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.

Outrageous Hat

I had to crouch down to get all of this hat in the photograph

This outrageous hat is possibly from an opera, purchased at a second-hand stall at a lrp fair by a friend and then donated.

This hat is an example of how a bunch of feathers can give your headwear volume and height and get you noticed.

This hat looks no other, is not from a historical period, not got any practical use other than to say look at me.

Hollywood Red Indian

This simple headband with feathers came to me when I purchased a job lot of ex-theatrical hats.

Half of the hats were useful, some really great, but the other half I gave away to the kid's school dress up box.

Feathers, eagle feathers to be accurate were awarded in some native American tribes as badges of honour, one or two might be given in the whole lifetime of a warrior, these were usually displayed headressess.

Ordinary feathers were also tied in the hair, mixed with beads around the neck and also tied around the head in bands of leathers

The coloured feathers and headband I'm wearing are probably from a fancy dress pack. 

Sultans Hat

This hat takes on a look of Ottoman sultans headdress

I would like to be more precise with its origin but I failed to find a contemporary image that matches, in the long run, it's a theatrical hat so could be pure fantasy.

Most images of Ottoman headwear are of oversized turbans, but particular later 16th/17th C period headwear starts to include headgear that looks similar to this.

Anyway, this hat is all about the accessories, the tall forward leaning feathers which ultimately make this hat stand out.

Feathers - Hat Accessories

In the next few posts, I'm going to select a few hats that have feather used as decorations.

Starting with this basic wide-brimmed felt hat which has been accessorized with feathers, braiding and nice broach.

By the way, depending on the lighting and background this hat much redder than it appears in most of the photos see the photo below.

Hats were often an indicator of social status, so extra accessories make them look much grander.

 Feathers add volume and height, certain feathers are rare and exotic so indicate wealth.

This particular hat given to me as a gift is intended to be a musketeer style hat from the 17th century.