"ONE OF THE ONLY THINGS THAT TIES TOGETHER HUMANITY THROUGHOUT THE AGES IS THE HAT. THIS ALONE SHOULD SERVE AS A TESTAMENT TO THE HAT'S HISTORICAL AND MODERN RELEVANCE." --MARGARET ELEANOR GRAY
Define hat. It’s not just something worn on the head; it’s a deeply intricate statement of historical and modern intention. It is the perfect thing, stylistically, to finish any outfit. It can be an extremely formal, perfectly casual, or anywhere in between.
Imagine this: you’re about to go on a date with someone you really like and you need the perfect outfit. Or maybe you’re a fashion designer who is trying to tie together a collection. Perhaps your hair looks really bad today. The solution to all of these situations is simple: the hat.
Now imagine you live in the 1800s. The hat was not something that served the same purpose as it does today; it was something much more important, a symbol of class, a symbol of wealth. A woman preparing herself for her day in the 1800s would slip into her beautiful dress; she would tie her hair into a bun or a braid and then take out of her closet her hat, her most splendid of possessions, what would show the passing peasant who she was. With an air of snotty self-interest she would adjust the hat to look perfect atop her fake hair. There are delicately sewn cloth flowers and ribbons swirling around the crown of the hat. There is only one of these hats in existence and it is hers, and she smiles.
The only thing that ties these two historical scenes together is the hat. That alone should serve as a testament to the hat’s historical and modern relevance.
The hats of the past were made solely for their use. They protected the wearer from the sun; maybe, if the hat was sturdy enough, they would be able to shelter themselves from the rain as well. Then, for a long and harrowing part of history, the hat was purely a symbol of class and political power; in simple terms, the grander the hat the grander the man. In contemporary times, the hat’s symbolism is much deeper. Not everyone thinks about how important what’s on their head is; however, there is arguably no better way to communicate non-verbally than the hat.
Everything in our world is packed with decades or even centuries of history, design, and societal influence. The same is true with hats. There are a myriad of versions of the iconic head wear that has transformed how our society functions. The very first hat was most likely a large leaf or a piece of leather, as ancient humans would not have had the technology to sew or otherwise manipulate the material in order to create more advanced pieces of head wear. Ancient sculptures are thought to have been wearing woven hats; the first depiction of a hat was found in a Egyptian tomb, specifically the tomb of Thebes. Within the tomb there is a painting of a man wearing a straw hat, hinting at the importance of weaving in early designs. Around the same time documentation of a skull-cap hat called a “pileus” was created. These hats were worn by ancient Romans and critical ideas were borrowed from the design of the ancient Greeks hat, called the “pilos.” The creation of hats was revolutionized by the creation of felt. This created a whole new sub genre of hat creation- hats made for and by the wealthy. For decades, the use of the hat was purely practical; with the invention of felt, the hat became a staple of aristocratic society.
And so, the first era of hat creation had come and go. While hats in the middle ages and then in the renaissance were still functional, they lacked the simplicity that clearly demonstrated their use; the hats transformed from simple, peasant’s tools akin to a hammer, sickle, or pitchfork to a symbol of wealth and political prowess.
Imagine this: you’re about to go on a date with someone you really like and you need the perfect outfit. Or maybe you’re a fashion designer who is trying to tie together a collection. Perhaps your hair looks really bad today. The solution to all of these situations is simple: the hat.
Now imagine you live in the 1800s. The hat was not something that served the same purpose as it does today; it was something much more important, a symbol of class, a symbol of wealth. A woman preparing herself for her day in the 1800s would slip into her beautiful dress; she would tie her hair into a bun or a braid and then take out of her closet her hat, her most splendid of possessions, what would show the passing peasant who she was. With an air of snotty self-interest she would adjust the hat to look perfect atop her fake hair. There are delicately sewn cloth flowers and ribbons swirling around the crown of the hat. There is only one of these hats in existence and it is hers, and she smiles.
The only thing that ties these two historical scenes together is the hat. That alone should serve as a testament to the hat’s historical and modern relevance.
The hats of the past were made solely for their use. They protected the wearer from the sun; maybe, if the hat was sturdy enough, they would be able to shelter themselves from the rain as well. Then, for a long and harrowing part of history, the hat was purely a symbol of class and political power; in simple terms, the grander the hat the grander the man. In contemporary times, the hat’s symbolism is much deeper. Not everyone thinks about how important what’s on their head is; however, there is arguably no better way to communicate non-verbally than the hat.
Everything in our world is packed with decades or even centuries of history, design, and societal influence. The same is true with hats. There are a myriad of versions of the iconic head wear that has transformed how our society functions. The very first hat was most likely a large leaf or a piece of leather, as ancient humans would not have had the technology to sew or otherwise manipulate the material in order to create more advanced pieces of head wear. Ancient sculptures are thought to have been wearing woven hats; the first depiction of a hat was found in a Egyptian tomb, specifically the tomb of Thebes. Within the tomb there is a painting of a man wearing a straw hat, hinting at the importance of weaving in early designs. Around the same time documentation of a skull-cap hat called a “pileus” was created. These hats were worn by ancient Romans and critical ideas were borrowed from the design of the ancient Greeks hat, called the “pilos.” The creation of hats was revolutionized by the creation of felt. This created a whole new sub genre of hat creation- hats made for and by the wealthy. For decades, the use of the hat was purely practical; with the invention of felt, the hat became a staple of aristocratic society.
