Fruit Hat
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A fruit hat is a festive and colorful
hat A hat is a Headgear, 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. Hats which incorpor ...
type popularized by
Carmen Miranda Maria do Carmo Miranda da Cunha (9 February 1909 – 5 August 1955), known professionally as Carmen Miranda (), was a Portuguese-born Brazilian singer, dancer, and actress. Nicknamed "The Brazilian Bombshell", she was known for her signature ...
and associated with warm locales. This type of hat has been worn by
fashionista Fashionistas may refer to: * ''Fashionistas'' (film), a 2002 American pornographic film * ''Fashionistas'', a 2004-2008 live show produced by John Stagliano at the Harmon Theater (aka Krave Nightclub) at the Mandalay Bay casino, Las Vegas Strip, ...
s, in films, by
comic strip A comic strip is a Comics, sequence of cartoons, arranged in interrelated panels to display brief humor or form a narrative, often Serial (literature), serialized, with text in Speech balloon, balloons and Glossary of comics terminology#Captio ...
characters, and for
Halloween Halloween, or Hallowe'en (less commonly known as Allhalloween, All Hallows' Eve, or All Saints' Eve), is a celebration geography of Halloween, observed in many countries on 31 October, the eve of the Western Christianity, Western Christian f ...
. The fruit used tends to sit on the top or around the head, and varies in type, e.g. bananas, berries, cherries, pineapples.


History

A fashion report in ''Los Angeles Times'' from 1895 called the use of
mendiant A mendiant is a traditional French confection composed of a chocolate disk studded with nuts and dried fruits representing the four mendicant religious orders. Each of the ingredients used refers to the color of monastic robes. Tradition dictat ...
the "newest trimming" for hats, and noted that hats were "tipped far over the eyes". ''The Chicago Tribune'' reported on fruit ribbons, along with feathers, flowers, and frills, as trim for
Easter Easter, also called Pascha ( Aramaic: פַּסְחָא , ''paskha''; Greek: πάσχα, ''páskha'') or Resurrection Sunday, is a Christian festival and cultural holiday commemorating the resurrection of Jesus from the dead, described in t ...
hats. A report on artificial fruit used on hats was in a 1918 edition of ''The New York Times''. Fruit and vegetable trim on "gay hats" featured in the first
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 made and sold a range of accessories for clothing and hairstyles. ...
show of the season at New York's Saks Fifth Avenue in 1941, and overshadowed flowers.
Lil Picard Lil Picard, born Lilli Elisabeth Benedick (October 4, 1899 – May 10, 1994), was a cabaret actress, artist, journalist and critic, born in Landau, Germany, who took part in several generations of counterculture and avant-garde art in Berlin and ...
, a millinery designer for the custom-made department of Bloomingdale's, sought inspiration from nature for her hats and while on vacation "listening to the birds, gazing through the lacy outlines of foliage and watching the ripening fruits, she dreamed of trimmings."
Brazil Brazil, officially the Federative Republic of Brazil, is the largest country in South America. It is the world's List of countries and dependencies by area, fifth-largest country by area and the List of countries and dependencies by population ...
ian "bombshell"
Carmen Miranda Maria do Carmo Miranda da Cunha (9 February 1909 – 5 August 1955), known professionally as Carmen Miranda (), was a Portuguese-born Brazilian singer, dancer, and actress. Nicknamed "The Brazilian Bombshell", she was known for her signature ...
, who "made a habit of wearing exotic headdresses/hats often adorned with fruit", appears as a singer named Dorita in the 1943 film '' The Gang's All Here.'' The movie includes a musical number called "
The Lady in the Tutti Frutti Hat The Lady in the Tutti Frutti Hat is a song composed by Harry Warren and Leo Robin, performed by Carmen Miranda for the film '' The Gang's All Here'' (1943). This was the first Technicolor film directed by Busby Berkeley, whose extravagant musical ...
" with barefoot chorus girls dressed in yellow turbans, black
crop top A crop top (also half shirt, midriff top, belly shirt or cutoff shirt) is a top that reveals and exposes the waist, navel, or abdomen. History Women The origins of the clothing are unknown, but midriff tops go back to at least the Bronze Age, d ...
s, and ruffled yellow
miniskirt A miniskirt (or mini-skirt, mini skirt, or mini) is a skirt with its hemline well above the knees, generally at mid-thigh level, normally no longer than below the buttocks; and a dress with such a hemline is called a minidress or a miniskirt ...
s who manipulated giant
papier-mâché file:JacmelMardiGras.jpg, upright=1.3, Mardi Gras papier-mâché masks, Haiti Papier-mâché ( , , - the French term "mâché" here means "crushed and ground") is a versatile craft technique with roots in ancient China, in which waste paper is s ...
bananas and bounced inflatable strawberries off their toes at the whims of legendary choreographer
Busby Berkeley Berkeley William Enos, (November 29, 1895 – March 14, 1976) known professionally as Busby Berkeley, was an American film director and musical choreographer. Berkeley devised elaborate musical production numbers that often involved complex geo ...
.


