I Stole Gandalfs Hat

This is felt wizards hat, grey in colour similar to Gandalf's from the Lord of Rings/The Hobbit films and images.

Apparently, the name Gandalf comes via Tolkien from a Norse mythology name meaning staff man or wand elf.

Gandalf wore the grey hat before he became head of the Middle Earth wizards, while he was the Grey Wanderer, the Grey Pilgrim, Greyhame, Gandalf the Grey, among many other names which don't contain the word grey.

The hat will soon be adopted by a character I play in lrp.

The hat was purchased from Leonardo Carbone.

Musketeers Hat

This theatrical hat is designed to look like a Cavaliers or Musketeers hat from the 17th Century.

Cavaliers hats get their name from supporters of Kings Charles I during the English Civil War whereas Musketeers Hats get there name from the personal musket wielding bodyguard of King Louise XIII. Both were known for wearing extravagant clothing including hats like this one but decorated with ostrich feathers. 

This wide-brimmed style of hat usually was cocked up on one side or both, one side of the brim was often pinned totally up.

The theatrical hat here is made of sponge covered material, with a wire frame and covered in velvety fabric with a bit of trim. 

Nothing like the real thing which should be made of felt

This hat cost me about 1 pound as part of a batch of hats.

I will get a nice authentic Cavaliers hat one day.

Alas tis but a Hat

This hat is part of a batch of theatrical hats I got from eBay

Made to look like a medieval chaperon, the hat is nicely flamboyant and also easy to wear.

Shaman Eats Straw

This hat or more accurately headdress, came from a theatre production

It makes an ideal headdress for tribal shaman or witch doctor.

The only clue to its origin is a label which says 'Tumji' which make it sound like it was for a African based character.

Made of a mix of leather, artificial plant life and straw.

The jackal/fox eyes are painted.

This headress found its way to me via my favourite trader Chows Emporium.

I went past it at several markets before, eventually deciding it had a use.

Outrageous Hat

I had to crouch down to get all of this hat in the photograph

This outrageous hat is possibly from an opera, purchased at a second-hand stall at a lrp fair by a friend and then donated.

This hat is an example of how a bunch of feathers can give your headwear volume and height and get you noticed.

This hat looks no other, is not from a historical period, not got any practical use other than to say look at me.

Hollywood Red Indian

This simple headband with feathers came to me when I purchased a job lot of ex-theatrical hats.

Half of the hats were useful, some really great, but the other half I gave away to the kid's school dress up box.

Feathers, eagle feathers to be accurate were awarded in some native American tribes as badges of honour, one or two might be given in the whole lifetime of a warrior, these were usually displayed headressess.

Ordinary feathers were also tied in the hair, mixed with beads around the neck and also tied around the head in bands of leathers

The coloured feathers and headband I'm wearing are probably from a fancy dress pack. 

Sultans Hat

This hat takes on a look of Ottoman sultans headdress

I would like to be more precise with its origin but I failed to find a contemporary image that matches, in the long run, it's a theatrical hat so could be pure fantasy.

Most images of Ottoman headwear are of oversized turbans, but particular later 16th/17th C period headwear starts to include headgear that looks similar to this.

Anyway, this hat is all about the accessories, the tall forward leaning feathers which ultimately make this hat stand out.

Bloodied Bandages

This set of bandages is actually a hat.

What could be better than a blood soak hat made of bandages to instantly make you look like you just survived a battle head injury.

The bandages have been sewn onto simple cotton skull cap and fake blood applied.

This gets a lot of use.

Reviewing the Situation

This crumpled top hat makes a perfect hat for a late Victorian tramp.

or a Fagin like villain.

This well-battered grey top hat look takes time or skill to produce, or just luck but is perfect for theatre or larp.

Anyway, I now need to pick a pocket or two.

Arabian Barbute

Now I'm not sure this helmet as a real historical equivalent at all, although did find a few images of turbans wrapped around helmets.

Its open faced barbute in style, made from plastic with a plastic ring around the crown to give a turban style Arabic look and then painted.

The helm was found within a batch of theatre kit, unlabelled or marked so who knows what it was used for.

Now its part of larp kit.

Saracen MkII

From the same batch of helms as the last post all picked up at bring and buy kit fair.

Arabic Helm

This lookalike Persian/Arabic/Saracen style helmet is made from fibreglass and has string mail around its rim, it's about cheap a lookalike as you can get before you go into toy helmets but is ok for lrp and theatre where its the impression you need not accuracy or actual protection.