From Yona Lesger, author of Hats! written with Elise Naish, Veronica Main and Vanessa Jones. With a foreword by celebrated milliner Stephen Jones.
Yona Lesger is a curator and has worked at the Culture Trust, where she curated the Hats Made Me Exhibition!, as well as the Victoria & Albert Museum, where she began her career in the fashion and performance departments. She holds an undergraduate degree in Performance Costume from the Edinburgh College of Art and a postgraduate degree in fashion history from the Courtauld Institute of Art.
A hat isn’t just a hat. My interest in hats, and fashion and costume more generally, never came from the particular decorations that were fashionable during a period (as much as I love the craft behind decorations too!). I was drawn to clothing for its ability to represent changes in society, science, politics and culture. Within clothing, headwear is perhaps even more unique. It can take almost any shape and it associates with one of the most important parts of the body – the head – yet can be taken off in a second. Societal changes gave rise to: the swimming cap thanks to George Oenslager’s method of speeding up the vulcanization of rubber (science), the Pussyhat in protest of Donald Trump’s inauguration (political), and the turban in European womenswear thanks to the Ballets Russes’ performances in the 1910s, and Vogue’s editor-in-chief and the sale of the original costumes in the 1960s.
You may believe such stories are limited to a small number of hats but even the hats in your wardrobe have fascinating histories. Just between five of the most common styles, their backgrounds span sport, marketing, working history, the military, protest, theatre, cross dressing, and craftmanship.
These are the fascinating stories behind the hats you may well have in your wardrobe.
Beret
Hats similar to the beret are thought to date back to the Bronze Age. Valued for its practicality, the shape of the modern beret developed in the Basque Country, and it was widely worn by Spanish and French labourers. Although it had originally been made by hand, by the late 19th century French entrepreneur Pierre Laulhère developed machinery that could make berets. Around the same time, it was used for the first time as part of a military uniform by the French Chasseurs Alpins, and the use of miliary berets became widespread in the 20th century, being portable, cheap to produce and easily manufactured in a wide range of colours.
In 1960, the iconic photo by Alverto Korda of Che Guevara wearing a black beret cemented the use of the beret as a medium for political protest. Then in 1966, Black Panther Party founders Huey P. Newton and Bobby Seale were inspired to adopt a black beret after seeing members of the French Resistance wearing them in a film about World War II. Combined with black leather jackets, black trousers and light blue shirts, the beret invoked a soldier’s uniform, representing the Panthers’ place on the front line in the fight against racial inequality in the United States.
The French Chasseurs Alpins who pioneered the beret as part of a military uniform. These men were photographed by Harris & Ewing, 1918. Courtesy of Library of Congress.
A 1970s beret from a member of the Black Panther party with patches that read ‘BLACK - CULTURE - PRIDE’ and ‘FREE ANGELA DAVIS’. Courtesy of Collection of the Smithsonian National Museum of African American History and Culture.
Baseball Cap
When American baseball team the New York Knickerbockers formalized their uniform in 19 June 1846, it’s unlikely that they expected their headpiece to evolve into one of the most common hat styles in the world – the baseball cap. Within a few years, they’d replaced their wide-brimmed hat, made from plaited wood strips, for a merino-wool version. This eventually got a short visor and six-pannelled crown. The Detroit Tigers then launched the style-defining baseball-cap logo when they put their namesake animal on their caps in 1901.
The rise of television further promoted the cap. The first Major League game aired in 1939, and by 1945 every team was wearing its own branded cap. The 1960s and ’70s saw the introduction of the size-adaptable cap (using a clasp or plastic strap), allowing them to be mass produced at low cost and making them a marketing tool across many sectors. In the 1980s, Major League Baseball supplier New Era started to sell official caps to fans. For the 1996 World Series, film director Spike Lee – a dedicated New Era caps wearer – convinced the company to stray from making caps in team colours and produce a cap to match his jacket. This led to caps being produced in all colourways. A sporting trend that began in the 1860s is now a huge global market – worth over US $21 billion in 2024.
The New York Knickerbockers in 1858 with an early version of the baseball cap, 1858.
New York Yankees outfielder Robert William Meusel, 1920s. Courtesy of the Library of Congress.
Fascinator/Hatinator
The fascinator, today known as a small headpiece attached to a comb, clip, elastic bands, wire prongs or a headband, has been in and out of fashion for 400 years. Originally referring to a decorative head and shoulder covering like a shawl, by the 19th century its name became interchangeably used with ‘cloud’, possibly as this light hair decoration kept a coiffure intact. Its popularity has surged in the 21st century and it’s now famously associated with the spectacle of Ascot. Nonetheless, it was banned from the Royal Enclosure in 2012 for being too informal, and replaced with the hatinator. A hatinator is a cross between a hat and a fascinator – fastened on the head in a similar way to a fascinator but with a broader base. Over recent years, the hatinator has been worn regularly by royalty and for events like weddings and horse races, and its base provides a perfect alternative to a more formal hat for the Royal Enclosure.
Fascinator made by Pia Perttula for John Boyd Hats. Photographed by Jay Rowden. Courtesy of John Boyd Hats.
Fedora
This men’s felt hat with a wide brim and central crease owes its name and popularity to a play by the French author Victorien Sardou. Fédora follows the story of a Russian princess as she seeks out her fiancé’s killer but falls in love with him. Opening in Paris in 1882, Fédora’s leading role was played by the theatrical legend Sarah Bernhardt, who was famous for wearing men’s clothing, both onstage and off. The felt hat she wore as the character is said to have sparked a trend for women, although the fashion may have arisen in the United States, with later performances of the play. Some were critical of the fedora, favouring the physically and symbolically rigid Victorian bowler. But the fedora’s popularity endured, eventually with men, as did its association with performers.
A brown felt men’s fedora from Marion, Illinois, 1950s or early 1960s. Courtesy of Adrian Kotlarz / The Culture Trust.
Panama
Despite the name, the Panama is a hat that’s always been made in Ecuador, and is now listed as part of that country’s UNESCO Intangible Cultural Heritage. Woven from toquilla straw, it represents craftsmanship dating back at least 300 years. The finer the straw, the more time-consuming it is to weave (and the higher quality the hat will be) – a high-end model can take months to make. Worn as protection against the sun, a Panama can be rolled and stored, with well-made hats like the premium Montecristi lasting a lifetime.
An Ecuadorian toquilla straw weaver is making a Panama hat base. Courtesy of Peter van der Sluijs.
Discover another 130 hat styles in Hats! Style and Statement in Global Headwear, with a foreword by renowned milliner Stephen Jones OBE and contributions by Elise Naish, Veronica Main and Vanessa Jones.
Find out more here.
