A collection of 18th and 19th centuries men's beaver felt hatsWoman in a Flowered Hat (1889), by Pierre-Auguste Renoir: Straw hat with brim decorated with cloth flowers and ribbons
A hat is a head covering which is worn for various reasons, including protection against weather conditions, ceremonial reasons such as university graduation, religious reasons, safety, or as a fashion accessory.[1] Hats which incorporate mechanical features, such as visors, spikes, flaps, braces or beer holders shade into the broader category of headgear.
In the past, hats were an indicator of social status.[2] In the military, hats may denote nationality, branch of service, rank or regiment.[3] Police typically wear distinctive hats such as peaked caps or brimmed hats, such as those worn by the Royal Canadian Mounted Police. Some hats have a protective function. As examples, the hard hat protects construction workers' heads from injury by falling objects, a British police Custodian helmet protects the officer's head, a sun hat shades the face and shoulders from the sun, a cowboy hat protects against sun and rain and an ushanka fur hat with fold-down earflaps keeps the head and ears warm. Some hats are worn for ceremonial purposes, such as the mortarboard, which is worn (or carried) during university graduation ceremonies. Some hats are worn by members of a certain profession, such as the Toque worn by chefs, or the mitre worn by Christian bishops. Adherents of certain religions regularly wear hats, such as the turban worn by Sikhs, or the church hat that is worn as a headcovering by Christian women during prayer and worship.[4]
History
The 27,000-to-30,000-year-old Venus of Willendorf may depict a woman wearing a woven hat.
While there are not many official records of hats before 3,000 BC, they probably were commonplace before that. The 27,000-to-30,000-year-old Venus of Willendorf figurine may depict a woman wearing a woven hat.[5] One of the earliest known confirmed hats was worn by a Bronze Age man (nicknamed Ötzi) whose body (including his hat) was found frozen in a mountain between Austria and Italy, where he had been since around 3250 BC. He was found wearing a bearskin cap with a chin strap, made of several hides stitched together, essentially resembling a Russian fur hat without the flaps.[6][7][8]
One of the first pictorial depictions of a hat appears in a tomb painting from Thebes, Egypt, which shows a man wearing a conical straw hat, dated to around 3200 BC. Hats were commonly worn in ancient Egypt. Many upper-class Egyptians shaved their heads, then covered it in a headdress intended to help them keep cool. Ancient Mesopotamians often wore conical hats or ones shaped somewhat like an inverted vase.
Hats as an indicator of social status: a foreman (with horse) wears a hat of greater height than the accompanying inquilino (1821 Chile).
Other early hats include the Pileus, a simple skull-like cap; the Phrygian cap, worn by freed slaves in Greece and Rome (which became iconic in America during the Revolutionary War and the French Revolution, as a symbol of the struggle for liberty against the Monarchy); and the Greek petasos, the first known hat with a brim. Women wore veils, kerchiefs, hoods, caps and wimples.
Like Ötzi, the Tollund Man was preserved to the present day with a hat on, probably having died around 400 BC in a Danish bog, which mummified him. He wore a pointed cap made of sheepskin and wool, fastened under the chin by a hide thong.[9]
In the Middle Ages, hats were a marker of social status and used to single out certain groups. The 1215 Fourth Council of the Lateran required that all Jews identify themselves by wearing the Judenhat ("Jewish hat"), marking them as targets for anti-Semitism.[11] The hats were usually yellow and were either pointed or square.[12]
Carle Vernet's 1796 painting showing two decadent French "Incredibles" greeting each other, one with what appears to be a top hat, perhaps its first recorded appearance.
