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Hat Tips
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Hat Wearing Tips
It's perfectly acceptable to have more than one hat of the same color!
Several different types of Red hats will add pizzazz to various outfits in your wardrobe.
Wear your hat on the top of your head, not on the back of your head. It should sit about one-finger width above your eyebrows and just above your ears. Very few people look better with their hats on the back of their heads.
Is your face round? Try asymmetrical styles, or wear a round shaped hat at an angle - it will draw the roundness out of your face.
Is your face narrow? Wear a big, upsweeping brim. It will broaden your face in a very flattering way.
If you're short, stay away from brims that will overwhelm your frame. Look for a pillbox with a flamboyant feather.
The Perfect Fit – Hat doesn’t fit quite right?
Sometimes it takes a bit of adjusting to make hats look their best. Try a few of these tips:
1. Turn the hat around on your head, trying it at different angles. Some hats look great backwards!
2. Do your hair. That is, if you normally wear your hair a certain way, make sure it is in that style when you put on the hat. Or, if you have longer hair, try the hat with an up-do. Some hats that look silly over long hair look great over a bun or French twist.
3. Stuff some tissue or papertowels inside the crown of the hat and try it on again to see if it looks better when it sits higher up on the head.
4. If the hat is too large, or if it looks better when it sits higher up, wear a headband or scarf around your head…under the hat.
OR
Apply weather stripping around the inside of the crown. This avoids extra damage to your hair styling. Weather stipping should be available at almost any hardware store. Just be sure to tape it in and test it BEFORE you adhere the stripping permanently to the inside of the hat.
Hat Glossary
Boater
A stiff, straight-brimmed, straw hat with a flat crown and a ribbon band. Introduced about 1864 for children, then worn by women. Also called Sailor.
Bowler
In 1850, William Bowler made a hard felt hat. It was created to protect the head while riding horseback. The hat has a low melon-shaped crown and a rounded brim that turns up at the sides. The hat shape was adapted for women and children. Also called Derby.
Brenton Sailor
Woman’s hat with a brim that turns up evenly all around.
Chapeau
French word for outdoor head covering. A chapeau has a crown and a brim.
Cloche
(Klosh, French word for bell.) Soft style of the 1920’s, fashioned from a hood of chiffon or handkerchief felt. Hat that covered the head to the neck in back; it came to the eyebrows in front. A flapper age, boyish style.
Cowboy Hat
Originally a felt hat worn by cattle herders. The 1980's “urban cowboys and cowgirls” were wearing straw and felt versions of this wide, rolled brim hat with high creased crown. Also called Stetson.
Derby
A stiff, hard, brown felt hat that had dome-shaped crown and a narrow, a slightly curled brim. Also called Bowler.
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.
Newsboy Cap
Soft fabric cap with full crown and visor that snaps to crown. Cap worn by children around 1920, who were also newsboys. Adapted for women’s wear in 1980’s.
Panama
Hand woven straw hat from leaves of the jipijapa (he-pi-ha-pa) plant that grows in Central and South America. Takes its name from Panama where it is sold.
Pillbox
Small cap that has a flat crown with straight sides. Fashion made popular in 1960’s by Jackie Kennedy.
Pork Pie
Men's hats with a low crown with telescoped flat top. Adapted for women.
Sailor
Flat-crowned, straight brimmed hat, usually made of straw. Grosgrain headband trimmed with flat bow at the side. Also called Boater.
Is there some truth to being “Mad As A Hatter”?
Hat makers inhaled fumes from the mercury that was part of the process of making felt hats. Not recognizing the violent twitching and derangement as symptoms of a brain disorder caused by mercury, people made fun of affected hat makers, often treating them as drunkards. In the U.S., the condition was called the “Danbury Shakes,” as Danbury, Connecticut was a hat making center. Mercury is no longer used in the felting process and hat making is safe.
Determining Hat Size
Most women’s hats are available only in One Size Fits Most. Actual sizing varies from designer to designer, but in general they will fit a head with a circumference of 21-1/2 to 22-1/4 inches. Some hats will fit a smaller or bigger head depending on the style. To determine your head size, use a measuring tape to measure around your head above your ears where you would wear your hat. If your head size falls in between two sizes choose the larger of the two sizes. A small piece of foam behind the sweatband can make a large hat perfect.
XS = 20-3/4 to 21 inches or Size 6-5/8 to 6-3/4 S = 21 to 21-1/2 inches or Size 6-7/8 to 7 M = 22 to 22-1/2 inches or Size 7-1/8 to 7-1/4 L = 22-3/4 to 23 inches or Size 7-1/4 to 7-3/8
