Hat

Left: Queen Elizabeth II. Right: Man in traditional dress, Pisac, Peru.

A hat is a head covering. It may be worn for protection against the elements, for ceremonial or religious reasons, for safety, or as a fashion accessory.^[1] In the past, hats were an indicator of social status.^[2] In the military, they may denote rank, regiment and branch of service.^[3]

History

A woman with a hat. Ancient Greek Attic red-figure pelike, 440–430 BC, from Nola, Italy. Musée du Petit Palais, Paris.

One of the first pictorial depictions of a hat appears in a Thebes tomb painting which shows a man wearing a coolie-style straw hat. Other early hats were the Pileus, a simple skull cap; the Phrygian cap, worn by freed slaves in Greece and Rome; and the Greek Pestasos, the first known hat with a brim. Women wore veils, kerchiefs, hoods, caps and wimples. Structured hats for women similar to those of male courtiers began to be worn in the late 16th century.^[4]

Hat design

A hat consists of four main parts:^[5]

• Crown - The portion of a hat covering the top of the head
• Peak (British English), visor (American English), or bill, a stiff projection at the front, to shade or shield the eyes from sun and rain
• Brim, an optional projection of stiff material from the bottom of the hat's crown horizontally all around the circumference of the hat
• Puggaree (British) or sweatband or hatband (American), a ribbon or band that runs around the bottom of the torso of the hat. The sweatband may be adjustable with a cord or rope at the top and is on the inside of the hat touching the skin while the hatband and puggaree are around the outside. ^[6][7]
  

Famous hatmakers

One of the most famous London hatters is James Lock & Co of St James's Street.^[8] Another was Sharp & Davis of 6 Fish Street Hill^[9] John B. Stetson is a well-known American hat company. Notable Belgian hat designers are Elvis Pompilio and Fabienne Delvigne, whose hats are worn by European royals.^[10]

