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Hat Dictionary

Aviator’s cap - Lined leather cap covering the ears, worn by open-cockpit aircraft pilots of the early 20th century
Baseball cap - a type of soft cap with a long, stiff brim that may either be curved or flat
Beanie – Small, round skull-cap, cut in gores to make it fit the head. Popular amongst school boys from the 19th century up to the 1940’s.
Beret - soft round cap, usually made of wool felt, worn by both men and women. Forms of the beret have been found since Ancient Times.
Bicorn - Felt hat with the brim folded up in front and back. The bicorne became the military dress hat of the British, American and French. Signiture hat of Napoleon
biggins - A coif like cap, with ties under the chin, 16c. and 17c.
biretta - Since 17c., a square cap with three or four upright projections, radiating from the center crown . Worn by Roman Catholic clergy. Developed, since 13c., out of a cap formed like the modern beret.
boater - A stiff, straight-brimmed, straw hat with a flat crown and a ribbon band. Also known as a SKIMMER or a SAILOR STRAW. Introduced about 1864 for children, then worn by women. Worn by men from 1880 to 1930.
borsalino - Italian hat company established in 1857, known for its fedoras. Man's fur felt hat of the same name.
bowler - Started out in the mid 1800’s as protective headgear for horsemen with the round crown being heavily stiffened to protect the head from tree branches and flying rocks. The style was popularized when the Earl of Derby in England started wearing one. Also called a derby
breton/sailor - Woman's hat with a wide brim that turns up all the way around
bucket/fishing hat - soft cotton hat with a wide sloping brim, used to keep the sun from the eyes and face. In modern culture, worn by both Gilligan in Gilligan’s Island, and Col Henry Blake in M.A.S.H.
cap n bells, jester hat - A peaked hood, trimmed in bells. Worn by medieval jesters
Cap of maintenance - a ceremonial crimson velvet cap lined with the skin and fur of an ermine.
cavalier - Wide brimmed hat, velvet or beaver, trimmed with ostrich plumes on the left side or back. Usually one side of the brim is cocked or rolled. so that the wearer's sword arm was unimpeded by the brim.
Chapeau-bras - type of bicorn designed to be folded flat so it could be tucked under the arm and be carried.
chaperone - Hat style of the middle ages, pointed hood (known as a liripipe), with a short cape. The hood face opening was worn upside down over the forehead, and the cape was tucked on top in a fan shape
cloche - a close fitting, bell-shaped hat popular in the 1920’s. French designer Caroline Reboux is the creator of the cloche.
cocktail hat - a small, often frivolous, hat for women, usually worn forward on the head; also called a fascinator
coif - Men's and women's close fitting cap. Worn by the clergy, under crowns of the nobles, under metal helmets in the military.
coolie - a conical straw hat, similar style worn by laborers in the Far East
cowboy hat - high crowned, wide brimmed hat made famous in the American west. Can be made of felt or straw, sometimes leather
deerstalker - a hunting cap with visors at the front and back, and ear-flaps that can be tied up over the crown; known as a Sherlock Holmes hat
Fascinator - originally, a woman's loose knit scarf, worn around the head or neck. In modern use, a cocktail hat.
fedora - Men's soft felt hat with brim and lengthwise crease in crown , adopted by women. The name Fedora was after the heroine of Victorian Sardou's drama presented in Paris in 1882.
fez - conical, flat-topped cap with a tassel attached at the top center. National headdress of Turkey until it was outlawed in the 1920's.
flat cap - a rounded men's cap with a small stiff brim in front. Cloths used to make the cap range from tweed (most common) to cotton driving caps for summer wear. Less common materials may include leather. Also known as a bunnet, cloth cap, driver cap, golf cap, or Windsor cap. A renaissance flat cap is very different - sometimes referred to as a Tudor bonnet, a flat cap has a beret-like crown with a narrow brim, often decorated with beads and jewels.
french hood - 16th century womens' headdress, worn in various forms, worn at back of head with a front border curving around the ears.
gabled hood - Hood with front lappets down on either side or pinned up. Style associated with the reign of Henry VIII
gaisborough - A wide-brimmed, plumed hat, named for the 19th century English painter.
garibaldie - type of pillbox hat
garrison cap - foldable cap with straight sides and a creased or hollow crown sloping to the back where it is parted. It is a variant of the Glengarry, being distinguished by a lack of tartan or check trim, toorie, and ribbons typical of the original. It has been associated with various military forces from the World War I era to the present and various youth organizations.
gibus - collapsible silk opera hat, patented in 1837 by French inventor, Gibus
glengarry - Glengarry bonnet blue woolen cap creased through the crown , appeared in 1805 in Glenngarry, Invernesshire, Scotland, stiff sides, bound edges, short ribbons hanging in the back
hennin - a high conical hat with a veil attached at the top, worn by women during the 15th century. Sometimes the term is used for other various tall, veiled headdreses
homburg - men's felt hat with a soft lengthwise crease in the crown, and a narrow slightly rolled brim From hat manufactured at Bad Homburg, Germany. British version made popular by the Prince of Wales, later Edward VII of England from 1901 to 1910.
ivy cap - Ivy cap/scally cap – see flat cap
leghorn - hat made from bleached Italian straw
mbob cap - A large high frilly cap with a full crown, worn indoors by women in the 18th and early 19th centuries.
monmouth - made in Monmouth England, knitted woolen cap with turned up band, originally mad in Monmouth, England.
montero - 15th -17th century, round crowned cap with divided flap that could be turned up or worn down
mortarboard - flat, square cap worn by professors and students
newboy cap/gatsby cap - a casual-wear cap constructed of 8 fabric panels and a visor. similar in style to the flat cap. Sometimes also referred to as the: Baker Boy, Apple Cap, Eight Panel, Cabbie
nightcap - warm cloth cap worn while sleeping, often with pajamas or a nightgown. Popular in the middle ages to keep warm
panama - hand woven straw hat, taken its name from Panama where it is sold.
phrygian - Ancient cone-shaped cap made of felt or woolen cloth, with a point that falls forward. Originaly, a Cap of freed slaves of Ancient Rome, became known as a Cap of liberty or "le BONNET ROUGE " during French Revolution
pillbox - Small brimles cap that has a flat crown with straight sides.
pith - a helmet of cork or pith covered with cloth worn by theEnglish army in India and polo players in the 20c
porkpie - felt or straw hat, similar to a trilby but with a short, flat top with an indention all the way around. Named because the crown resembles a pork pie.
reticulated headdress - Medieval headdress, a style consisting of braided coils of hair worn over each ear, covered with nets of gold or silver wire strung with jewels or pearls. Numerous variations, consisting of different placement of braids and nets.
smoking cap - men's pillbox shape, worn in the 19th century to prevent hair from smelling of tobacco
snap brim - hat made of felt or straw, with brim that turns down in front and up in back
sugar loaf - hat of the 14th -16th century, Tall hat with curved crown that resembles the loaf shape into which refined sugar was made.
tam o shanter - beret with close-fitting headband, usually trimmed with a pompon; named after the Robert Burns character
top hat - Tall hat with cylindrical crown in various heights. Very popular in 19th century, still used today for formal occasions
tricorn - 18th century hat with a wide brim upturned on three sides.
trilby - soft felt hat with a dented crown and flexible brim. The term trilby is used in the UK; in the US the same hat is called a fedora.
wimple - a medieval headdress; a cloth that covers the head and is worn around the neck and chin. Modern nuns who still wear a traditional habit wear a wimple