In the Middle Ages, hats for women ranged from simple scarves to elaborate hennin,[13] and denoted social status. Structured hats for women similar to those of male courtiers began to be worn in the late 16th century.[14] The term 'milliner' comes from the Italian city of Milan, where the best quality hats were made in the 18th century. Millinery was traditionally a woman's occupation, with the milliner not only creating hats and bonnets but also choosing lace, trimmings and accessories to complete an outfit.[15]
In the first half of the 19th century, women wore bonnets that gradually became larger, decorated with ribbons, flowers, feathers, and gauze trims. By the end of the century, many other styles were introduced, among them hats with wide brims and flat crowns, the flower pot and the toque. By the middle of the 1920s, when women began to cut their hair short, they chose hats that hugged the head like a helmet.[14]
The tradition of wearing hats to horse racing events began at the Royal Ascot in Britain, which maintains a strict dress code. All guests in the Royal Enclosure must wear hats.[16] This tradition was adopted at other horse racing events, such as the Kentucky Derby in the United States.[17]
Extravagant hats were popular in the 1980s, and in the early 21st century, flamboyant hats made a comeback, with a new wave of competitive young milliners designing creations that include turban caps, trompe-l'œil-effect felt hats and tall headpieces made of human hair. Some new hat collections have been described as "wearable sculpture". Many pop stars, among them Lady Gaga, have commissioned hats as publicity stunts.[18]
The Philippi Collection is a collection of religious headgear assembled by a German entrepreneur, Dieter Philippi, located in Kirkel.[28] The collection features over 500 hats,[29] and is currently the world's largest collection of clerical, ecclesiastical and religious head coverings.[30]
A brimless cap, made from triangular panels of material joined by a button at the crown and seamed together around the sides, with or without a small visor, once popular among schoolboys. Sometimes includes a propeller. In New Zealand, Australia, the United Kingdom and some parts of the United States, beanie refers to the knit cap.
A soft, round cap, usually of woollen felt, with a bulging flat crown and tight-fitting brimless headband. Worn by both men and women and traditionally associated with Basque people, France, and the military.
A broad-brimmed, felt hat with brim folded up and pinned front and back to create a long-horned shape. Also known as a cocked hat. Worn by European military officers in the 1790s and, as illustrated, commonly associated with Napoleon.
A hard, felt hat with a rounded crown, created in 1850 by Lock's of St James's, the hatters to Thomas Coke, 2nd Earl of Leicester, for his servants. More commonly known as a derby in the United States.
A conical straw hat associated with East and Southeast Asia. Sometimes known as a "coolie hat", although the term "coolie" may be interpreted as derogatory.[32][33]
A hat of the indigenous peoples of the Appalachian region, fashioned from the skin and fur of a raccoon, that became associated with Canadian and American frontiersmen of the 18th and 19th centuries
A high-crowned, wide-brimmed hat, with a sweatband on the inside, and a decorative hat band on the outside. Early models such as the Boss of the Plains could be customized by creasing the crown and rolling the brim.[34]
A warm, close-fitting tweed cap, with brims front and behind and ear-flaps that can be tied together either over the crown or under the chin. Originally designed for use while hunting in the climate of Scotland. Worn by – and so closely associated with – the character Sherlock Holmes.
A rounded, rigid helmet with a small brim, predominantly used in workplace environments, such as construction sites, to protect the head from injury by falling objects, debris and bad weather
A semi-formal hat of fur felt, with a single dent running down the centre of the crown, a wide silk grosgrain hatband ribbon, a flat brim shaped in a "pencil curl", and a ribbon-bound trim about the edge of the brim (Winston Churchill wearing a homburg)
A hemispherical cap worn by Jews to fulfill the customary requirement held by halachic authorities that the head be covered at all times (IDF soldier, Lt. Asael Lubotzky, prays with kippah and tefillin.)
A knitted hat, worn in winter, usually made from wool or acrylic. In New Zealand, Australia, the United Kingdom and some parts of the United States, the term beanie is applied to this cap, while in Canada it is known as a tuque.
A soft conical cap, pulled forward. In sculpture, paintings and caricatures it represents freedom and the pursuit of liberty. The popular cartoon characters the Smurfs wear white or red Phrygian caps.
Also known as a beaver hat, a magician's hat, or, in the case of the tallest examples, a stovepipe hat. A tall, flat-crowned, cylindrical hat worn by men in the 19th and early 20th centuries, now worn only with morning dress or evening dress. Cartoon characters Uncle Sam and Mr. Monopoly are often depicted wearing such hats. Once made from felted beaver fur.
A soft hat with a low crown and broad brim, pinned up on either side of the head and at the back, producing a triangular shape. Worn by Europeans in the 18th century. Larger, taller, and heavily ornamented brims were present in France and the Papal States.
Skullcap worn by clerics, typically in Roman Catholicism
Size
Hat sizes are determined by measuring the circumference of a person's head about 1 centimetre (2⁄5in) above the ears. Inches or centimeters may be used depending on the manufacturer. Felt hats can be stretched for a custom fit. Some hats, like hard hats and baseball caps, are adjustable. Cheaper hats come in "standard sizes", such as small, medium, large, extra large: the mapping of measured size to the various "standard sizes" varies from maker to maker and style to style, as can be seen by studying various catalogues, such as Hammacher Schlemmer.[35]
US hat size is a measurement of head diameter in inches. It can be computed from a measurement of circumference in centimeters by dividing by 8, because multiplying 2.54 (the number of centimeters per inch) by π (the multiplier to give circumference from diameter) is almost exactly 8.
