Famous Hats

A hat does not become famous simply because it looks well on the wearer. They become famous because over time they come to represent so much of the character of the head beneath it. They become icons, a part of our collective consciousness and culture.

We celebrate them here.

Abraham Lincoln’s Top Hat – The American President is forever associated with his Stove-pipe Top hat, as was highly fashionable during his era. Apparently, conscious he was unable to trust anyone during the American Civil war, he kept his most secret letters in there!

Che Guevara’s Black beret with gold star People often use items of clothing to identify with the philosophy and beliefs of others and no hat speaks more political volumes than a black beret with a gold star, as worn by Che. This passionate, highly educated and controversial revolutionaryleader has captured the imagination of idealists since the 50′s. Today he has been forever iconized in that picture wearing that hat.

Don Drapers Grey fur felt fedora. In the mid-twentieth century, a grey fedora with a black band was as basic to a mans wardrobe as blue jeans or a white shirt is today. Don is always with his hat, it is his companion – battered and worn from every-day use. He is a strong male at a time when manliness ruled the world. The hat is as much a part of his image, his persona as a morning whiskey or his confident stride.

Coco Chanels Straw Hat Gabrielle began her career as a milliner, attracting attention from fashionable Parisiennes with her straw boater. She took traditionally masculine styles and adapted them for women, making her simple designs stand out against a sea of feathers and bows. At a time when women’s fashion was restrictive and silly, a generation sat up and took notice of her practical approach. Her redefining women’s attire has been credited with greatly benefited a cultural shift in the perception of women in society.

Jackie Kennedy’s white pill box. Jackie took a plain hat and made it a twentieth century icon. It’s simplicity echoed her own sense of elegance and decorum in a similar fashion to Coco Chanel. Less is more. While style icon Jackie did her bit for the millinery world, her husband, John, was the first US president to not wear a hat and is often blamed for the demise of hat wearing amoung younger men.

Buster Keatons Pork Pie. Keaton hand-made his own hats which became as much a part of his comedy as his acrobatics. He used his hat to represent the dignity of his characters. Whether tattered and worn as a man down on his luck or stiff and perfect for the pompus dandy, the audience could was always cued how to feel about the man by his hat. If it blew off you want him to get it back, If it got stomped, you were outraged for him. There is perhaps no greater or perfect prop for an entertainer to use than his hat.