History of the hat. Interesting Facts, Amazing Facts, Unknown Facts at Fact Museum

Throughout history, a headdress has generally been able to convey the social status, profession, or beliefs of its wearer. So, for example, in medieval Europe, artists and doctors wore berets, notaries wore beaver hats, and scientists wore hats with a square crown. During the Middle Ages, bankrupts were forced to wear green and yellow hats to let everyone know about their financial crisis.

There were two political factions in 18th-century Sweden: "hats" and "caps". The first supported the policy of France, the second - Russia.

The expression "mad as a hatter" has a real historical basis. Mercury nitrate used to be used to treat fur or felt, and mercury poisoning causes permanent brain damage. Therefore, hatmakers often suffered from convulsions, dementia, memory loss and hallucinations.

According to legend, if a person of non-royal blood tries on a royal hat, he will certainly die from a violent painful death.

In the 19th century, ladies wore a bonnet with curls glued to it. There was a complete impression of exquisitely styled hair, in fact, under the hood, the hair did not fit in any way.

It is believed that the expression "oh you, hat" was the first to be used by the military at the end of the 19th century: it was addressed to civilians who wore the appropriate headdress.

The most expensive hats in the world

hat of love

French designer Louis Mariette, who makes exclusive hats for world celebrities, has created a hat valued at $2.7 million. It is made of platinum and encrusted with diamonds. The shape of the designer's hat was inspired by ivy and bells - that's why the hat acquired bizarre winding decorative "stems". Much to the displeasure of all collectors, the hat created by the designer is not intended for sale.

Hat with opals

Few people have seen such a hat as a masterpiece created by Australian designer Ann Marie Willet in collaboration with jewelers Vicki and Peter Drackett. The Deep Blue Sea Designer Headpiece features vibrant peacock feathers and 26 opals from the famous Lightning Ridge mine, totaling 1,447 carats.

It is no secret that all the splendor of nature is caught precisely in the variety of noble opal: fire and lightning, the soft shimmer of distant seas and all the colors of the rainbow. Anne Marie Villette's masterpiece is studded with opals of varying colors and hues, from bright blue flashes to soft white shimmers. There are also such varieties of minerals as “flame opal”, “lightning-opal” and “peacock-opal”, “harlequin”. The opals were carved into delicate microsculptures by Daniela L'Abbath and Christine Roussel, and then placed in a solution of pure silver and 18 carat gold by the jeweler Gerd Herold Schulz. Estimates suggest that the headpiece could fetch between $150,000 and $200,000, putting it among the most expensive hats ever sold at auction.

hat of love

Wear a hat to the races

RoyalAscot is the most famous horse race in the world and a symbol of old Britain. But besides this, it is also the main international exhibition of exquisite ladies' hats. On each of the five days of the race week, the lady is supposed to wear a new hat, and the most extravagant of them is on Thursday, the so-called Ladies' Day, the most popular day at Royal Ascot.

The average cost of a hat is £3,000. The imagination of designers who create hats specifically for racing is not limited to ordinary shapes. Therefore, glossy magazines are always full of photos of ladies who are happy to show off their hats during the event.

Hat (English Hat) - a headdress of a stable shape, usually consisting of a crown, fields and decorative elements.

History of the hat

Ancient Egypt

In ancient Egypt, the pharaoh wore a large striped fabric under his crown, which was called a claft or nemes. The rest of the Egyptians, except for slaves, wore wigs made of vegetable fiber. The higher the social position of the owner, the more magnificent and larger was the wig.

Antiquity

In ancient Greece, men and women went bareheaded, but when traveling they wore a low round felt hat with a brim - petasos. If there was no wind and rain, the pethasos hung on a belt or ribbon was thrown behind the back. The envoy of the gods Hermes was depicted in such a headdress on frescoes and in sculpture. Pethasos became the prototype of most styles of modern hats.

XIV - XV century

Scientists also consider the medieval gennin to be the prototype of modern hats. According to the most common version, the high conical hat was invented by Queen Isabella of Bavaria of France in 1395. Since French fashion dominated at the turn of the 14th and 15th centuries, the headdresses of Burgundian court ladies spread throughout Europe.

The frame for the gennin was made of paper or starched fabric, and then covered with expensive material. The height of the gennin of princesses reached 1 m, the ladies of the court - about 60 cm. On the back of the headdress there was a transparent one, sometimes covering the face. The hair that escaped from under the gennin was shaved off, leaving a small triangle in the middle of the forehead. Because of the fashion for high gennin in castles, special doorways had to be cut through.

