The History of Hats
First Millennium A.D.
Phrygian Cap
We have little to no information on hats during this time, but historians have found hats out of metal worn by royal or military. This cap found is the Phrygian cap, introduced into Europe from the Middle East by trading with Phoenicians. The hair was grown long, but the rest of the hair on the body besides the head and upper lip was shaved off. The Anglo-Saxon women wore veils that had a hole to fit the face and a crown to hold it on the head. Many men wore something similar to the veil, which wad the hooded cloak, this was open all around the face and wrapped around the head to the back. The military would wear helmets made from silver.
Eleventh Century
The Saxons during this time wore their hair cut short and long moustaches (not beards) and the Normans completely shaved their face. They also had a Phrygian cap during this century, it was a soft sucking cap with turned-back edge around the faced had a peak on top. The Saxon military helmet was conical shape and reinforced around the lower rim with a band of a different metal and a skinny band that secured the side seams.
Saxon Military helmet
Twelfth Century
Women now wore veils to the back of the headband kept there with a bandeau. Between 1090 and 1130 the veil was so long that it had to be tied in knots to keep from touching the ground. The Norman military wore a metal casque with plaques sewn to leather forming the gorget, which covers the mouth entirely.
Gorget
Thirteenth Century
The goffered fillet hat was introduced in the 13th century. It was a linen heaven strapped around the chin with a hat to cover the head. The men wore a coif-de-maille, which was a hat thrown off the head to expose the hair, this showed masculinity. The Phrygian cap was worn during the first decades of the period, but went out of fashion. The military wore helmets almost completely closed over the face, but had barrow slits to see and to breathe.
Goffered fillet
Fourteenth Century
In the 14th century, the crespine hairstyle was the main formal hairstyle. The braids were brought up on either side of the face to form two vertical pillar-like structures which were supported by a frame hanging from a metal fillet above the eyebrows. This hairstyle was worn by both men and women. The liripipe was a lengthy tube that hung down from the hood on a head. Mainly labourers wore this. The coif, a hat that rested towards the back of the head and tied in the front was worn till the end of the century. There was also the bycocket hat, which was a crown with an upturned brim brought to a point in the front.
Crespine Hairstyle
Fifteenth Century
Women now started to wear templettes, which were large box like bosses one the ears designed with golf fret studded with jewels that continued above the forehead. Templettes were the main headwear worn indoors during this time. The cointoise was very popular with women fashion, it was a veil of gauze either attached to the apex of the cone or swather around, it hung loosely over the shoulder. Men hats were now decorated with feathers because feathers came into fashion during the 15th century. The military now made a movable visor on the helmet for the knights to move up and down.
Cointoise
Sixteenth Century
A popular form of headwear for women was the gorget over the left shoulder and the liripipe over the right. The gable was introduced to women, it was worn by french women. It was a round shape headwear worn over the coifed has a veil attached to the back, but it also displays the front part of the hair. Men wore a hats shaped like a sugar-bag that was made of leather, with an upturned brim varying in width from front to the sides. Cut leather strips were also placed on top. The men also wore a beret, which was a skull cap with no brim, but the hair is brushed into large think bunches on both sides of the face and touched the shoulders. During this century children started to wear more hats, the boys wore little skull caps with hair brushed all around it. The girls wore a Tudor cap.
Beret
Seventeenth Century
Dutch women would wear a very small cap, shaped in linen and fitted closely over sleek head and neatly coiled bun. The hairstyle changed for women, women wore their natural curly hair short along the sides and coiled in the back. Men wore hats that the crown was taller and a string of beads was thrown around it, with a think brim at the end around the head. Sometimes the brim would be so think you couldn't even see the top of the hat and they would add a huge feather to the side, this is called a Cavalier hat. Children also wore this style of hat. Men grew their hair out as long as it could go (passing the shoulders).
Cavalier Hat
Eighteenth Century
Women wore a head-dress known as the fontange or tour. This was a popular look during this century. It was fan-shaped pleats with stiff ribbon bows and a deeper lace edge to the cap. Older women adopted a cap with spreading wings on either side of the face, this is called a pulteney. The toupee was introduced to men in the 17th century. Beaver furs were the most popular material for making hats, these hats were called castors. A splendid tricorne hat was a hat the pointed out at three corners and had a feather sandwiched between the brim and the crown. The children wore pinners with white streamers on the back. The military wore a hat called a busby which is a tall hat of bearskin, black stable, or black Persian lamb.
Nineteenth Century
Short hairstyles with a turban thrown over became very popular for the 19th century. Forward-perching hats were in high fashion close to the end of the century. An example is a narrow brim of small, high-crowned black velvet model nearly touching the eyebrows. Men wore hats with a large curved brim slanted deeply down at the back and front. This has stood tall and was made out of leather. The stovepipe hats also came into style which is a very tall structured hat with a brim. Men also wore a hat called a boater hat. Little girls mainly wore a bonnet. The military wore a hat called shako, which had a leather peak and was ornamented with a plume or tuft in front. They also wore a tiny pill-box that tilted to the side and had a chin strap.
Busby Hat
Boater Hat
Twentieth Century
The women wore a veil-trimmed hat that has a medium sized brim surmounted with flowers and ribbons. Hats during this century kept getting larger and larger. Women used straw hats for summer with flowers on them. They also wore a hat called the cloche, which was a deep inverted-bowl-like crown and descended over the eyebrows. Men wore a Robin Hood style hat. Women and girls wore a sun-bonnet hat when out working in the fields to shade away the sun. Hats started to be designed by jobs, railway workers wore a pillbox hat, police wore a high navy-blue helmet, fireman wore fireman's helmet
