Master of Hat Fu

Sometimes I have nothing to say

at least in English

" Cōngmíng rén shuō yǒu yītiān huì xià yǔ "

" Zhǔnbèi hào zhàndòu "

Máoróngrōng de quántóu

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.

Nón lá

A simple straw hat.

This hat is a typical Asian farmers Coolie Hat, Rice Paddy hat, Non-la, used as an evaporation cooling device when dipped in water and sun protection. 

The conical shape is mainly Vietnamese, but still worn in other Asian countries.

The bamboo in this one woven to create a raised pineapple skin texture

Peasants Summer Hat

Falling apart straw hat, perfect just the thing

The ideal sunny weather hat. 

Wet them and they help cool the head even more

This one has seen better days but for playing the part a beggar or poor peasant its perfect

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