Use in marketing

Inspired by Carmen Miranda's costumes, the Chiquita Banana logo featured a cartoon image of an anthropomorphic banana with a human face and a selection of fruit adorning its hat. The logo was created for
United Fruit Company The United Fruit Company (later the United Brands Company) was an American multinational corporation that traded in tropical fruit (primarily bananas) grown on Latin American plantations and sold in the United States and Europe. The company was ...
in 1944 by
Dik Browne Richard Arthur Allan Browne (August 11, 1917 – June 4, 1989) was an American cartoonist, best known for writing and drawing ''Hägar the Horrible'' and ''Hi and Lois''. Early life and education Dik Browne was born on August 11, 1917, in Manhat ...
, who is perhaps best known for his
Hägar the Horrible ''Hägar the Horrible'' is the title and main character of an American comic strip created by cartoonist Dik Browne and syndicated by King Features Syndicate. It first appeared on February 4, 1973 (in Sunday papers) and the next day in daily ne ...
comic strip A comic strip is a Comics, sequence of cartoons, arranged in interrelated panels to display brief humor or form a narrative, often Serial (literature), serialized, with text in Speech balloon, balloons and Glossary of comics terminology#Captio ...
. In advertising of the 1940s, the logo character's voice was supplied by vocalist Patti Clayton followed by
Elsa Miranda Elsa M. Miranda (14 February 1922 – 27 April 2007) was a noted Puerto Rican singer who was featured on radio and television in the United States during the Golden Age of Radio in the 1940s. As a naturalized Argentinian, she was also active as ...
, June Valli and
Monica Lewis Monica Lewis (born May Lewis; May 5, 1922 – June 12, 2015) was an American jazz singer and film actress. Between 1947 and 1961, she was the voice for Chiquita Banana's animated ad campaign. Biography Early life Lewis was born in Chicago on Ma ...
. The concept was created by a
BBDO BBDO is a worldwide advertising agency network, with its headquarters in New York City. The agency originated in 1891 with the George Batten Company, and in 1928, through a merger with Barton, Durstine & Osborn (BDO), the agency became Batten, B ...
advertising team headed by Robert Foreman with the song lyrics written by Garth Montgomery and music composed by Len MacKenzie. The original Chiquita Banana advertisement was produced by
Disney Studios The Walt Disney Studios is a major division of the Disney Entertainment business segment of the Walt Disney Company best known for housing its multifaceted film studio divisions. Founded on October 16, 1923, and based mainly at the namesake s ...
and ran in
movie theater A movie theater (American English) or cinema (English in the Commonwealth of Nations, Commonwealth English), also known as a movie house, cinema hall, picture house, picture theater, the movies, the pictures, or simply theater, is a business ...
s. The company later became
Chiquita Brands International Chiquita Brands International S.à.r.l. (), formerly known as United Fruit Co., is a Swiss company producing and distributing bananas and other produce. The company operates under subsidiary brand names, including the flagship Chiquita bran ...
and would use a banana wearing a fruit hat
headdress 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 fo ...
on its logo for decades. In 1987 the banana character was replaced with a woman by artist Oscar Grillo, creator of the
Pink Panther ''The Pink Panther'' is an American media franchise primarily focusing on a series of comedy-mystery films featuring an inept French police detective, Inspector Jacques Clouseau. The franchise began with the release of the film ''The Pink Panthe ...
, to reflect "the image the public had of Miss Chiquita as a real person."


See also

*
List of hat styles Hats have been common throughout the history of humanity, present on some of the very earliest preserved human bodies and art. Below is a list of various kinds of contemporary or traditional hat. List See also *List of headgear References ...


References

{{Hats Hats Edible fruits