Anatomy of a Hat

After I posted yesterday's blog about hats, it occurred to me that although I probably know a bit more about hat styles than the average (hat-wearing) bear, there are quite a few terms for hat styles that I'm not entirely solid on. And I suspect that a lot of the folks who read that column don't have the slightest idea what makes a hat a "spectator hat" or a "cloche" or what the top part of a hat is called (it's the "crown"). So I thought I'd do a little research for you and put together this handy guide to women's hat styles.

First of all, we need to understand the "anatomy of a hat" - what are the different parts that make up a hat called?

Anatomy of a hat, from the Hats Unlimited website

This diagram is a man's hat, but all the various pieces and parts are the same for both genders. Here's a bit more information about each part:

• Crown: The upper part of the hat is called the "crown". An actual crown is pretty much just a ring that sets on top of your head; the crown of a hat is exactly the same thing.
• Crown shape: The top of the crown can be domed, flat, or "dented" into various shapes. The crown shape plays a significant part in making a hat a certain style.
• Hat band: Hats are often decorated with a ribbon or strip of material (fabric, leather, beading, etc.) circling the base of the crown. This hat band may be embellished with a knot or bow or other fancy details.
• Hat decoration: Certain styles of hat have a very specific type of decoration tucked into the hat band, which may range from small feathers to hugely elaborate loops and bows.
• Brim: The brim juts out from the base of the crown and shades the face. The brim may be any width, from narrow to wide; it may be not-existent (e.g., on a pillbox hat); or it may be a partial brim (e.g., on a baseball cap).
• Underbrim: The underside of the brim may be lined in a different material or it may simply be the underside of the brim.
• Inner band/sweatband: Exactly what it sounds like: The sweatband absorbs sweat from the brow, and also serves to keep the hat in place. Not all hats have an inner band.
• Inner liner: Not all hats have an inner liner, but sometimes the crown is lined with fabric. 

Now we get to the various styles of women's hats. The style is defined by the relative size and shape of some of the various components listed above. There is a large degree of variation in many of these styles, primarily in terms of how they are decorated. It's really the basic structure of a hat that defines its style, although a few types of hats require a very specific style of decoration (e.g., a man's Tyrolean hat is traditionally decorated with a small feather). Let's go in alphabetical order.

Beret

  

A beret is a soft fabric hat with a round, short crown and no brim, although it may have a kind of band at the base, as seen in the second photo above. Traditionally, they are decorated with a small "apple stem" at the top. In the 1940s, they were sometimes worn in a very flat style called a "pancake beret," as in the third photo, above. They have their roots in military garb, and are still worn by military members such as the Green Berets. They are often associated with artists, particularly French painters. 

Boater (also called a skimmer)

A boater hat is a straw hat with a medium-width brim and a low, straight-sided, flat-topped crown. Traditionally, it bears a red-on-blue striped hatband with two long tails trailing down the back, as originally worn by Venetian gondoliers, but today the tails are often omitted, and the hatband is more commonly black. Modern variations also change the height of the crown from quite short to relatively tall, and occasionally add a slight dome to the top of the crown. You may also recognize the style as being worn by traditional barbershop groups, and styrofoam versions are sometimes worn at political rallies, likely because of their red, white, and blue colors. 

Bowler (or derby)

   

Although primarily thought of as a men's hat, bowlers can also be worn by women. Generally made of sturdy felt, they have a high, domed crown, and a 2-inch brim that is bound along the edge and turned up at the sides and sometimes all around. If you are of a certain age, you likely associate a bowler with Patrick Macnee from the Avengers television series, or perhaps with Charlie Chaplin. A bowler hat and a derby hat are exactly the same thing, bowler being the British term and derby the American. However, a man's derby hat should not be confused with a woman's Derby hat, which is a highly decorated hat worn to the Kentucky Derby (see "Derby hat," below). 

Cloche

  

Popularized in the 1920s, a cloche is characterized by being very close-fitting to the head and somewhat bell-shaped, with a brim that may flare slightly or not, or which may be only on the front of the hat. A cloche may be made of wool, fabric, or straw, or even knitted or crocheted. It is often embellished with a hatband and bows, feathers, or flowers placed at the side, back, or front. Famous wearers of cloche hats include Clara Bow and the entire female cast of any version of The Great Gatsby ever filmed.

