful coats, people have been sporting eye-catching ensembles at Easter Sunday services and parades throughout the past century. And we’ve got the pictures to prove it.
Below, we’ve rounded up 26 vintage photos of people in their Easter best.
1931
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Cornelius Vanderbilt IV with is wife, Mary, and mother, Grace Graham Vanderbilt, parade in front of St. Thomas' Church in New York City on Easter Sunday.
1938
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CBS News reporter Robert Trout, actress and society hostess Cobina Wright and her daughter Cobina Carolyn Wright appear in CBS Radio Easter parade coverage on Park Avenue in New York City in 1938.
Circa 1940
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A chicken hatches out of an egg on a woman's hat during the Easter Parade in New York City circa 1940.
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1941
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Children stand in front of a movie theater in Chicago on Easter Sunday in 1941.
1941
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President Franklin Delano Roosevelt and first lady Eleanor Roosevelt leave St. Thomas' Parish in Washington, D.C., on Easter Sunday.
1941
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A woman models Easter lapel flowers in 1941.
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1942
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Marjorie P. Stoddard appears at the Easter Parade outside St. Bartholomew's Church on Park Avenue in New York City in 1942.
1943
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Two women leave the Abyssinian Baptist Church in Harlem on Easter Sunday.
1945
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The 1945 Easter Parade in Chicago.
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1945
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A little girl waits for an Easter parade to start in 1945.
1945
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Two women attend an Easter party in Winston-Salem, North Carolina, in 1945.
1946
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Joan Crawford and her 7-year-old daughter, Christina, wear Easter bonnets in 1946.
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1947
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Two women in Easter bonnets join the Easter Parade on Fifth Avenue in New York City in 1947.
Late 1940s/Early 1950s
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"Peter Gun" co-star Lola Albright models an ornate Easter bonnet in the late 1940s or early 1950s.
1952
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Jean Leonard, Air Force Sgt. Harry Logan and Mrs. Harry Logan stroll by the Hotel Theresa in Harlem on Easter Sunday 1952.
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1952
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A woman wears an "I Like Ike" hat in honor of presidential candidate Dwight D. Eisenhower to the 1952 Easter parade in New York City.
1953
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Models line up during the fashion show and Easter Parade in New York City in 1953.
1954
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First lady Mamie Eisenhower in her Easter outfit in 1954.
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1955
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The New York City Easter parade in 1955.
1957
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Pearly Queens attend the Easter parade in Rotten Row in Hyde Park, London, in 1957.
1959
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An Easter celebration in 1959.
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1963
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President John F. Kennedy, first lady Jacqueline Kennedy and their children Caroline and John Jr. appear on Easter Sunday 1963 in Palm Beach, Florida.
1965
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Easter bonnets on parade at a fashion show, sponsored by textile and fashion stores in Harlem, New York, in 1965.
1977
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The winners of the 1977 Easter Bonnet Parade in Newcastle, England.
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1981
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A woman displays her hat at the 1981 Easter parade on Fifth Avenue in New York City.
1981
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Dolores Edmund shows off her lace and floral hat on Fifth Avenue during the Easter parade in 1981.
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