Hat styles

Image	Name	Description
	Akubra	Australian felt hat with a wide brim
	Balaclava	A form of headgear covering the whole head, exposing only the face or upper part of it, and sometimes only the eyes. Also known as a ski mask.
	Baseball cap	A type of soft cap with a long, stiffened and curved peak
	Beanie	A brimless cap with a small visor once popular among school boys.
	Bearskin	The tall, fur, full dress uniform hat of the Brigade of Guards designed to protect the footguards against sword-cuts, commonly seen at Buckingham Palace
	Balmoral bonnet	Traditional Scottish bonnet or cap worn with Scottish Highland dress
	Beaver hat	Hats made of felted beaver fur
	Beret	Soft round cap, usually of wool felt, with a flat crown, worn by both men and women and traditionally associated with France. Also used in the military.
	Bicorne	Military hat with upturned corners, also known as a cocked hat
	Boater	Flat-brimmed and flat-topped straw hat, formerly worn by seamen, and now mostly at summer regattas or garden parties, often with a ribbon in club or college colors.
	Boonie hat	A soft cotton wide-brim hat commonly used by militaries. Similar to a bucket hat.
	Boss of the plains	A lightweight all-weather hat designed by John B. Stetson for the demands of the American west
	Bowler / Derby	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. Sometimes known as a derby hat
	Bucket hat	A soft cotton hat with a wide, downwards-sloping brim
	Busby	A small fur military hat
	Capotain	A hat worn from the 1590s through the 1640s in England and Northwestern Europe. It is also commonly called a Pilgrim hat.
	Casquette	A small-peaked cap often worn by cyclists
	Caubeen	Irish military hat, traditionally green with insignia
	Chullo	Peruvian or Bolivian hat with ear-flaps made from vicuña, alpaca, llama or sheep's wool.[11]
	Chupalla	Straw hat made in Chile
	Cloche hat	Popular bell-shaped ladies hat of the 1920s
	Cordobés	Flat-brimmed and flat-topped traditional hat originating from Cordoba, Spain, associated with Flamenco and popularized by characters such as the fictional Zorro
	Conical Asian hat	Simple straw hat associated with East and Southeast Asia
	Cowboy hat	High-crowned, wide-brimmed hat, with a sweatband on the inside, and a decorative hat band on the outside. Customized by creasing the crown and rolling the brim.[12]
	Custodian helmet	Police helmet worn by British constables while on foot patrol
	Deerstalker	Warm close-fitting tweed cap designed for hunting in the wet and windy Scottish climate, with brims in front and behind, and ear flaps which can be tied together either over the crown or under the chin; anachronistically associated with Sherlock Holmes.
	Dunce cap	A hat that was used to punish and humiliate students in school during the late 19th and early 20th centuries. It is shaped like a cone and often has a big capital 'D' inscribed on the front.
	Fascinator	A small hat commonly made with feathers, flowers and/or beads. It attaches to the hair by a comb, headband or clip.
	Fedora	A soft felt hat with a lengthwise crease
	Fez	Red felt hat in the shape of a truncated cone.
	Flat cap	A soft, round men's cap with a small brim in front
	Gatsby	A soft brimmed hat popular in New York after the turn of the century made from eight quarter panels. Also known as a newsboy cap
	Forage cap	A foldable cloth cap with straight sides and a creased or hollow crown.
	Gaung baung	Headwrap worn by the Bamar, Mon people, Rakhine and Shan peoples
	Ghutrah	Three piece ensemble consisting of a Thagiyah skull cap, Gutrah scarf, and Ogal black band. Gutrahs are plain white or checkered, denoting ethnic or national identities.
	Hard hat	A helmet predominantly used in workplace environments, such as construction sites, to protect the head from injury by falling objects, debris and bad weather.
	Hardee hat	Also known as the 1858 Dress Hat. Regulation hat for Union soldiers during the American Civil War.
	Homburg	A semi-formal hat with a crease and no dents
	Kepi	A French military hat with a flat, circular top and visor.
	Kippah or Yarmulke	A small close-fitting skullcap worn by religious Jews
	Kolpik	Brown fur hat worn by Hassidic Jews
	Kova tembel	Cloth hat worn by Israeli pioneers and kibbutzniks
	Montera	A crocheted hat worn by bullfighters
	Mortarboard	Flat, square hat with a tassel worn as part of academic dress
	Pakul	Round, rolled wool hat with a flat top, associated with Afghanistan and the Mujahideen.
	Panama	Straw hat made in Ecuador
	Peaked cap	A military style cap with a crown, band and peak (also called a visor). It is used by many militaries of the world as well as law enforcement, as well as some people in service professions who wear uniforms.
	Phrygian Cap	A soft conical cap pulled forward. In sculpture, paintings and caricatures it represents freedom and the pursuit of liberty. The popular comic / cartoon characters The Smurfs, are famous for their white Phrygian caps. Their leader, Papa Smurf wears a red one.
	Pith Helmet	A lightweight cloth-covered helmet made of cork or pith.
	Porkpie	Circular, flat topped hat
	Sami hat	Also known as a "Four Winds" hat, traditional men's hat of the Sami people
	Šajkača	Serbian national hat
	Salakot	A traditional hat in the Philippines
	Santa Hat	A floppy pointed red hat trimmed in white fur traditionally associated with Christmas
	Shako	A tall cylindrical military cap, usually with a visor, badge, and plume.
	Shtreimel	A fur hat worn by married Hassidic men on Shabbat and holidays
	Slouch	Generic term covering wide-brimmed felt-crowned hats like those worn by the military and ranchers
	Sombrero	A Mexican hat with a conical crown and a saucer-shaped brim, highly embroidered made of plush felt
	Student cap	A cap worn by university students in various European countries
	Tam o' Shanter	A Scottish wool hat originally worn by men
	Taqiyah	A round fabric cap worn by Muslim men
	Top 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. Also known as a stovepipe hat
	Toque	A tall, pleated, brimless, cylindrical hat traditionally worn by chefs
	Trilby	A soft felt men's hat with a deeply indented crown and a narrow brim often upturned at the back
	Tricorne	A soft hat with a broad brim, pinned up on either side of the head and at the back, producing a triangular shape
	Trucker hat	Similar to a baseball cap, usually with a foam brim and front section and a breathable mesh back section
	Tudor bonnet	A soft round black academic cap, with a tassel hanging from a cord attached to the centre of the top of the hat
	Tuque	A knitted hat, worn in winter, usually made from wool or acrylic. Also known as a ski cap, knit hat, knit cap, sock cap, stocking cap, watch cap, or goobalini.
	Turban	A headdress consisting of a scarf-like single piece of cloth wound around either the head itself or an inner hat.
	Tyrolean hat	A felt hat originating from the Alps.
	Ushanka	Russian fur hat with fold down ear flaps
	Vueltiao	A Colombian hat of woven and sewn black and khaki dried palm braids with indigenous figures
	Zucchetto	Skullcap worn by clerics

Hat size

Hat sizes are determined by measuring the circumference of a person's head about 1/2 inch (1.3 cm) above the ears. In the UK, an equivalent hat size is an eighth of an inch smaller than in the US.^[13] 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.^[14][15]

See also

• Headgear
• List of hats and headgear

References