Hat fashions have sometimes been the subject of ridicule. This 1908 cartoon by Ion Theodorescu-Sion, which first appeared in a Romanian publication, satirised the popularity of mushroom hats.
New York City, 1918: A large crowd of people, almost all wearing hats.
Family-owned hat factory in Montevarchi, Italy, date unknown.
Millinery department of Bourne & Hollingsworth, in London's Oxford Street in 1942. Unlike most other clothing, hats were not strictly rationed in wartime Britain and there was an explosion of adventurous millinery styles.
Philip Anthony Treacy is an Irish haute couture milliner, or hat designer, who has been mostly based in London for his career, and who was described by Vogue magazine as "perhaps the greatest living milliner". In 2000, Treacy became the first milliner in eighty years to be invited to exhibit at the Paris haute couture fashion shows. He has won British Accessory Designer of the Year at the British Fashion Awards five times, and has received public honours in both Britain and Ireland. His designs have been displayed at the Victoria and Albert Museum and the Metropolitan Museum of Art.
Hat-making or millinery is the design, manufacture and sale of hats and other headwear. A person engaged in this trade is called a milliner or hatter.
A cap is a flat headgear, usually with a visor. Caps have crowns that fit very close to the head. They made their first appearance as early as 3200 BC. The origin of the word "cap" comes from the Old French word "chapeau" which means "head covering". Over time, the word has evolved and changed its meaning, but it still retains its association with headwear. Caps typically have a visor, or no brim at all. They are popular in casual and informal settings, and are seen in sports and fashion. They are typically designed for warmth, and often incorporate a visor to block sunlight from the eyes. They come in many shapes, sizes, and are of different brands. Baseball caps are one of the most common types of cap.
Bonnet has been used as the name for a wide variety of headgear for both sexes—more often female—from the Middle Ages to the present. As with "hat" and "cap", it is impossible to generalize as to the styles for which the word has been used, but there is for both sexes a tendency to use the word for styles in soft material and lacking a brim, or at least one all the way round, rather than just at the front. Yet the term has also been used, for example, for steel helmets. This was from Scotland, where the term has long been especially popular.
Stetson is an American brand of hat manufactured by the John B. Stetson Company. "Stetson" is also used as a generic trademark to refer to any campaign hat, particularly in Scouting.
The pakol or pakul is a soft, flat, rolled-up, round-topped men's cap, usually worn in Afghanistan and Pakistan. It is typically made of wool and found in a variety of earthy colours, such as brown, black, grey, ivory, or dyed red using walnut. The pakol is believed to have originated in Chitral, or Gilgit-Baltistan in Pakistan.
A pillbox hat is a small hat with a flat crown, straight, upright sides, and no brim. It is named after the small cylindrical or hexagonal cases that were used for storing or carrying a small number of pills.
A Karakul hat, sometimes spelled as Qaraqulhat, also known as an Astrakhan hat, Uzbek hat, and Jinnah Cap. It is a hat made from the fur of the Qaraqul breed of sheep. Karakul is directly translated as black fur in the Uzbek language and the hat originally comes from Bukhara. The fur from which it is made is referred to as Astrakhan, broadtail, qaraqulcha, or Persian lamb. The hat is peaked, and folds flat when taken off of the wearer's head.
A fascinator is a formal headpiece, a style of millinery. Since the 1990s, the term has referred to a type of formal headwear worn as an alternative to the hat; it is usually a large decorative design attached to a band or clip. In contrast to a hat, its function is purely ornamental: it covers very little of the head and offers little or no protection from the weather. An intermediate form, incorporating a more substantial base to resemble a hat, is sometimes called a hatinator.
Caroline Reboux was a Parisian milliner and French fashion designer. She opened her first boutique at 23 rue de la paix in Paris in 1865, which she continued to operate throughout her life. Reboux opened other shops in Paris and London starting in 1870. She trained other milliners who became famous in their own right, including American milliner Lilly Daché and French milliner Rose Valois. Reboux's most famous shop was located at 9 Avenue Matignon in Paris, which carried on operating after her death for almost three decades under the direction of Lucienne Rabaté known as "Mademoiselle Lucienne" the most famous parisian milliner at that time.