And so, the first era of hat creation had come and go. While hats in the middle ages and then in the renaissance were still functional, they lacked the simplicity that clearly demonstrated their use; the hats transformed from simple, peasant’s tools akin to a hammer, sickle, or pitchfork to a symbol of wealth and political prowess.
During the beginning of the 17th century the creation of hats was capitalized and diversified into many distinct styles. Throughout the rest of the 17th century (the 1600s) and through the 20th century the use of felt hats was widespread. T Throughout the 1600s and the 1700s women and men alike experimented with putting feathers and various ribbons on their hats; almost everyone in Europe wore one, especially because the Europeans at the time believed that bathing was poisonous and thus had horrible hair. Men wore wigs often; women would, instead, supplement their hair with artificial materials and wear a fancy hat. The use of hats continued; by the time the 19th century rolled around hats were worn by almost the entire population, ranging from the fancy wigs and bowler hats of the wealthy and businessmen to the intricate sun hats that women wore daily to the felt hats and caps that were worn by the poor. A hat was, in many ways, the most important article of clothing when it came to identifying the class of a stranger; there were customary hats worn by the rich and others worn by the poor, changing and cycling through the centuries as much of society does.
Attending a tea party or ball in the 17th, 18th, and 19th century would have truly been a spectacle. The women wore big hats covered in decorations such as ribbons, feathers, fake and real flowers; the hats were brightly colored and wide brimmed, their hair, mostly fake, would have slipped from beneath the brim. The women would gossip, their hats wobbling atop their privileged heads, and then they would laugh politely, ensuring that they did not let even a strand of their hair slip from beneath the huge art pieces that were so commonly worn by people of their social class. Soon, however, this quintessential idea of lavish wealth would be forever changed
Attending a tea party or ball in the 17th, 18th, and 19th century would have truly been a spectacle. The women wore big hats covered in decorations such as ribbons, feathers, fake and real flowers; the hats were brightly colored and wide brimmed, their hair, mostly fake, would have slipped from beneath the brim. The women would gossip, their hats wobbling atop their privileged heads, and then they would laugh politely, ensuring that they did not let even a strand of their hair slip from beneath the huge art pieces that were so commonly worn by people of their social class. Soon, however, this quintessential idea of lavish wealth would be forever changed
The 20th century introduced the popularization of factory production. A boom of production, technological power when it came to many parts of society, and societal advancement revolutionized the creation of hats. Hats were suddenly drastically easier to produce; they did not have to be handmade, and even the most fine and beautiful hats that were once worn exclusively by the wealthy dropped in price. Smaller, simpler snug hats were popularized by models, singers and actresses at the time; the wide brimmed, heavily decorated hat was a thing of the past. Men’s hats stayed stagnant; the most popular hat during the early 1900s was rooted in the age-old design of the bowler hat that had been created more than 50 years ago. The 1930s and 40s saw the increase in the brim of the clutch hat; the 1950s pulled it back to the same snug style that had been popular thirty years ago. After those years, hats worn became so varied that it becomes hard to track how the the most popular hats evolved. In the sixties, knit hats, sunhats, tall, almost cone hats, and small hats that rested on the side of the head were all popular. In the seventies ideas were borrowed from all over the map and timeline. Some wore bowler hats; some berets, all the way from 17th century France. Fashion from the 1920s, 30s, 40s, 50s, and 60s was all reused in this decade. Still more variety was to be found in the 1980s and 90s- during this time, middle aged people stopped wearing hats quite as much and the youth made wearing hats a political statement. Baseball caps and beanies were worn indoors, something that must never be done according to previous societal rules; they were decorated with slogans and statements that would not have been acceptable at the time. Hats became a revolution, just as they had all those years ago when the first humans put leaves on their heads to protect themselves from the elements.
What about now? Hats have one of the most varied and captivating histories; how do these histories show themselves in the modern hat-wearer?
As of 2019, hats can say a lot about a person. If someone is wearing a beanie assumptions can be made about them; the same is true for the wearing of a baseball hat. Though many people’s immediate response to these stereotypes is a disbelief, deeper thought will reveal how incredible the hat is in this powerful way to change people’s opinions of one another. The hat has been doing this for centuries. Though we, as a modern people, consider our fashion sense to be new and improved, completely different from what has come before us, it is important to recognize and acknowledge the roots of the hat- the beanie can be traced directly to the 60s snug-fit hat, which can be traced to the “pileus”, widely considered the first “real” hat- even the baseball cap vaguely resembles the bowler, which was a staple of European and then American society for decades and even centuries.
Humanity places emphasis on many components in order to identify character traits or social classes; throughout history a constant that humans have used as symbols of identity are hats.
As of 2019, hats can say a lot about a person. If someone is wearing a beanie assumptions can be made about them; the same is true for the wearing of a baseball hat. Though many people’s immediate response to these stereotypes is a disbelief, deeper thought will reveal how incredible the hat is in this powerful way to change people’s opinions of one another. The hat has been doing this for centuries. Though we, as a modern people, consider our fashion sense to be new and improved, completely different from what has come before us, it is important to recognize and acknowledge the roots of the hat- the beanie can be traced directly to the 60s snug-fit hat, which can be traced to the “pileus”, widely considered the first “real” hat- even the baseball cap vaguely resembles the bowler, which was a staple of European and then American society for decades and even centuries.
Humanity places emphasis on many components in order to identify character traits or social classes; throughout history a constant that humans have used as symbols of identity are hats.
