Skull Past

This wool felt skull cap is one of my oldest hats

Made from 8 triangles of fabric sewn together

Now a chance to scan some old photos of me wearing the skull cap

Above me as part of mummers play

Below me in shorts at a music festival

Below me doing theatrical mediaeval reenactment at Warwick Castle

Not worn much recently, but one that got worn often.

Zucchetto Like

This skull cap is on the edge of being a zucchetto however zucchettos are typically much shallower, resting rather than clinging to the head.

The hat also does not include the little stem or cord that comes out of the centre of the hat where the panels meet.

Still, the 8 panelled cap is traditional for a zucchetto and the bright red colour makes it look a very religious hat.

Skull caps are one of those hats that don't really offer any practical use other than their aesthetic purpose.

Biretta

The Biretta is a hat that moves from the circular hat band into a 4 cornered squarish shape.

The corners are called horns, they may have 3 or 4 horns and the horns can be small like this or quite large and flamboyant.

The hats are worn by priests in the Catholic and Anglican church and also as academics hats in universities, usually denoting someone with a doctorate.

When worn by Bishops or denote ranks the hats can also get extra adornments such as pompoms.

Biretta is also optional head wear for female barristers in England and Wales.

The history of Biretta stretches back at least as far as the 10th Century.

Homburg

The Homburg hat is the hat famously worn by Winston Churchill and popular with Gangsters.

The homburg is a formal hat that started to become worn from around 1890 when people like King Edward VII wore one.

Dwight Eisenhower and Anthony Eden also famously wore the Homburg as did Al Pachino in Gangster films which resulted in gaining the nickname the Godfather

The hat is identified by a single dent running down the centre of the crown, called a gutter crown, a darker coloured band around the bottom of the crown and stiff curled up brim. 

It is a wool felt hat that usually comes in dark colour, grey is the most popular  

The hat gets its name from Bad Homburg a district in Germany where Edward VII brought the hat back to Britain from. 

I don't own a cigar, so went for the pipe for my photos.

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.

Wee Willie Winky

This nightcap is made of stretchy jersey material as part of a job lot of 8 nightcaps found by mate DaveP.

In many illustrations for the nursery rhyme Wee Willie Winky he is seen wearing a Nightcap.

Wee Willie Winkie rins through the toon, 

Up stairs an' doon stairs in his nicht-gown, 

Tirlin' at the window, crying at the lock, 

"Are the weans in their bed, for it's now ten o'clock?"

"Hey, Willie Winkie, are ye comin' ben? 

The cat's singin grey thrums to the sleepin hen, 

The dog's speldert on the floor and disna gie a cheep, 

But here's a waukrife laddie, that wunna fa' asleep." 

Onything but sleep, you rogue, glow'ring like the moon, 

Rattlin' in an airn jug wi' an airn spoon, 

Rumblin', tumblin' roon about, crawin' like a cock, 

Skirlin like a kenna-what, waukenin' sleepin' fock.

"Hey Willie Winkie, the wean's in a creel, 

Wamblin' aff a bodie's knee like a verra eel, 

Ruggin' at the cat's lug and raveling a' her thrums- 

Hey Willie Winkie – see there he comes." 

Wearit is the mither that has a stoorie wean, 

A wee, stumpie, stousie, that canna rin his lane, 

That has a battle aye wi' sleep afore he'll close an e'e- 

But a kiss frae aff his rosy lips gies strength anew to me

The poem was written by William Miller in around 1840

National Hat Day 2019