How hat fashion has evolved throughout history - Alison L. Goodrum

It is possible that no two people will agree a shortlist of the most interesting, unusual or important hats from history. Subjectivity and debate lie at the heart of such exercises. Amber Butchart, a dress historian, offers us her picks in this article on History’s Most Iconic Hats, which examines depictions of hats in the archives of the English Heritage organization. Would your own list differ?

Museums and archives around the world are custodians of historic hats and headgear with collections ranging across time periods and cultures. Explore these for yourself: the Victoria & Albert Museum in London has a searchable online collection of hats spanning seventeen centuries. Highlights from this collection went on public display for the Hats: An Anthology by Stephen Jones exhibition, 2009 (catalogue details here). The Metropolitan Museum of Art in New York also has a searchable online catalogue of its collection, with the results of a keyword search for ‘hats’ available here. Similarly, The Kyoto Costume Institute, Japan, has a readily accessible digital archive with many exemplars of headwear, including this cloche style from the 1920s. Additionally, certain museums and institutions are dedicated specifically to the history of the hat. Among them: The Hat Works, Stockport, England; The Culture Trust, Luton, England; Museu Chapelaria, São João da Madeira, Portugal; Atelier-Musée du Chapeau, Chazelles-Sur-Lyon, France; Deutches HutMuseum, Lindenberg, Germany; Museo del Sombrero de Paja Toquilla, Cuenca, Ecuador.

One of the most obvious functions of headwear from the past has been to signal power and status. Often, leaders and monarchs have been symbolized by an elaborate or highly decorated crown or headdress, which is passed from generation to generation as a ceremonial gesture of continuity. Imagine for a moment how it feels, both physically and emotionally, to wear such headgear. The playwright, William Shakespeare, alluded to the ‘burden’ in Henry IV, Part II, with the much-quoted line “heavy is the head that wears the crown”. What is your interpretation of this quotation? In this documentary clip from 2018, Queen Elizabeth II, offered a candid account of wearing and balancing the Imperial State Crown during her Coronation ceremony. Whilst this documentary clip gives a behind-the-scenes glimpse of hat designer, Philip Treacy’s, process when working on adaptations to the crown for the Coronation of HRH Charles III in 2023. However, power is not only signaled by a crown. Learn about the significance of Anthony Eden’s homburg hat during his tenure as British Prime Minister during the mid-1950s via this podcast. And discover the power dynamics, symbolism and historical references caught up in the choice of headwear donned by First Lady, Melania, at President Trump’s inauguration 2025, in this essay featured on the Goodrum & Merryweather millinery website.

The stories, traditions, people and processes involved in the making of hats have seldom been recorded or told and may be regarded as ‘hidden histories’. However, some primary source material in the form of old, traditional, training manuals for novice milliners has been digitized and is searchable online here. These instruction books form a fascinating record of historical practices, with examples ranging through 1897, 1915, 1919 and 1922. To discover more about these marginalized histories of makers and making, this book by Nadine Stewart supplies a deep dive and academically advanced consideration of those laboring behind-the-scenes to design and construct hats from the eighteenth to the twentieth century. Other, theoretically-informed, academic books on the history and politics of the hat have been published by Drake Stutesman and also Clair Hughes. This short film, introduced by curator Lucie Whitmore, focuses on the life and work of mid-century milliner, Otto Lucas, and showcases examples of his designs held in the Museum of London archives. Bringing the discussion up-to-date, this video presents a portrait of the London-based contemporary milliner, Awon Golding, supplying insight on her creative process, inspiration, working life and design ethos.

Millinery is not the only sector of the fashion industry to have a hidden history in which dangerous and unregulated manufacturing practices threatened the safety, health and well-being of workers – and also wearers. We have learned how the use of mercuric nitrate in the production of hats was potentially harmful but there are numerous other examples from the historical wardrobe that suggest hats and hatting were far from being isolated or exceptional cases. To learn more, refer to this video on 10 Fashion Trends That Are Super Dangerous and these books by Alison Matthews David and Carolyn Day on the perils of fashionable dress and dressing, past and present.

Finally, if all of this ‘hat talk’ has inspired you to make your own hat, instructions on how to fold a traditional ‘pressman’-style hat from a sheet of newspaper are available in picture format here and video format here.