Hats!!

Last Sunday, I visited a haberdashery shop to look for mint flavored cuff links for Blue Bunny’s birthday (don’t ask me why, that’s what he wanted). And though the store owner (an emperor penguin dressed in a tuxedo) did his best to sell me a top hat, I politely turned him down. Top hats add status and character to many an animal he was saying, but I daresay I shall wait to buy my hat until I need a cane to go with it. Besides, sheepdogs and hats don’t tend to go all that well together anyway. While I was there, however, I asked the penguin where hats came from, and the available styles of hats and what they are used for. The penguin was glad to answer, and spoke in a soft, clipped accent.

“Well, the first well recorded uses of hats seem to be from Rome and Greece, where freed slaves got to wear the pileus hat, a brimless felt cap to signify their freedom. This later became known as a liberty cap. Another cap, the Phrygian cap, was similar, only softer, with the top pulled forward, and often depicted nowadays being worn by elves. Women in ancient Greece wore kerchiefs, hoods, and caps.

Later, in the middle ages, hats began to become more popular to denote social status. Wealthy women began to wear hennin, better known as the tall cone shaped hats worn by princesses in Disney cartoons. During the next few eras, hats of all shapes and sizes can be found, from jeweled crowns, to clergy hats, to turbans. However, it wasn’t until the early 17^th century when men’s hats as we recognize them came about. John Hetherington, a fellow haberdashery owner, was allegedly the first man to wear a top hat. As legends go, he cause a panic in the streets by wearing a tall stovepipe top hat. He was subsequently sent to jail for this. However, within 20 years, top hats had become so popular, they were being worn by everyone of every social status!”

The ascot cap, worn since the early 1900’s, is a working man’s cap, and usually made of felt or wool. It is possible it was developed for slaughterhouses as the brim prevents blood from running into the wearers eyes. The Baseball cap was an adapted version of the “Brooklyn style cap” and became popular with teams to shield the wearer’s eyes from the sun. Over time it became for rounded and floppy, and the brim became longer. The beret hails from the bronze age in northern Europe. It is often worn by shepherds, and the working class in France. In the late 1800’s the beret was adopted by the French military. We have the Sultan Mahmud II of the Ottoman Empire to thank for the Fez. Among his reforms of the military, he included the plain fez as a mandatory headdress requirement to replace the turbans. Lastly, the fedora, a more modern hat, was first seen in the late 1800’s. It was adopted by Prince Edward of Britain in 1924, and took off. In America, it quickly became popular with the young men, and is now widely associated with gangsters and prohibition, although in the early 21^st century, it became a symbol of the hipsters. And lastly, January 15^th is unofficial national Hat Day.”

After paying for the cuff links, I tipped my erm, paw, and wished him good day.

Happy Wednesday everyone!

~sheepdog~