Cocktail hat (see "Fascinator," below)

Derby hat (or race hat)

  

A woman's Derby hat (not to be confused with a man's derby hat) is defined not so much by its shape or structure but by its size and elaborate decorations. Originating at the Kentucky Derby, large ornate hats are traditionally worn on race day still. Most Derby hats use a large sunhat as a base (the broader the brim, the better), and are whimsically and colorfully decorated with giant flowers, loads of huge feathers, yards of ribbon, and even full-on dioramas and figures.

Fascinator

  

Fascinators became hugely popular following the royal wedding of Prince William to Kate Middleton, who often wears them to formal events. A fascinator is a small (but often elaborate) hat or ornament that is pinned to the hair or worn on a headband, usually at a jaunty angle or on the side of the head. Fascinators can range from a small flower or feather accent to an oversized extravaganza. A fascinator is often incorrectly called a cocktail hat, the technical distinction being merely is that a cocktail hat is perched on the head while a fascinator is clipped to the hair or held on by a headband.

Fedora

  

Another style generally associated with men (particularly Humphrey Bogart and every other film noir detective in the 1940s and 1950s), the fedora is a varying style with a short to mid-width brim that turns up in the back. It may turn either up or down in the front (hats which can be converted from one style to another are called "snap brims"). The crown narrows slightly at the top and usually has a front-to back or teardrop-shaped crease and often a "pinch" at the front (shown clearly in the Bogart picture above). A fedora is generally unadorned by anything other than a hat band, which is usually the same color as the hat, which may very in width from very narrow to quite wide, and which may have a flat bow at the side. It is often worn at a rakish angle.

Kettle brim (also called up-brim)

  

Although this term is probably unfamiliar (I'd never heard of it before), the style is quite common as a casual sun hat. It has a somewhat short, straight-sided, flat or barely domed crown and a very broad brim that is turned up several inches or even rolled all around the edges. It is often worn quite low over the forehead, and usually straight across or just slightly tipped back. Most variations are straw, but dressier versions are sometimes made of organza or sturdy cotton. As a sunhat, it is often devoid of any decoration, even a hat band, but it can be dressed up with ribbons, bows, and feathers. It is commonly used as a base for a Derby hat, since the turned-up brim makes a convenient "shelf" for ornate decorations.

Picture hat (or Gainesborough)

  

Something of a precursor to the Derby hat, a picture hat is an ornately decorated hat with a wide brim, often featured in portraits of wealthy women painted by artist Thomas Gainesborough during the late 18th century, and the style is still popular today. Decorations have ranged from fresh flowers to huge bows to ostrich and marabou feathers to gemstones. Large picture hats are sometimes also called cartwheel hats. Camilla Parker Bowles is often photographed wearing a picture hat, and the "Ascot Gavotte" scene from My Fair Lady is full of marvelous picture hats.

Pillbox

  

Jacqueline Kennedy nearly single-handedly brought the pillbox into popularity in the early 1960s. Its distinctive round, brimless. straight-up, flat-crowned shape often has a small birdcage veil (which drops just below the eyes) attached, and it may be unadorned or be decorated with ribbons, bows, or flowers on the top. Other famous pillbox wearers include Doris Day and Audrey Hepburn. 

Tam

  

The tam is a woman's version of the traditional Scottish tam o'shanter (named after a character in a Robert Burns poem), and is somewhat similar to a beret. It is a soft, brimless hat with a round, full crown, often knitted or crocheted, and topped with a small pom-pom. Modern women's versions often replace the pom-pom with a small button or omit it altogether. The tam is generally worn drooping to the side or the back. Occasionally a small brim is added in front, creating an almost bonnet-like style, as in the third example above.


Let me know if there are any styles you're still confused about, or if I've missed explaining any!

