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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 In fashion, an accessory is an item used to contribute, in a secondary manner, to an individual's outfit. Accessories are often chosen to complete an outfit and complement the wearer's look. They have the capacity to further express an individua ...
. 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. In the
military A military, also known collectively as armed forces, is a heavily armed, highly organized force primarily intended for warfare. It is typically authorized and maintained by a sovereign state, with its members identifiable by their distinct ...
, hats may denote nationality, branch of service, rank or
regiment A regiment is a military unit. Its role and size varies markedly, depending on the country, service and/or a specialisation. In Medieval Europe, the term "regiment" denoted any large body of front-line soldiers, recruited or conscript ...
. Police typically wear distinctive hats such as peaked caps or brimmed hats, such as those worn by the
Royal Canadian Mounted Police The Royal Canadian Mounted Police (RCMP; french: Gendarmerie royale du Canada; french: GRC, label=none), commonly known in English as the Mounties (and colloquially in French as ) is the federal police, federal and national police service of ...
. Some hats have a protective function. As examples, the
hard hat A hard hat is a type of helmet predominantly used in workplace environments such as industrial or construction sites to protect the head from injury due to falling objects, impact with other objects, debris, rain, and electric shock. Suspensio ...
protects construction workers' heads from injury by falling objects, a British police
Custodian helmet The custodian helmet is a type of helmet worn predominantly by male police officers in the United Kingdom, within England and Wales, and certain other places around the world. History The custodian helmet is the headgear traditionally worn by m ...
protects the officer's head, a sun hat shades the face and shoulders from the sun, a
cowboy hat The cowboy hat is a high-crowned, wide-brimmed hat best known as the defining piece of attire for the North American cowboy. Today it is worn by many people, and is particularly associated with ranch workers in the western and southern Unit ...
protects against sun and rain and an
ushanka An ushanka ( rus, уша́нка, p=ʊˈʂankə, from , "ears"), also called an ''ushanka- hat'' ( rus, ша́пка-уша́нка, p=ˈʂapkə ʊˈʂankə), is a Russian fur cap with ear-covering flaps that can be tied up to the crown of the ...
fur hat with fold-down earflaps keeps the head and ears warm. Some hats are worn for ceremonial purposes, such as the
mortarboard The square academic cap, graduate cap, cap, mortarboard (because of its similarity in appearance to the mortarboard used by brickmasons to hold mortar) or Oxford cap is an item of academic dress consisting of a horizontal square board fixed up ...
, which is worn (or carried) during university graduation ceremonies. Some hats are worn by members of a certain profession, such as the
Toque A toque ( or ) is a type of hat with a narrow brim or no brim at all. Toques were popular from the 13th to the 16th century in Europe, especially France. The mode was revived in the 1930s. Now it is primarily known as the traditional headgear ...
worn by chefs, or the
mitre The mitre (Commonwealth English) (; Greek: μίτρα, "headband" or "turban") or miter (American English; see spelling differences), is a type of headgear now known as the traditional, ceremonial headdress of bishops and certain abbots in ...
worn by Christian bishops. Adherents of certain religions regularly wear hats, such as the
turban A turban (from Persian دولبند‌, ''dulband''; via Middle French ''turbant'') is a type of headwear based on cloth winding. Featuring many variations, it is worn as customary headwear by people of various cultures. Communities with promin ...
worn by Sikhs, or the church hat that is worn as a headcovering by Christian women during prayer and worship.


