Basotho hat

The Basotho Hat is the traditional hat of Losotho a country totally surrounded by South Africa, known as the Kindom of the Sky since its almost entirely situated 1000 feet above sea level.

The Hat is also known as the Mokorotlo and is the only hat to appear on a national flag, it appeared until 1986 and was linked to the royal heritage of the county.

Conical in shape and made of straw, its should have 5 rings at the top where the straw ends meet, the 5th centre ring as below joins the others together in a symbolic union.

The shape was possible inspired by shape of Qiloane mountain which is near the fortress of a early Losotho king, called Moshoeshoe I.

I have used this to represent oriental culture, which is totally wrong since its African not Asian, but it works well, since most people would not know much about its true background.

Below my hat being used during a event, by one of the crew.

Fancy Dress Oriental Hat

This is a joke shop Chinese hat based on the conical coolie hat.

The shape is authentic, but the rest as far as can tell is pure fantasy, but for the purposes of larp, fancy dress, even theatre it is instantly recognisable as oriental headgear.

You can find them all over eBay and Amazon for about a five pounds, for your quick oriental character.

They often come with a pigtails, this one did but I removed it.

Oriental Tall Hat

This hat was made by a friend as a surprise gift, I have good friends it seems.

The hat was inspired by a character in oriental movie, although I can't remember which one, probably used by some sort of official, priest or advisor.

A basic cloth hat with a stiffening material in it to allow it to stand upright, once your wearing it.

I regularly loose this hat by misjudging the height when walking through doorways.

Grand Bascinet

This what I would call a Grand Bascinet or Battle Helm

This style of Helm was from around the period of 1450 so was worn from the end of the Hundred Years War with France and just before the War of Roses kicked off.

Made by the great armourer David Hewitt of  White Rose Armory in his early learning years, his stuff is full on museum quality today.

I have no picture of me in my full armour wearing this helmet, last worn in battle I believe at a re-enactment of Jack Cades rebellion in 1450 or 1990 in the real world.

The helmet is designed to fix firmly to the back and breast plate, it offers no head movement other the limited movement from space inside the helmet, I found this not my cup of tea for foot combat while you feel pretty invulnerable, you need to be constantly twisting your shoulders to see what is behind you and this effect good balance and your fighting stance,  I much prefer a beaver and sallet.

The helmet hinges apart for access as can be seen above.

Vision is not bad actually you mainly see through the vent holes.