The Art of Making Art

I don’t consider myself to be a particularly artistic person. I can’t draw a straight line to save my life; my attempts at a self-portrait are barely recognizable as human, never mind as myself; and the only thing I’d ever be able to sculpt from a lump of clay would be, well, a lump of clay. I do, however, consider myself to be creative. And there are two places where I consider myself most creative: at the stove and at the sewing machine.

Although I generally like projects that require precision, I dislike the need for perfect accuracy in baking, so my kitchen exploits have always leaned more toward cooking than baking. Baking involves chemical reactions and balanced equations, and a bit too much of this or not quite enough of that changes not just the taste but the texture, and indeed the entire composition. You can’t just “play with” the amount of baking soda or salt or butter in a pastry recipe and come out with a good result.

Cooking, in contrast, allows the chef a huge amount of creative freedom. Recipe calls for shallots but you don’t have any? Throw in some onions, maybe some scallions, whatever you happen to have on hand that sounds good. Like it spicy? Go ahead, double the Tabasco. Got a more delicate palate? Scant that tablespoon of chili powder. Leave out what’s not to your taste, add things that aren’t called for but that sound interesting, test and taste and fiddle and create.

My favorite cooking category for creativity is soup. I rarely use a recipe for soup. I pretty much start with a basic idea, perhaps “chicken soup” or “bean soup,” so I pour some chicken or beef broth into a pot and start adding whatever I have on hand that sounds good. Some vegetables, some meat, some pasta, some herbs. The problem is that I usually keep thinking of more and more good things to add, and although the final result is invariably delicious, there also tends to be a lot more of it than I intended by the time I’m done.

This weekend I discovered that making a hat is very much like making soup: You start with a general idea, but then you look around you and keep finding wonderful additions, and you end up with a delicious concoction but one that is quite different – and significantly more voluminous – than your initial idea.

The reason I was making a hat is that my husband and I were attending a Kentucky Derby party. We had attended the party last year, and it included a competition for the best hat. My hat had been one of the winners. 

That particular hat was intended to be tall, voluminous, and bold. I knew I would have a tough time outdoing myself in terms of sheer size, so I decided to take a totally different direction and make a funky but petite fascinator. I poked around my sewing table and came up with a piece of fake leather that I had bought to make a grill cover that I could use for a base. A few more minutes of poking unearthed some lime green chiffon left over from a Tinkerbell costume I had made for my daughter a few years ago. I made a couple of small chiffon florets and stitched them to the base, but although the color was striking, the overall effect was a bit dull. So I dug out a few fancy buttons I had cut off an old, worn-out dress and added them to the flower centers. Better, but still too two-dimensional. I needed a bit of architectural structure. Perhaps some brightly colored pipe cleaners? A quick forage through my kids’ art drawer yielded only brown pipe cleaners, and once curled they didn’t have the height or visual interest I had in mind. One brief Google search and one trip to the recycling bin later and I was cutting an empty water bottle into a spiral, covering it with ruched fabric, twisting it into a funky coil, and stapling it on.

My creation was beginning to earn the name of “fascinator,” but it wasn’t quite done yet. It needed some kind of backdrop behind the plastic coil, so I dug back through my fabric bag, coming up with some bits of green and white tulle. I zipped them through the sewing machine, stapled them on, and surveyed my work. It was coming together, but something was still lacking: color. The fabric was bright and eye-catching, but it needed some contrast. I had learned many years ago in a theatrical costuming class about a concept called a “poison color.” A poison color is a small splash of contrasting, even clashing, color that sets off everything around it. A bright blue dress might have a vivid orange sash as its poison color; a pale pink shawl could be held in place with a deep emerald brooch. I needed a solid contrast to my acid green. Yet another trip to my craft drawers unearthed one of the red roses that had graced last year’s hat – perfect for the Run for the Roses! And right alongside it were a few black and white feathers from last year. In for a penny, in for a pound – three or four staples later, and I had my poison. My petite, graceful, feminine, delicate fascinator was complete!

Well, okay, it was neither petite nor delicate. But it was graceful and feminine. And cool. And much like my results when I make soup, it was unlike anything I have ever made before, and I don’t think I could recreate it if I tried. But it was wonderful in its uniqueness. And in its creativity. I suppose, if you were feeling generous, you could even call it art.