History

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 The Venus of Willendorf is an Venus figurine estimated to have been made around 25,000-30,000 years ago. It was found on August 7, 1908, by a workman named Johann Veran or Josef Veram during excavations conducted by archaeologists Josef Szombat ...
figurine may depict a woman wearing a woven hat. One of the earliest known confirmed hats was worn by a
Bronze Age The Bronze Age is a historic period, lasting approximately from 3300 BC to 1200 BC, characterized by the use of bronze, the presence of writing in some areas, and other early features of urban civilization. The Bronze Age is the second prin ...
man (nicknamed
Ötzi Ötzi, also called the Iceman, is the natural mummy of a man who lived some time between 3350 and 3105 BC, discovered in September 1991 in the Ötztal Alps (hence the nickname "Ötzi") on the border between Austria and Italy. Ötzi is believed to ...
) 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. One of the first pictorial depictions of a hat appears in a tomb painting from
Thebes, Egypt , image = Decorated pillars of the temple at Karnac, Thebes, Egypt. Co Wellcome V0049316.jpg , alt = , caption = Pillars of the Great Hypostyle Hall, in '' The Holy Land, Syria, Idumea, Arabia, Egypt, and Nubia'' , map_type ...
, 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 Headgear, headwear, or headdress is the name given to 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, d ...
intended to help them keep cool. Ancient Mesopotamians often wore conical hats or ones shaped somewhat like an inverted vase. 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 The French Revolution ( ) was a period of radical political and societal change in France that began with the Estates General of 1789 and ended with the formation of the French Consulate in coup of 18 Brumaire, November 1799. Many of its ...
, as a symbol of the struggle for liberty against the Monarchy); and the Greek
petasos A ''petasos'' or petasus ( el, πέτασος) is a broad brimmed hat of Thessalian origin worn by ancient Greeks, Thracians and Etruscans, often in combination with the chlamys cape. It was made of wool felt, leather, straw or animal skin. Women ...
, the first known hat with a brim. Women wore veils, kerchiefs, hoods, caps and wimples. Like Ötzi, the
Tollund Man The Tollund Man (died 405–380 BC) is a naturally Mummy, mummified corpse of a man who lived during the 5th century BC, during the period characterised in Scandinavia as the Pre-Roman Iron Age. He was found in 1950, preserved as a bog body, ne ...
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. St. Clement, the
patron saint A patron saint, patroness saint, patron hallow or heavenly protector is a saint who in Catholicism, Anglicanism, or Eastern Orthodoxy is regarded as the heavenly advocate of a nation, place, craft, activity, class, clan, family, or perso ...
of
felt Felt is a textile material that is produced by matting, condensing and pressing fibers together. Felt can be made of natural fibers such as wool or animal fur, or from synthetic fibers such as petroleum-based acrylic or acrylonitrile or wood ...
hatmakers, is said to have discovered felt when he filled his sandals with flax fibers to protect his feet, around 800 AD. 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 Antisemitism (also spelled anti-semitism or anti-Semitism) is hostility to, prejudice towards, or discrimination against Jews. A person who holds such positions is called an antisemite. Antisemitism is considered to be a form of racism. Antis ...
. The hats were usually
yellow Yellow is the color between green and orange on the spectrum of light. It is evoked by light with a dominant wavelength of roughly 575585 nm. It is a primary color in subtractive color systems, used in painting or color printing. In the ...
and were either pointed or square. In the Middle Ages, hats for women ranged from simple scarves to elaborate
hennin The hennin (french: hennin ; possibly from Flemish nl, henninck meaning cock or rooster) was a headdress in the shape of a cone, steeple, or truncated cone worn in the Late Middle Ages by European women of the nobility. They were most common in ...
,Vibbert, Marie, ''Headdresses of the 14th and 15th Centuries,'' No. 133, SCA monograph series (August 2006) and denoted social status. Structured hats for women similar to those of male courtiers began to be worn in the late 16th century. The term 'milliner' comes from the Italian city of
Milan Milan ( , , Lombard: ; it, Milano ) is a city in northern Italy, capital of Lombardy, and the second-most populous city proper in Italy after Rome. The city proper has a population of about 1.4 million, while its metropolitan city h ...
, 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. 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. 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. This tradition was adopted at other horse racing events, such as the Kentucky Derby in the United States. 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 ''Trompe-l'œil'' ( , ; ) is an artistic term for the highly realistic optical illusion of three-dimensional space and objects on a two-dimensional surface. ''Trompe l'oeil'', which is most often associated with painting, tricks the viewer into ...
-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 Stefani Joanne Angelina Germanotta ( ; born March 28, 1986), known professionally as Lady Gaga, is an American singer, songwriter, and actress. She is known for her image reinventions and musical versatility. Gaga began performing as a teenag ...
, have commissioned hats as publicity stunts.