This headdress was worn until the 16th century.

In the XV-XVI centuries, they were popular in Germany and France. According to the Augustinian Gottschalk Hollen, the headdress of a 15th-century fashionista looked like this:

“Now a vain townswoman puts on a man's hood, then a gathered expensive veil, then a silk net in three or four layers, then she decorates her head with gold and silver hairpins, then she uses jewelry on her forehead. All this is necessary for a woman to decorate her head. Hundreds of gold coins are hardly enough here.”

In the Middle Ages, back in the time of Charlemagne, special customs appeared in wearing headdresses: worthy people wore pheasant and rooster feathers on their crowns, and those who were at fault - plucked carcasses of forest birds. Green and yellow hats were supposed to be worn by bankrupts.

"For reasons unknown to me
In all regions, in all years
Importance of money, power, rank
The hat was only visible ... "
poet Christian Genter about the Middle Ages

16th century

17th century

Hats in the 17th century were sewn from various materials of various colors and shades, decorated with jewels and feathers. Decorations were fastened not only to the crown, they were sheathed with the edges of the fields. Hats were used primarily for decorative purposes, as due to the fashion for elaborate and puffy wigs, headgear was usually worn under the armpit.

First half. In the first half of the 17th century, the costumes of different European countries developed in different ways, although they had many common features. The beginning of the century was marked by several wars, so fashion largely borrowed elements of the uniform. Men in France wore wide-brimmed, round-topped felt hats reminiscent of military hats. The edges of the fields were raised and pinned to the crown, decorated with ribbons, ostrich feathers, buckles made of precious metals and stones. In particular, French musketeers wore such hats.

For ceremonial events, men wore a low hat made of beaver fur, entwined with a long feather. It was called the "Hat of Louis XIII", because. the French king was especially fond of this style.

French women wore bonnets at home. To go out into the street, ladies put on wide-brimmed hats, decorated with jewels and plumes.

In England, men or women, with the help of headdresses, sought to show their originality. Men's hats differed in the width of the brim, the height of the crown, decorations, material (felt, cloth, suede, leather, wool, etc.). In the first half of the 17th century, the British chose yellow, brown, white and black hats. Women in England wore caps, hoods, bonnets, small embroidered velvet hats. When going out into the street, ladies put on large "puritan" hats over these caps. Started in the 1630s.

Second half. In the second half of the 17th century, fashion changed dramatically. Thanks to King Louis XIV, France became a trendsetter, and all European states fell under the so-called "dictatorship of Versailles." At that time, soft, wide-brimmed felt hats with a feather or fox tail at the top were popular in France. Due to the inconvenience of using hats during military operations and hunting, which limited the view, their fields began to pin up - first on the right side, and later so that three corners formed. This style of wearing has changed into a new type of hat - cocked hats. During the reign of Louis XIV, they became an element of military uniforms, and then spread throughout Europe.

18th century

First half. In the 18th century, hats were considered a minor addition to the wigs that were popular at the time, which determined the manner in which headgear was worn. Hats were worn straight, either at an angle or with a strong inclination forward. In Europe, in the Baroque era, ladies wore a fountain - a cap from. It went out of fashion in 1713 also thanks to Louis. At a ceremonial reception at Versailles, the Duchess of Shrewsbury appeared without a cap with a simple hairdo, decorated with lace and flowers. The French king really liked her appearance, which put an end to wearing a fountain.

Aristocrats began to combine neat hairstyles and simple bonnets, small lace hairpins, and round toki hats. Under the influence of the graceful Rococo era, European costume began to change again. The number of popular women's hats increased: ladies wore straw hats in summer, and felt hats in autumn and spring. The classic straw models were the Florentine hat, panama and boater. Nets made of thin threads, luxurious hairpins, light turbans and turbans were put on at ceremonial receptions. For travel and walks, cocked hats and warm hats were intended. Caps remained as a home or night item of clothing. All headdresses of that time were distinguished by their simplicity of execution and minimal decor. Men in the Rococo era, along with cocked hats, began to wear felt hats and small jockey caps.

