Straw Boater

Leading on from the school hat theme to a straw hat theme we have the boater which was a common part of the British, United States and South Africa and a few others boys school uniforms.

The Straw Boater is also known as the simply the Boater, plus the Skimmer, the Cady, the Canotier, the Basher, the Katie, the Somer and the Sennit.

Also worn in Japan were can be called the Can-can Hat or the Suruken.

The straw boater is equally a fashionable women's hat.

Straw boaters are a great summer hat, they were popular in the 19th and early 20th Century but have since gone out of fashion except for rowing events or barbershop music groups.

The Straw boater is normally made of a stiff sennit straw and has a flat crown and brim, usually with a ribbon around the crown.

A fact from Wikipedia says they were supposedly worn by FBI agents as a sort of unofficial uniform in the early 20th Century. 

Bad Scholars Hat

Dunce's hat

The dunce's hat was given to children in Victorian schools as a punishment to pupils who were disruptive, clowned around and did not want to learn.

The hat was traditionally a tall white cardboard cone and painted with a big D or the word dunce.

As well as wearing the hat the children were made to stand in a corner and left to be mocked by their fellow pupils.

I'm not sure this tactic or punishment actually worked as I suspect the children made to wear the cap did not care, were made class heroes, but even more likely they probably had some actual real learning difficulty which the Victorian teachers had no way of understanding or were trained to deal with.

Academics Hat

The Mortaboard, Square Cap, Corner Cap, Oxford Cap

The Mortarboard cap named after bricklayers tool for holding mortar or perhaps it was the other way round not sure.

This style of cap dates back at least as far 16th Century where it was used in the uniform of those attending universities in Europe, forms of this hat go back even further were its seen in Italian paintings of 15th Century. 

In the past, this form of hats was the default hat for the teaching profession and mandatory uniform at Oxford University. Now the mortarboard is seen across the worlds colleges and university, mostly in graduation ceremonies, were once the ceremony is over its thrown into the air.

A Hat for Scholar

This is sort of brimless cloth hat is a bit odd, it could have been worn in any period from the 13th to 19th century, although I've grouped it in the so-called renaissance, 16th C period

The hat is made like a muffin cap with an abundance of material fixed to a smaller headband, this one is made so the headband becomes hidden when worn.

The fabric green in colour is slightly eccentric style make this something that could be worn by a medieval scholar or a poet

Found for £2 in the bargain bin at a lrp fair

Ushanka

Ushanka comes from a Russian word meaning ears.

This fur-lined cap comes with fold-down ear flaps that can be tied up to the crown of the cap, or fastened under the chin to protect the ears lower face from the cold. 

The Ushanka cap or hat is winter wear worn any from the USA to Russia but is very popular with Soviet naval officers

Traditionally made from rabbit or sheepskin and used in all sorts of extreme cold climates

This could also be called a trapper hat, but a trapper hat is not necessarily fur lined or designed for extreme cold.

This hat is a tourist variety with cheap soviet style badge and artificial fur but is still a practical hat that not just novelty wear.

Hat Haul

"You won with a £31.98 bid" is not always good thing until you get the items however when you manage to get a job lot of hats eBay for a reasonable price you hope to get at least a few that make the bid worth it.

This bunch of 20 odd hats worked out to about £ 1.50 each

However out the selection, only 12 were worth keeping and only 9 would I have bought separately, even so, that still about £ 3.50 each which is still a bargain and of those at least 2 of which I would have paid £10 plus to buy individually.

Of the bad are these Mikey mouse ears and heart-shaped deely boppers

Along with the eye patch and foil wrapped cardboard Egyptian style circlet, these were all part of the giveaways

In the good pile several woolen, felt and cloth caps that were well made and well worth it.

Then we have those that fall between, the female headdress below was children's size so given away.

The Red Indian style headband is a bit rubbish but I ended up keeping it

Overall in the good box, I got an excellent felt fez, 3 muffin caps, 2 pillbox/smoking caps, a musketeers hat, another fabric fez and a skull cap, plus in the ok pile a jester hat, the red Indian headband above and sequined bandanna 

Time for a Pow Wow

A pow wow or powwow is a gathering of  Native Americans were they dance, sing, socialize, basically a party. in most western films they are also often portrayed as a political meeting between warring tribes or cowboys.

Headdress or war bonnets like this would be essential at any powwow as you need to look your best.

The Warbonnet is the chosen ceremonial headgear of the Plains Indian of North America, they were also worn into battle.

They are quite light and comfortable to wear they serve no practical purpose at all other than to announce your presence, which they do very well.

War bonnets are made around a buckskin skull cap and designed so the feather flare out around the head. 

The skull cap can also be decorated with beads.

Dyed horse hair mostly holds it all together and creatively provides additional decoration

Some war bonnets also included horns from buffalo.

A Hat for a Medieval Steward

While this style of hat is mostly considered peasant wear, even a single small feather can enhance it, this cap as also been enhanced by fur trim around the headband.

Not quite posh enough for royalty, this is the short hat that could be worn by castellan, steward or wealthy merchant character.