A hat is a head covering that can serve protective, fashionable, or ceremonial functions. Hats have been made of plant fibers and other materials throughout history. In ancient times, artisans wore conical caps, while in Egypt, caps, kerchiefs, and wigs protected from the sun. During the Middle Ages, women wore veils, and in the 15th century, elaborate headdresses like the hennin became fashionable. By the 17th century, Europeans wore hats indoors and out, with tricornes and bicornes favored by aristocrats and high-crowned hats worn by burghers and Puritans. The silk top hat emerged around 1760, becoming standard for gentlemen after the French Revolution.

What are hats commonly used for?

Hats serve various purposes, from protection to fashion and ceremonial uses. Historically, hats made of plant fibers were common in ancient rural traditions, while in Egypt, caps and kerchiefs protected from the sun, with helmet caps symbolizing rank. Today, hats continue to be worn for sun protection. They also signify the wearer's fashion sense or symbolize office or rank.

What are some different styles or types of hats?

Hats serve protective, fashionable, and ceremonial roles, symbolizing the wearer's position. Throughout history, diverse hat styles have emerged: * Ancient headwear Ancient rural Europeans and Anatolians wore hats of plant fibers, while Athenians and Romans wore conical felt caps. * Medieval coverings Included the chaperon and hennin. * 17th-18th centuries The tricorne and bicorne were favored by aristocrats, while Puritans wore stiff, high-crowned hats. * 19th century Saw the rise of the silk top hat, bowler, and soft felt hat. * Around the world The Gandhi cap, fez, turban, and sombrero are all in general use. * Modern hats Caps, headdresses, headpieces, fedoras, berets, and cowboy hats.

How have hats changed throughout history?

Throughout history, hats have evolved in style and function. Ancient Europeans and Anatolians crafted hats from plant fibers, while Athenians and Romans wore conical felt caps. Egyptians used kerchiefs, caps, and wigs for sun protection, with symbols denoting rank on helmet caps. During the Middle Ages, women wore veils, and in the 15th century, elaborate headdresses like the hennin became fashionable. The 17th and 18th centuries saw men sporting tricorne or bicorne hats, while women favored large bonnets. The silk top hat emerged around 1760, becoming standard for gentlemen after the French Revolution. By the late 19th century, soft felt hats gained popularity in the United States. While hats declined in the West in the 1960s, various styles like the Gandhi cap, fez, sombrero, and turbans remain common in other parts of the world.

What materials are hats typically made from?

Hats serve protective, fashionable, and ceremonial functions. Historically, hats have been crafted from a variety of materials, with plant fibers linked to ancient rural traditions. Artisans in ancient Greece and Rome favored conical caps of felt , while Egyptians used caps and kerchiefs for sun protection, sometimes utilizing wigs of human hair or sheep’s wool. In modern times, hats are made from straw , cloth , felt , fur , or leather .

How can hats show something about a person's culture or occupation?

Hats can indicate a person's culture or occupation through their style, material, and function. For instance, the sombrero is popular in Latin America and the southwestern United States. Meanwhile, cloth caps with visors have been standard for workingmen, and various straw hats are worn by people working outdoors. Also, hats may symbolize the office or rank of the wearer.

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Images

Painting of a man in a dark robe and hat holding hands with a woman in a green gown, standing in a richly furnished room with a small dog at their feet. The Arnolfini Portrait by Jan van Eyck.

A Bolivian woman wearing a bowler hat smiles while carrying her baby on her back in a colorful traditional sling on a street in La Paz, Bolivia.

Six mariachis in traditional charro suits and sombreros perform with instruments on stone steps in front of a carved wooden door during Day of the Dead festivities in Oaxaca, Mexico.

Quick Facts

Related Topics:: derby; pilos; baker’s cap; fez; cowboy hat

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Fez Man wearing a fez, a red, conical, flat-crowned felt hat topped with a tassel, that originated in the city of Fès, Morocco, in the early 19th century.

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Last updated

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Top Questions

What is a hat?
A hat is a head covering that can serve protective, fashionable, or ceremonial functions. Hats have been made of plant fibers and other materials throughout history. In ancient times, artisans wore conical caps, while in Egypt, caps, kerchiefs, and wigs protected from the sun.

During the Middle Ages, women wore veils, and in the 15th century, elaborate headdresses like the hennin became fashionable. By the 17th century, Europeans wore hats indoors and out, with tricornes and bicornes favored by aristocrats and high-crowned hats worn by burghers and Puritans. The silk top hat emerged around 1760, becoming standard for gentlemen after the French Revolution.
1 Britannica Source
1. hat
Created from Britannica articles using AI. AI can make mistakes, so verify using Britannica articles.
What are hats commonly used for?
Hats serve various purposes, from protection to fashion and ceremonial uses.

Historically, hats made of plant fibers were common in ancient rural traditions, while in Egypt, caps and kerchiefs protected from the sun, with helmet caps symbolizing rank.

Today, hats continue to be worn for sun protection. They also signify the wearer's fashion sense or symbolize office or rank.
3 Britannica Sources
Created from Britannica articles using AI. AI can make mistakes, so verify using Britannica articles.
What are some different styles or types of hats?
Hats serve protective, fashionable, and ceremonial roles, symbolizing the wearer's position.