Second half. In the 1770s, the styles of headdresses changed dramatically. The fashion of that time was set by the French Queen Marie Antoinette. Women's hairstyles became high and complex: false hair and special rollers were used to create them. Ladies' hats have also grown in size. Some models of that time reached a meter in diameter. They were decorated with ribbons, artificial flowers, feathers, lace. Special mechanisms were even mounted in the hats, which made the figurines of birds or butterflies move. Models of sailboats, multi-towered castles, fruit dishes, swans, windmills, bridges, etc. were placed on headdresses. Ladies wore fresh flowers placed in vases with water on their hats, as well as entire compositions, for example, “the expulsion of Adam and Eve from paradise” .

In 1789, a revolution broke out in France. The Phrygian cap or ribbon with the colors of the national flag began to be used as headdresses. In the 18th and 19th centuries, men wore a castor hat made of high-quality cloth of very fine workmanship. For the manufacture of this headdress, beaver or goat down was used.

19th century

First half. In the 19th century, the hat became one of the main items of men's and women's wardrobe. At the end of the 18th century, a two-cornered hat appeared, gradually replacing the cocked hat in everyday wardrobe. In the first years of the century, Napoleon's soldiers, returning from the Egyptian campaign, brought the turbans of the defeated Mamelukes on the tips of their bayonets. Lord Byron sang oriental exoticism and appeared in public in a turban. These hats have become popular again.

In 1797, the Englishman John Getterington invented the top hat. Headwear entered men's fashion at the beginning of the 19th century.

Since 1820, the bolivar, a wide-brimmed top hat, has become popular. In 1835, a folding cylinder appeared - a hat. This type of hat was popular for a century and fell out of fashion only by the First World War.

Ladies in the first half of the 19th century continued to wear toque hats, richly decorated with feathers, buckles and precious stones. In the first half of the 19th century, a jester (schute) came into fashion - a women's straw hat, similar to a cap, with wide brim framing the face. She gained mass popularity thanks to the theater, where she began to appear as a prop from about 1800.

The famous hat of Napoleon did not match the uniform of the French army and was a personal development of the emperor. A similar headdress was worn by the young Bonaparte, being a pupil of the Brienne military school at the end of the 18th century. The model of Napoleon's headdress practically did not change over the years, it only became taller and narrower. The hat was made of black felt and was decorated only with a tricolor cockade attached to a black silk galloon.

The emperor is first depicted in it in the portrait of the artist Isabey in 1802. M. Poupart was Napoleon's hatter during the imperial period. He supplied the emperor with hats at a price of 48 francs apiece. In a fit of anger, Napoleon sometimes threw his hat on the floor and trampled on it with his feet (for example, in 1813 during a meeting with the Austrian envoy Metternich). During the period from March to December 1807, Napoleon had 12 hats, of which 8 were new and 4 were refurbished old ones. During campaigns or on marches, Napoleon wore a velvet cap, the prototype of the modern cap.

In 1812, Napoleon wore his famous "little hat" on his way from Paris to Moscow. At the insistence of the chief surgeon of the Grand Army, Jean-Dominique Larrey, the emperor's hat was insulated from the inside with a woolen cloth. The headdress is currently in the personal collection of Canadian historian Ben Vader. In this hat, the emperor was on the Borodino field, in it he entered the Russian capital, and in it he left Moscow on October 19, 1812. The artist Charles de Steuben depicted the whole life of Napoleon by arranging his hats in different ways. The first three hats on top symbolize the two Italian and Egyptian campaigns. Three hats in the middle row - the birth, rise and fall of the empire. The last two are Waterloo and a link to St. Helena.

Second half. By the second half of the century, women's headdresses had almost lost their practical functions. Hat styles changed rapidly. Fashion magazines offered up to 30 models every season. The reason for the appearance of a new style could be political events, funny incidents, new literary works or theatrical performances.

There were hats "Romeo" and "Francisco".

"... women's traveling headdress, whose appearance and names change daily."
V. I. Dahl, the definition of a hat

Headdresses were decorated with satin and gauze ribbons, silk flowers, ostrich and heron feathers, bouquets with a high vertical branch, garlands of leaves made of the same fabric as the headdress. Fashion publications regularly published recommendations for making flowers on a hat for middle-class women. The profession of "florist" appeared - a milliner who was engaged only in decorations for headdresses. The decoration of the hats of that time included mantonieres - ribbons that held the hat, and a bavolet - a frill sewn on the inside above the back of the head. In the middle of the 19th century, the bavolets were of considerable size:

“Bavolets are made in the same way as before - of huge size and fall on the neck in the form of fichu.”
("Fashion", 1856).