Famous hatmakers

One of the most famous London hatters is James Lock & Co. of St James's Street. The shop claims to be the oldest operating hat shop in the world. Another was Sharp & Davis of 6 Fish Street Hill. In the late 20th century, museums credited London-based David Shilling with reinventing hats worldwide. Notable
Belgian Belgian may refer to: * Something of, or related to, Belgium * Belgians, people from Belgium or of Belgian descent * Languages of Belgium, languages spoken in Belgium, such as Dutch, French, and German *Ancient Belgian language, an extinct languag ...
hat designers are Elvis Pompilio and Fabienne Delvigne ( Royal warrant of appointment holder), whose hats are worn by European royals.
Philip Treacy Philip Anthony Treacy (born 26 May 1967) 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, T ...
OBE is an Irish milliner whose hats have been commissioned by top designers and worn at royal weddings. In North America, the well-known cowboy-hat manufacturer Stetson made the headgear for the
Royal Canadian Mounted Police The Royal Canadian Mounted Police (RCMP; french: Gendarmerie royale du Canada; french: GRC, label=none), commonly known in English as the Mounties (and colloquially in French as ) is the federal police, federal and national police service of ...
and the Texas Rangers. John Cavanagh was one of the notable American hatters. Italian hat maker
Borsalino Borsalino is the oldest Italian company specializing in the manufacture of luxury hats. Since 1857, the manufacture has been based in Alessandria, Piedmont. The founder, Giuseppe Borsalino, is remembered for creating a particular model of felt ...
has covered the heads of Hollywood stars and the world's rich and famous.


Collections

The Philippi Collection The Philippi Collection is a German private collection of clerical, Religion, religious and spiritual Headgear, headdresses. The collection demonstrates the history, shared roots and diversity of religious-clerical head coverings. Description T ...
is a collection of religious headgear assembled by a German entrepreneur, Dieter Philippi, located in Kirkel. The collection features over 500 hats, and is currently the world's largest collection of clerical, ecclesiastical and religious head coverings.


Styles

This is a short list of some common and iconic examples of hats. There is a longer version at
List of hat styles This is a list of various kinds of hat, contemporary or traditional. Headgear has been common throughout the history of humanity, present on some of the very earliest preserved human bodies and art. __TOC__ See also *List of headgear This is an ...
.


Size

Hat sizes are determined by measuring the
circumference In geometry, the circumference (from Latin ''circumferens'', meaning "carrying around") is the perimeter of a circle or ellipse. That is, the circumference would be the arc length of the circle, as if it were opened up and straightened out t ...
of a person's head about above the ears. Inches or centimeters may be used depending on the manufacturer.
Felt Felt is a textile material that is produced by matting, condensing and pressing fibers together. Felt can be made of natural fibers such as wool or animal fur, or from synthetic fibers such as petroleum-based acrylic or acrylonitrile or wood ...
hats can be stretched for a custom fit. Some hats, like
hard hat A hard hat is a type of helmet predominantly used in workplace environments such as industrial or construction sites to protect the head from injury due to falling objects, impact with other objects, debris, rain, and electric shock. Suspensio ...
s and
baseball cap A baseball cap is a type of soft hat with a rounded crown and a stiff bill projecting in front. The front of the hat typically displays a design or a logo (historically, usually only a sports team, namely a baseball team, or names of relevant c ...
s, 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.
Note that 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 (the multiplier to give circumference from diameter) is almost exactly 8.


