Hat

I

Introduction

Hat, form of headdress or head covering, especially one having a crown and brim. Like all headdresses, hats serve several purposes—as ornaments, for protection, or to indicate status.

II

Distinctive Styles in History

The earliest known brimmed hat is the Greek petasos, worn by travelers and tied under the chin. The cone-shaped, forward-slanting cap that originated in Phrygia was presented to Roman slaves upon manumission; this cap was adopted as the “liberty cap” of the French revolutionists and also served as a symbol of liberty in the United States before 1800. European medieval head coverings for men included woolen hoods, turbanlike chaperons (high-crowned hats with or without brims), and students' caps with brims coming to a long point in front. Medieval women wore various arrangements of nets; high, shaped headdresses; and veiling.

Typical Renaissance headgear for men included the soft, flat caps called Tudor bonnets. Later, full-crowned brimmed hats decorated with feathers or brooches were worn by both men and women. Modes of the 17th century included the plain narrow-crowned, stiff-brimmed hats worn by Puritans and the soft, low-crowned, broad-brimmed hats of the Quakers. Linen and lace caps were typically worn indoors by middle-class women and servants; variations of these caps were long worn by conservative peasant women in parts of Europe. During the English Revolution (1640-1660), Cavaliers wore plumed hats; the three-cornered hat, or tricorne, typical of the 18th century was developed from these by turning up the brim at both sides and in front.

Hat shapes and styles proliferated during the 19th century. The black bicorne hat, with a wide brim folded up on two sides, was affected by Napoleon I and other fashionable men during the early 1800s. Stiff beaver or lacquered silk hats with stovepipe crowns became popular with gentlemen later in the century. Various gear included round-crowned felt bowlers (or derby hats) for city wear, stiff-brimmed straw hats (or boaters) for summer, and visored cloth caps for leisure and sports. Such caps were also worn by boys and laborers. Women's hat styles changed frequently to complement dress and hairstyles, with bonnets of various forms giving way to broad-brimmed, plumed hats pinned onto upswept hair.

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III

20th Century

Men's hat styles retained the basic forms of the 19th century, with the high silk hat reserved for only the most formal occasions. Until World War II (1939-1945), women's hat styles continued to change constantly, with the close-fitting cloche becoming a symbol of the 1920s “flapper” era. Generally, for both men and women, the increasing emphasis on informality and practicality, especially after World War II, caused a decline in hat wearing. In the 1970s and 1980s, however, a revival of interest in women's millinery set in.

See also Clothing; Hairdressing.