In the theater, ladies sitting in boxes could wear headdresses with feathers of any size, unlike women in the stalls. The hat has become a symbol of the fact that the lady is educated and knows the rules of secular etiquette. At that time, rules were established that allowed a woman not to remove her headdress indoors, because some hats intended for a ball or dinner were made under the supervision of a hairdresser and were literally woven into her hair.

In 1849, a men's bowler hat appeared in England, more comfortable than bulky top hats. It became popular throughout Europe and did not go out of fashion until the First World War. From 1851 to 1867, during the era of crinoline popularity, women's headdresses decreased in size. The ladies wore lace caps, turbans with feathers and jewels, the girls wore small bibi hats made of silk or straw, decorated with flowers and ribbons. Hats were usually tied with ribbons at the chin. In summer they wore hats made of Florentine straw. During country walks, they were allowed to be used as flower baskets. In the 1850s, women also wore a bonnet, a small, high-slung hat. By the end of the 19th century, it had become a headdress for older ladies.

In the second half of the 18th century, a pamela hat appeared, named after the heroine of the novel by the English writer Samuel Richardson "Pamela, or Virtue Rewarded". This model was decorated with wildflowers and ears of corn. An 1856 edition of Fashion reported:

"To this we can add that Pamela's style is again considered the most fashionable."

In the 60s, women's cocked hats decorated with feathers became popular. In 1863, the anemone hat came into fashion, which was predicted to have a short life due to the fact that it did not protect the face from the sun:

“This is a very small hat, barely covering the cheeks; but such a style will not withstand the first heats.
("Fashion Shop", 1863).

From the middle of the 19th century, ladies also began to master the men's wardrobe: women's silk top hats, straw boaters, cowboy hats appeared.

In the second half of the 19th century, women's hats of the "kibitka" style with round brim were popular. From the inside and along the lower edges of the crown, they were decorated with fabric flowers, feathers, ribbons, frills made of lace, airy fabrics, braid. For several years it was fashionable to decorate your hats with stuffed amphibians. The ladies' magazine Revue de la Mode wrote:

"Frogs are now the decoration of summer ladies' hats in Paris, especially spectacular on a white background."

Then, birds began to be used as decoration for hats. At the same time, hats were decorated with veils.

20th century

"A hat that suits you is more moral support than a whole set of laws."
E.M. Remark

1900 – 1910. At the beginning of the 20th century, in the Art Nouveau era, headdresses were lavishly decorated with flowers. Wide-brimmed hats came back into fashion, which could fit Parma violets, camellias, pink bouquets on their brim. Stuffed birds were used in the decor.

The great fashion reformer Paul Poiret in the 1900s offered the ladies colorful turbans and modest ribbons. In summer, ladies wore boaters adorned with forget-me-nots, rosebuds, and wild flowers. In winter, women wore hoods tied under the chin, and fur hats were also relevant.

In the late 1900s, the fashion for small hats, similar to a chicken head with a comb of pheasant feathers, spread. They were called "chanticleer" after the title of the play by Edmond Rostand. At the beginning of the 20th century in the USA, and then in Europe, the cakewalk dance of American Negroes became fashionable. Women's hats of the same name also appeared.

By the end of the 1900s, large-sized hats became fashionable again. They were even called "linen baskets". The width and size of the hats often prevented the lady from moving around. De Dion, the first car manufacturer in France, to please the courtesan Otero, calculated the height of the body, which could fit her hat. The famous began her career in 1909 with the opening of an atelier for the manufacture of hats.

At that time, an important detail was a hat pin - a pointed rod about 20 cm long with a head made of gold, precious stones, etc. Headdresses were attached to the hair with pins. Court chronicles from the 1900s have been preserved, where cases of women murdering their sleeping lovers with hatpins were considered. Pins in crowds or public transport could cause serious injury.

"... in 1912, in St. Petersburg and Moscow, the city administration, in order to avoid injuries to the population, forbade ladies in hats with long pins to ride in public transport."
"Ladies' Magazine", 1912

At the beginning of the 20th century, hatpins were made from metals, bone, mother-of-pearl, wood, and tortoiseshell. They were decorated with rhinestones, precious stones, enamel. The pins were stored on special stands.