Throughout history, diverse hat styles have emerged:
* Ancient headwear Ancient rural Europeans and Anatolians wore hats of plant fibers, while Athenians and Romans wore conical felt caps.
* Medieval coverings Included the chaperon and hennin.
* 17th-18th centuries The tricorne and bicorne were favored by aristocrats, while Puritans wore stiff, high-crowned hats.
* 19th century Saw the rise of the silk top hat, bowler, and soft felt hat.
* Around the world The Gandhi cap, fez, turban, and sombrero are all in general use.
* Modern hats Caps, headdresses, headpieces, fedoras, berets, and cowboy hats.
2 Britannica Sources
1. Synonyms of hats
2. hat
Created from Britannica articles using AI. AI can make mistakes, so verify using Britannica articles.
How have hats changed throughout history?
Throughout history, hats have evolved in style and function. Ancient Europeans and Anatolians crafted hats from plant fibers, while Athenians and Romans wore conical felt caps. Egyptians used kerchiefs, caps, and wigs for sun protection, with symbols denoting rank on helmet caps.

During the Middle Ages, women wore veils, and in the 15th century, elaborate headdresses like the hennin became fashionable. The 17th and 18th centuries saw men sporting tricorne or bicorne hats, while women favored large bonnets.

The silk top hat emerged around 1760, becoming standard for gentlemen after the French Revolution. By the late 19th century, soft felt hats gained popularity in the United States. While hats declined in the West in the 1960s, various styles like the Gandhi cap, fez, sombrero, and turbans remain common in other parts of the world.
3 Britannica Sources
Created from Britannica articles using AI. AI can make mistakes, so verify using Britannica articles.
What materials are hats typically made from?
Hats serve protective, fashionable, and ceremonial functions. Historically, hats have been crafted from a variety of materials, with plant fibers linked to ancient rural traditions.

Artisans in ancient Greece and Rome favored conical caps of felt, while Egyptians used caps and kerchiefs for sun protection, sometimes utilizing wigs of human hair or sheep’s wool.

In modern times, hats are made from straw, cloth, felt, fur, or leather.
3 Britannica Sources
1. felt
2. straw
3. hat
Created from Britannica articles using AI. AI can make mistakes, so verify using Britannica articles.
How can hats show something about a person's culture or occupation?
Hats can indicate a person's culture or occupation through their style, material, and function. For instance, the sombrero is popular in Latin America and the southwestern United States. Meanwhile, cloth caps with visors have been standard for workingmen, and various straw hats are worn by people working outdoors. Also, hats may symbolize the office or rank of the wearer.
2 Britannica Sources
1. Synonyms of hats
2. hat
Created from Britannica articles using AI. AI can make mistakes, so verify using Britannica articles.

Hat, any of various styles of head covering. Hats may serve protective functions but often signify the wearer’s sensibility to fashion or serve ceremonial functions, as when symbolizing the office or rank of the wearer.

Hats of plant fibers are associated with the ancient rural traditions of Europe and Anatolia. An early statue of Mercury shows his hat to be of finely plaited straw. Artisans of classical Athens and Rome usually wore conical caps with egg-shaped crowns made of felt. The material that protruded under the band evolved into a brim. In Rome this cap was a badge of the plebeian class; a slave being freed was presented with such a cap. Men of the upper classes usually went hatless except in bad weather or when hunting or traveling. The emperor Augustus Caesar, in his old age, set a new fashion by never going out without a hat.

In Egypt caps and simple kerchiefs were worn over the head and brow, falling in a drape to the shoulders. Wigs of human hair or sheep’s wool were also worn as protection from the sun. Helmet caps were ornamented with symbols of rank: the asp for kingly power, the feather for sovereignty.

Jane Austen an English writer who first gave the novel it's distinctly modern character through her treatment of ordinary people in everyday life.

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Women's Headgear Through the Ages

In the early medieval era city people wore hats usually made of cloth, such as the chaperon, a loose hood for both men and women. Throughout the Middle Ages women of all classes wore veils or draperies hiding the hair and framing the face. During the 15th century women’s hats showed increasing elaboration. The hennin, or steeple headdress, was fashionable in France and Flanders between 1460 and 1480. Women also wore the turban and the so-called butterfly headdress of transparent gauze raised above the head by means of long pins.

During the 16th century the hood became popular for women. In the 17th century Europeans wore hats indoors as well as out. Two main types of hats predominated among men in the 17th and 18th centuries. One was a low-crowned hat with a broad brim that was turned up, or cocked, on three sides (the tricorne) or two sides (the bicorne). This type was favored by aristocrats, cavaliers, and gallants. The other type was a stiff, high-crowned, round hat that was worn by Dutch burghers and by English and American Puritans, among others. European and American women in the 18th century sometimes wore the calash, a great bonnet that resembled the extension top of a calèche, or French carriage.

About 1760 the silk top hat originated in Florence, appearing in England in 1810. This stiff, round hat with a cylindrical crown replaced the tricorne as the standard attire for gentlemen after the French Revolution. Soon other types of hats were adopted by the expanding middle classes. The bowler, named for the London hatter who invented it and known as a derby in the United States, was introduced in 1850. Cloth caps with visors became standard attire for workingmen and boys. During the last quarter of the century, the soft felt hat became popular in the United States. In much of the West men and women largely ceased wearing hats in the 1960s, and hairstyles became more important.

In India the so-called Gandhi cap (a type frequently seen on Prime Minister Jawaharlal Nehru), the fez, and variously styled turbans are in general use. In Latin America and in the southwestern United States, the sombrero—a high-crowned hat of felt or straw with a wide brim rolled up at the edges—is popular. An adaptation with a smaller brim, usually fashioned of beaver felt to repel rain or plant fibers to protect from the sun, is known as a 10-gallon hat.

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A myriad of other styles of headgear have been developed as well, ranging from the many kinds of straw hats worn worldwide by people who work outdoors; those made of palm fronds, banana leaves, or other fibers and worn in the tropics and in temperate rainforests; hats and hoods of heavy fur or leather in the Arctic; and a wide variety of crowns and other regalia.

The Editors of Encyclopaedia BritannicaThis article was most recently revised and updated by Mindy Johnston.

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