Types of Hats: If you love to look fashionable and want to stand unique in a crowd, hats are the best option. Having a stylish look with hats is not confined only to women but also men. Whatever outfit you are in, be it formal or trendy, adding a hat will change your look completely. You can wear hats on any occasion, like religious or high-profile events.
You can also use the hats to cover your heads casually as protection from difficult weather conditions. You come across hats of different materials like felt, wool, cotton, and plastic. Some hats indicate the social status of the person. Some hats are part of the uniform of military officers, police, religious figures, and postal service workers.
If you are trying hats for the first time and looking to know the types of hats, you are in the right place. This article will help you understand these types of hats better.
Types of Hats
Before we talk about the types of hats, we should discuss some terms that will make you understand the variations better. The terms are:
- Bill or Visor: Some hats may not have brims(will be discussed below) but have a bill that will protrude from the front of the hat. It can be slightly curved or flat. The purpose of the bill or visor is to give shade.
- Brim: The horizontal piece in the hat which will wrap around the crown is called a brim. Brim may come down in the front and turn down or up in the back. If a hat has a brim down in the front and up in the back, they are known as snap brims.
- Crown: The part of the hat wrapped around the wall of the wearer’s head is known as a crown.
- Underbrim: The brim’s underside is known as under brim. This can be unstructured or structured.
- Sweatband: These are used inside the hat above the under brim to collect the sweat. These will keep the hat in shape and give a good fit on the head. To guarantee a perfect fit, they come with adjustable elastic bands. They are made of synthetic leather material and sometimes with sheepskin. Even summer hats come with a sweatband.
- Inner lining: This is the material on the hat’s inside. This is called a buckram in structured hats. The lining can be of silk, cotton, velvet, or satin to make it comfortable for the user. They will serve as protection against stains and sweat.
- Eyelets: Small holes in the hats which create ventilation are called eyelets.
- Button: Hat buttons on the crown top will help in connecting the different panels of the hat, like in pants and shirts.
- Dent/Pinch: The indentations along the sides, back, and front of the crown.
- Hatband: The strip of the material which encircles the hat above the brim is a hatband. It can be a braided cord, leather strip, or ribbon.
- Decoration: Embellishment on the hat like buckles, beads, tassels, or feathers along the hat band come under decoration.
- Tip: The crown’s uppermost peak is called the tip.
Now that we know standard terms let us answer one significant confusion which arises when we talk about hats.
Are Caps and Hats the Same?
No, they are not and have one significant difference between them. But a cap can be considered as a type of hat. Hats come with a brim and a crown, whereas caps do not have a brim but may have or do not have a visor and has an unshaped crown.
Nine Popular Types of Hats
Now it is time to see nine popular types of hats:
- Boater hats: These are semi-formal summer hats for men. Women also wear these hats with hatpins to stop them from moving and keep them in place. They are straw hats having a flat top and a short crown. You can see them in universities and sporting events. But gradually, usage has come down, and these boater hats can be seen only in rowing or sailing events.
- Cowboy hats: These hats are wide-brimmed, high-crowned hats. They are popularly associated with American West. It is known as Old West apparel. They are made of straw, fur-based felt, and rarely with leather. To stabilize the head, they come with a sweatband. A decorative hatband can be seen on the crown’s outside. You can also customize your cowboy hats by rolling the brim and creasing the crown. Common cowboy hats have a crown shape which is of a teardrop model or pinched C.
- Floppy hats: These are also known as field hats or harvest hats, or sun hats. These hats are designed to give shade to the shoulders and face from the sun. The hats have a wide brim of oversized diameter made of various types of straw or wool, which will help you hide from the paparazzi and the sun. To hold the brim’s weight, they use sturdier materials or tweed or paper braids. They are mostly used to get protection from UV rays in sunny areas close to the equator and in holiday resorts. These hats go perfect in any season and any pants or dress.
- Bowler hats: These hats are also known as derby hats. They come with a short brim, rounded crown. This crown will sit low on the head, about five-inch high, whereas some go seven inches higher. You can also see curled narrow brim on the sides. They come with silk lining, a hatband, and a ribbon. The shellac layer of the crown will prevent the hats from being crushed and help them retain their shape, making them apt to duck during horse riding. This will give a neat appearance, tight fit, making it apt for riding. These hats were popularly worn during business deals in the 1970s. In recent days, these bowler hats are out of fashion but can be seen worn by hipsters or vintage hat enthusiasts.
- Cloche hats: This is one of the most popular and common hats used by women. The hat has a round top that flares at the bottom and has a rounded top. It covers the head’s back and ears practically. It gives constant protection from cold, wind, sun and suits any season. They often include an embellishment around the crown. You wear the hat low, and it will even shield the eyes, protecting them from rain and sun.
- Bucket hats: These hats have a sloping, wide brim and occasionally have metal eyelets all around the crown to give ventilation. These were popular among the hip-hop artists of New York in the 1980s. Even today, these hats are in fashion and provide a trendy look when worn on any streetwear. The hats go best in the winter for both men and women and are made of canvas or denim and heavy cotton. You can use these hats to get protection from the rain and are popularly used by farmers and fishermen in Ireland for this purpose.
- Beanie: Though can be used by both gender people, beanie hats are majorly used by men. These hats are close-fitting ones that are soft as they are made using fleece, synthetic material, or wool. The name beanie is because of the cloth-covered button of a bean seed size on the hat’s crown. You can wear it low on the head, which will help you cover the forehead, and pull it down to cover the ears if necessary. Though you come across a similar long stocking cap with a more extended crown that hangs off the side or top, beanies remain fitted and stable at the crown.
- Fascinator: Fascinators are smaller than hats. If a fascinator is wider than four inches, you can call it a hat. Earlier, they were referred to as a lacy scarf around the women’s heads. These, in reality, can be considered as formal headwear, which one wears in place of a hat. Fascinators are small decorated hats with no crown or a brim. It is a big decorative design that is attached to a clip or a band. You get to see fascinators in the royal weddings of the UK. These will include decorations of all sizes and shapes.
- Ivy caps: These are a type of flat caps. They have a rounded top that will slope down towards the bill. The perfect flat shape when kept on the table and the back folded underneath the cap explains the reason why it is called a flat cap. These are made of leather, cotton, wool, or other fabric blends. Some ivy caps come with a small snap that will hold the cap to the brim.
Above, we have discussed nine popular hats used by different people for different occasions and their brief stories.
Conclusion on Types of Hats
There are various types of hats, out of which only a few are discussed here. When you start exploring, you get to see and choose from different colors, sizes, and patterns of hats for yourselves. Also, there are some hats only for men or only for women, and some are suitable for a particular occasion. Never think that hats are out of fashion; they are still trendy and will help you get a fashionable look when you try them on. Start today and make different hats as a part of your collection today!