Simone Mirman (1912–2008) was a Paris-born milliner based in London, chiefly known for her designs for the British royal family.
Headgear, headwear, or headdress is any element of clothing which is worn on one's head, including hats, helmets, turbans and many other types. Headgear is worn for many purposes, including protection against the elements, decoration, or for religious or cultural reasons, including social conventions.
Frederick Fox LVO was an Australian-born British milliner who designed hats for Queen Elizabeth II and other members of the British Royal Family.
John Richardson Boyd MBE was a Scottish milliner based in London. Designing hats for over seventy-five years, Boyd was one of London's most respected milliners and is known for his creations for Diana, Princess of Wales and Anne, Princess Royal. Boyd was a milliner to three generations of Diana's family – Diana, her mother Frances Shand Kydd and grandmother Ruth Roche, Baroness Fermoy – and had remained at the centre of his craft adding another generation of royals with Catherine, Duchess of Cambridge. Boyd had one of the longest millinery careers in the world whilst continuing to practise his art before his death in 2018. Boyd’s label continues with his protégé and senior milliner Sarah Marshall.
A draped turban or turban hat is a millinery design in which fabric is draped to create headwear closely moulded to the head. Sometimes it may be stiffened or padded, although simpler versions may just comprise wound fabric that is knotted or stitched. It may include a peak, feather or other details to add height. It generally covers most or all of the hair.
A halo hat is a millinery design in which the headgear acts as a circular frame for the face, creating a halo effect. The design is said to date back to the late 19th century, when it was known as the aureole hat; this name is sometimes still used. It may also be known as the angel hat or bambini – the latter said to derive from Italian for terracotta plaques depicting the infant Christ.
For the French general and diplomat, see Claude Carra Saint-Cyr
A peach basket hat is a millinery design that resembles an upturned country basket of the style typically used to collect fruit. Generally it is made of straw or similar material and it often has a trimming of flowers and ribbons. Some models may also feature a veil or draped fabric covering. It was introduced in around 1908 and caused some controversy over the succeeding year due to its extreme dimensions and decorations. It had revivals – designs were at this stage more modest – in the 1930s and 1950s.
A bumper brim is a millinery feature in which the hat brim is tubular in design, making it a prominent feature of the hat. In order to achieve this effect, the brim may be rolled, stiffened or padded. A bumper brim can be added to a variety of hat designs, from small to large.
↑ "What are Church Hats?". Southern Living. Archived from the original on 14 May 2021. Retrieved 10 May 2022. Church hats have been a key part of churchgoers' Sunday best for years, and are still an important aspect of dress in some churches today. The practice of covering one's head for church originally came from the Bible—1 Corinthians 11:15, to be precise. The simple head covering has been adapted and expanded to become a stylish part of Southern women's churchgoing attire. At the turn of the century, many Southern ladies wore simple hats to church out of respect, reverence for the service, and continuity with passed-down traditions. The church hat tradition continues today, with hats—sometimes called crowns—in bright colors, bold patterns, and eye-catching styles at Sunday services across the South.
↑ For an account of the Sharp family's hat-making business, see Knapman, D. – 'Conversation Sharp – The Biography of a London Gentleman, Richard Sharp (1759–1835), in Letters, Prose and Verse'. [Private Publication, 2004]. British Library.
↑ Klinkenborg, Verlyn (2009-02-03). "Season of the chullo". International Herald Tribune. Archived from the original on January 30, 2009. Retrieved 2011-07-02.
↑ Most current dictionaries do not record any offensive meaning ("an unskilled laborer or porter usually in or from India hired for low or subsistence wages" Merriam-WebsterArchived 2008-01-26 at the Wayback Machine ) or make a distinction between an offensive meaning in referring to "a person from the Indian subcontinent or of Indian descent" and an at least originally inoffensive, old-fashioned meaning, for example "dated an unskilled native labourer in India, China, and some other Asian countries" (Compact Oxford English Dictionary). However, some dictionaries indicate that the word may be considered offensive in all contexts today. For example, LongmanArchived 2006-11-27 at the Wayback Machine 's 1995 edition had "old-fashioned an unskilled worker who is paid very low wages, especially in parts of Asia", but the current version adds "taboo old-fashioned a very offensive word ... Do not use this word".
↑ Snyder, Jeffrey B. (1997). Stetson Hats and the John B. Stetson Company 1865–1970. Atglen: Schiffer. p.5. ISBN0-7643-0211-6.
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