Gallery

File:Hermes warrior Louvre G515.jpg,
Hermes Hermes (; grc-gre, wikt:Ἑρμῆς, Ἑρμῆς) is an Olympian deity in ancient Greek religion and Greek mythology, mythology. Hermes is considered the herald of the gods. He is also considered the protector of human heralds, travelle ...
wearing a
petasos A ''petasos'' or petasus ( el, πέτασος) is a broad brimmed hat of Thessalian origin worn by ancient Greeks, Thracians and Etruscans, often in combination with the chlamys cape. It was made of wool felt, leather, straw or animal skin. Women ...
hat, Attic
red-figure Red-figure vase painting is one of the most important styles of figural Greek vase painting. It developed in Athens around 520 BCE and remained in use until the late 3rd century BCE. It replaced the previously dominant style of black-figure va ...
krater A krater or crater ( grc-gre, , ''kratēr'', literally "mixing vessel") was a large two-handled shape of vase in Ancient Greek pottery and metalwork, mostly used for the mixing of wine with water. Form and function At a Greek symposium, krat ...
, . File:Altes Museum-Tanagra-lady with fan.jpg,
Ancient Greek Ancient Greek includes the forms of the Greek language used in ancient Greece and the ancient world from around 1500 BC to 300 BC. It is often roughly divided into the following periods: Mycenaean Greek (), Dark Ages (), the Archaic p ...
statue of a lady with blue and gilt garment, a fan and a sun hat, from
Tanagra Tanagra ( el, Τανάγρα) is a town and a municipality north of Athens in Boeotia, Greece. The seat of the municipality is the town Schimatari. It is not far from Thebes, and it was noted in antiquity for the figurines named after it. The ...
, . File:1822-Millinery-shop-Paris-Chalon.jpg,
Paris Paris () is the Capital city, capital and List of communes in France with over 20,000 inhabitants, most populous city of France, with an estimated population of 2,165,423 residents in 2019 in an area of more than 105 km² (41 sq mi), ma ...
millinery 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. Historically, milliners, typically women shopkeepers, produced or imported an inventory of g ...
shop, France, 1822. File:Ion Theodorescu-Sion - Iluzie optică, Furnica, 30 oct 1908.JPG, Hat fashions have sometimes been the subject of ridicule. This 1908 cartoon by
Ion Theodorescu-Sion Ion Theodorescu-Sion (; also known as Ioan Theodorescu-Sion or Teodorescu-Sion; January 2, 1882 – March 31, 1939) was a Romanian painter and draftsman, known for his contributions to modern art and especially for his traditionalist, primitivist, ...
, which first appeared in a
Romania Romania ( ; ro, România ) is a country located at the crossroads of Central, Eastern, and Southeastern Europe. It borders Bulgaria to the south, Ukraine to the north, Hungary to the west, Serbia to the southwest, Moldova to the east, and ...
n publication, satirised the popularity of
mushroom hat A mushroom hat (also sometimes referred to as a mushroom brim hat or dish hat) is a millinery style in which the brim of the hat tilts downwards, resembling the shape of a mushroom (or dish). It is a style that first emerged in the 1870s and 1880s ...
s. File:Mode. Hattar. Modeplansch från 1911 - Nordiska Museet - NMA.0033994.jpg, Women's
picture hat A picture hat or Gainsborough hat is an elaborate woman's hat with a wide brim. It has been suggested that the name may be derived from the way the broad brim frames the face to create a "picture". This is a very broad category of hat; some vers ...
s from 1911. File:Douglas Fairbanks at third Liberty Loan rally HD-SN-99-02174.JPEG,
New York City New York, often called New York City or NYC, is the most populous city in the United States. With a 2020 population of 8,804,190 distributed over , New York City is also the most densely populated major city in the Un ...
, 1918: A large crowd of people, almost all wearing hats. File:Heatfacroty 1.jpg, Family-owned hat factory in
Montevarchi Montevarchi is a town and ''comune'' in the province of Arezzo, Tuscany, Italy. History The town of Montevarchi sprang up around 1100, near to a fortified Benedictine monastery, founded by bishop Elempert (986–1010) of Arezzo. At first the cas ...
, Italy, date unknown. File:A customer tries on a new hat in the millinery department of Bourne and Hollingsworth on London's Oxford Street in 1942. D6596.jpg, Millinery department of Bourne & Hollingsworth, in London's
Oxford Street Oxford Street is a major road in the City of Westminster in the West End of London, running from Tottenham Court Road to Marble Arch via Oxford Circus. It is Europe's busiest shopping street, with around half a million daily visitors, and ...
in 1942. Unlike most other clothing, hats were not strictly rationed in wartime Britain and there was an explosion of adventurous millinery styles. File:John Paul II Medal of Freedom 2004.jpg,
John Paul II Pope John Paul II ( la, Ioannes Paulus II; it, Giovanni Paolo II; pl, Jan Paweł II; born Karol Józef Wojtyła ; 18 May 19202 April 2005) was the head of the Catholic Church and sovereign of the Vatican City State from 1978 until his ...
wearing a
zuchetto The zucchetto (, also ,"zucchetto"
(US) and
,
.


See also

* Headgear *
List of hat styles This is a list of various kinds of hat, contemporary or traditional. Headgear has been common throughout the history of humanity, present on some of the very earliest preserved human bodies and art. __TOC__ See also *List of headgear This is an ...
* List of headgear * List of outerwear


References


External links

* * * {{Authority control History of fashion