1910s In 1910, The Ladies' Leaf wrote that the last peep of the season was feathers on hats of considerable length:

“Ladies decorated their hats with long feathers rushing up to the sky, constituting a continuation of the whole figure. How will our ladies with such adornments sit under the casing of the cab in the rain? The question is very interesting."

But by 1911, the brim of ladies' hats became narrower and turned up, which became one of the symbols of the transition to a new, "comfortable" fashion. Headdresses richly decorated with flowers went out of fashion, only the veil remained relevant. Wide brims are preserved on women's hats exclusively in soft summer models.

1960s Thanks to Jacqueline Kennedy, pillbox hats became fashionable in the 60s. Also relevant were small hats with oblique fields, decorated with brooches, massive pins with stones or soft bows made of the same material as the headdress. Ladies' headdresses were often decorated with a veil. The fashion for hats at that time was largely set by the actress Audrey Hepburn.

1970s In the late 1960s, with the proliferation of private cars and crisp, blow-dry haircuts, hats began to fall out of the must-have wardrobe of women and men. However, in the Soviet Union, hats were most popular in the 70s.

1980s Since 1980, velor and felt currents have become relevant, although hats were no longer popular in this decade. Some interest in them was revived by Princess Diana. Burberry

History knows many interesting events and facts related to different headgear. We made a selection of those that seemed to us the most entertaining and informative.

Where did the Mad Hatters myth come from?

The Mad Hatter is not just a charming character created by the imagination of Lewis Carroll. The craftsmen who made hats in the 19th century, when the writer lived and worked, had to come into contact with mercury for a long time. The action of its vapors is detrimental to the human psyche and is accompanied by impaired memory, confused speech and other symptoms of a brain disorder.

Hat tax

At the end of the 18th century, the British government came up with an original way of levying taxes on the population. With each purchase of a men's headdress, a contribution was paid to the treasury. The more fashionable hats a dandy could afford, the more money he gave to the state.

What does it mean to "come to the cap analysis"?

From time immemorial in Rus', men, coming to church, took off their hats. Previously, it was customary to put them at the entrance and pick them up after the service. Therefore, those who were late came to the hat analysis, which means too late, when the main events had already ended.

The most famous hat lover in the world

Who could it be? Of course, the English queen! Elizabeth II accumulated so many original caps and hats that it was decided to open a special museum for them. According to rumors, the collection is replenished every month with models that are boring to the royal person.

$2.7 million hat

This accessory is called the "hat of love" and is included in the top of the most expensive hats in the world. Fashion designer Louis Marietta was inspired to create it while walking through a field of bluebells. The hat is made of platinum and adorned with diamonds and amethysts. Despite the astronomical cost, there are many who want to buy a curiosity. But alas, the hat is not for sale.

How did the academic cap appear

This quadrangular headdress with a tassel is associated with the end of the university. The first higher educational institutions in Europe were opened at monasteries. Their students dressed in the same style as the clergy. So the academic cap is nothing more than a variation on the theme of the biretta, the traditional headdress of Catholic priests.

Symbol of the Wild West

The famous cowboy hat was invented in 1865 by John Stetson. It was called "Master of the Plains". Now it evokes persistent associations with the era of the Wild West and gives the image a special flavor. Tellingly, the design of this headdress has come down to us in its original form - modern cowboy hats are almost no different from their distant ancestors.

Where did baseball caps come from?

Another iconic headdress today is an essential attribute not only for baseball players. He has long migrated to the everyday wardrobe of ordinary citizens - even those who have nothing to do with sports. Its history began in 1954. New Era launched a series of baseball caps, and they instantly became wildly popular.

Where is the birthplace of panama

We don't mean baby hats from the Soviet years, and Panama in their traditional sense. They were invented in Ecuador, and not in Panama, as one might think. They just got to Europe and North America in the 19th century through Panama, among other goods from South America.

Why is it in the hat

Another common expression associated with a headdress. There are several versions of its origin. According to the first, in ancient times, the messengers who delivered important documents, which they called "deeds", sewed up messages in the lining of their hats. Carrying them in a bag was not safe - they would easily become the prey of robbers.

Another interesting explanation is that the petitioners put “thank you” in their hats to the officials involved in the analysis of their cases in order to secure the loyalty of a civil servant.

And so this phrase appeared, meaning that the successful outcome of the case is a foregone conclusion.

It would seem an ordinary piece of clothing, but what a rich biography!