Chilly Weather Hat

This Hat is called a Chullo.

Traditional to the people of the Andean mountain range of South America which stretches from Venezuela in the north right down to Chile in the south, this style of hat is more than a thousand-year
 old.

Usually made from alpaca, llama or sheep's wool

Alpaca wool like the one I'm wearing is particular good at insulating the wearer from the harsh elements of the mountains.

This is a very soft hat, almost felt like, I have no idea if that is typical of Alpaca wool.

Chullos have ear flaps that can be tied under the chin to help keep you warm, they come in many colours, but like Scottish tartan, the colours are significant to certain peoples of the Andes.

Bobble Hat

I've had this factory knitted bobble hat a while but it remained tucked away in a drawer, I have plenty of hats but my woollen beanie hat of choice remains one hand knitted (see here) for me not only because of the personal effort but it's much more comfortable to wear. 

Today I have taken the hat out the drawer and as the late February cold snap hits the UK I intend to wear it at least once while scraping frost off the car windscreen.

Union Jack fact - the Jack is small flag flown from bow of ships, the union jack flag was originally called the Flag of Britain which represented the union of England, Scotland and Ireland in 1606, but possibly because it was initially only flown by the British navy as the small flag on the bow the nickname stuck when it was eventually adopted by land forces and as a national emblem.

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.

Czapka

This helmet called a Czapka is in style used typically by 19th C Royal Russian, German and the Polish Uhlan Cavalry Regiments.

Made of pressed leather.

The Czapka origins lie in the very late 18th Century when a square-topped (4 pointed) Shako was used by Austrians infantry. 

Czapka is Belorussian words translate to English simply as a cap.

The helmet in the shape shown here was adapted by various cavalry regiments after the Napoleonic wars, mainly those of Poland, Russian, Prussia, Germany and Austria. Although the British and French did have a version for some of their cavalry regiments without the square top.

The helmet continued to be used by Cavalry regiments right up to first few weeks of world war one, before becoming a helm just used for parade grounds only.

This is a theatrical quality copy, not reenactment copy.

Shako

This leather shako is part of our crew kit

I have no idea if its a reproduction of genuine helmet or just something made for the theatre.

It's solidly made with a steel badge so could be a re-enactment helm, but the elastic headband and overall finish make me believe it is from a theatre production, where close up inspection does not occur.

2 years ago above

below is today after losing 5 stone

Today is National Hat Day

The national hat day celebrates the Hat

In the UK is another hat day the "Wear a Hat Day" on Thursday 29th of March in aid of brain tumour research. 

General Plumage

This Shako hat is another theatrical hat

A Shako is a tall cylindrical military hat with a visor, the cylinder can be parallel or tapered in or out at the top.  

They are usually decorated with plumes and a plate or badge on the front of the cylinder.

The Shako was popular in the 19th Century, initially, it was a practical improvement on the military hats of the time offering a little bit of protection, but by the end of the Napoleonic wars, it became a showy parade ground hat.

In the UK a stovepipe version of the hat was first worn by military units from around 1799 but by the mid 1820's it's importance to show off the unit took over from its practicality, attempts were made in the mid-century to return it to practical use, but by 1870 it was no longer considered for actual battlefield use at all and in the UK by 1905 it was no longer worn by units for any use.

Some countries continue to use Shako for their showy military parades even today.

This hat comes from a theatrical production and is not a reproduction of an actual Shako worn by soldiers.

Beanie to Snood

One of the great uses of beanie hats is to make snoods, most of the £2 beanie hats from the supermarket are a tube of machine knitted fabric rolled over and stitched together at the top. Unpick the top or just cut the top off and you have a long tube of stretchy fabric which become an instant cheap snood.

Snoods are mainly used in lrp especially by the crew who need quick changes. They are used to hide the edges of masks and cover the neck where the mask ends saving makeup.

Cheap beanie plain colour, cheaper the better usually.

Feel for the double layer of fabric.

Unpick the top, or cut or tears if you want it quick.

This leaves a tube of fabric.

Stretch over your head

until around your neck.

Then pull up over your head, usually with you mask already on as below.

The rough unfinished edges you get from unpicking or tearing, just add to the effect.

Carrot Top

This carrot topped headwear was picked up from Chows Emporium around 8 years ago

It was from an opera called "Sir John in Love" labelled actor final scene and now used for tribal shaman in LRP

The wicker frame is tied together with sackcloth/hessian, fitted over a padded skull cap and then topped with an artificial carrot.

Watch for low branches and don't even attempt doorways wearing this hat

Seen above with a carrot-nosed facemask and below with an onion covered shawl also from Chows