Chinese Novelty Hat

You normally can't beat a chinese novelty hat to create a quick oriental fancy dress look 

These are almost throw away cheap, they fit in your pocket and look the part from a distance

This particular hat is however right at the bottom of pile when it comes to novelty hat quality, relying unsuccessfully on thinnest bit of fabric to create a bit of stiffness to brim.

This hat was so cheap you get change from £3 after postage, but you get what you pay for and would not pay much more.

The more I look at the photos of this hat, the more I believe it should go into the bin and never be seen again

Cheap Chinese Style Hat

 This hat is about as cheap as they come and even as a novelty hat not recommended

Mimicking some other watermelon style oriental hats, this is made of some cheap fabric over some thin foam, that both makes it uncomfortable and a poor fit. The shiny fabric is slippery and this makes it readily just fall off your head, no matter how tight you pull it down

I have a similar hat here and although also a novelty hat far more comfortable and better made

Chinese Wedding Cap

This Chinese hat or cap is more like fascinator than an actual hat.

 The cap come up in images under Qing and Han Dynasty, I can only assume it was worn across both periods.

Used by nobles, emperors and as a modern wedding headpiece.

This hat is held in place by a tie, although it's more likely to have been pinned through and over a bun of hair, but I don't have anywhere near enough hair for that.

Also seen listed as a Chinese landlords hat

Dragon Hat

This hat is sold as a Qing Dynasty Chinese Landlord Hat also a Dragon Cap

Hat wearing in China as mentioned in previous posts was an important part of China's ancient costume code.

As part of the code when a man reached the age of 20 he began wearing a cap, this included in a ceremony called the "Guanli" (The Ceremony of the Cap) which indicated he had grown up.

The rules on cap wearing did change between dynasty's and so did the definition of what was a cap as opposed to head covering like the bamboo hat.

Caps also had social status, the poor in some dynasties were not allowed to wear caps

in other news
Although this is my 210th post THIS IS THE 200th unique hat or other headgear I've blogged about

Qing dynasty Hat

This is a reproduction of Chinese Qing dynasty Emperors hat

The hat is seen in a painting of Kangxi Emperor in court dress wearing his dragon robes.

The Qing Dynasty ran from 1636 (or 1644 depending on what you count as the start) to 1912.

This hat is actually part of a wedding costume.

The hat is made from mixture cardboard, felt, shiny fabric, beads and what look like Christmas baubles

Way of the Dragon

Yet another oriental novelty hat

I now have 4 of these hats in different colours, they are all basically the same pattern, even the badge is the same symbol.

This style of hat I believe originates from the Chinese Qing Dynasty.

The best thing about these hats is they are cheap.

Chinese Style

A basic novelty Chinese style merchant skull cap see in many a Hong Kong movie

Worn also by nobles, wealthy children.

Novelty hats of this style can be found all over eBay and the like for well under £10 

Enter the Dragon

A round Chinese wealthy merchant, scholar or nobleman's skull cap.

Sometimes called Water Mellon caps on some sellers sites. 

I wear this hat to play triad or oriental noble characters.

In the photo below I'am taking part in a larp based enter the dragon competition called Death Match.

(further photos at bottom of post)

This a fancy dress hat with a pre-attached pigtail of a style worn by Kwan Tak-hing in Enter the Dragon. Its made of cardboard then covered in fabric, their are similar fancy dress just made of fabric that sit uncomfortably on the head, this one is fine to wear.

The pigtail seems to have grown in modern copies of this hat from tassels that denoted ranks, often by expensive beads woven into the tassel or the number or colour of the tassels.

In this hat the tassel is much longer than it should be that why its more of a pig tail.