Love-Hat Relationship

Once upon a time, ladies didn't leave home unless they wore a hat. Gentlemen wore them, too. Theirs simply weren't as... remarkable.

Cloth worked fine during the Bible times.

Less romantically, during the Middle Ages, cloth hid filth and infestation.

Calico made great sun bonnets for prairie women.

Woven reeds for Egyptian and Asian headcoverings are recorded in historical texts.

The list of things women have worn on their heads is downright amusing.

Animal pelts....

felt... fruit and vegetables...

feathers.... jewels....

ribbons... nets...

real and silk flowers...

bird nests..
YES. Birds' nests have been the rave more than once.

Fashion for hats runs the gammut from The-Bigger-the-Better to Ridiculously-Small. They've been pinned to hair with eight-inch hatpins, strapped in place with elastic string, swathed into obedience with yards of chiffon scarves, and tied at jaunty angles with ribbons.

President Kennedy didn't wear a top hat for his innaguration--a break in tradition attributed to his pride over having a fine head of hair.

Women were slower to give up hats... but we have. Or had. Only now young guys and gals wear knit beanies. Girls are sporting crocheted oversized Tams. Crazy plush stuffed animal-type heads now adorn the heads of young, seemingly intelligent women. Fedoras and porkpies ride the nearly bald heads of twenty-somethings. Feather-and-net fascinators perch on princesses and cubicle-dwellers.

When shampoo didn't exist, I'll bet women gratefully stood before the mirror and sighed in relief that their hair didn't look grubby. Given the "opportunity" to wash my hair with mayonnaise or beer or eggs-and-Dreft, I'd buy a hat or two or twelve. I already like hats. Okay, so that was an understatement. I own a few dozen that span historical eras. But if I had to resort to historical hygiene, I'd develop a wild Love Hat Relationship!

"Hat head" supposedly is that yucky, mishapened, hair-stuck-to-scalp result of having worn and removed a hat.

I wonder if that is the truth, or if the cart got put before the horse. Is it really "hat head" because the hair looked so bad, a hat became cammoflage? Are hats getting a bad wrap?

Solomon said, "There is no new thing under the sun." Wise words, to be sure. But was he wearing a hat when he said it? Certainly, it applies to the feather/flapper/headband styles currently enjoying a revival!

So do you like wearing hats? Could this be *the* style trend this new year? What's your vote? Hats off? or Hat Heads Forever?

Cathy
PS. Patti-Jo, you win the Goody Bag of scrapbooking stuff! I need your snailmail addy.