Friday is Wear a Hat Day for Brain Tumour Research. Lynne Mortimer looks at the joy of hats and the famous hat-wearers.
According to the adslogans website, the phrase “if you want to get ahead, get a hat”, created for a 1952 Hat Council advertisement, was invented by one, Charles Catlin. The story goes he showed his portfolio at a job interview but failed to get the position and then, some months later, saw his slogan on an advert all over London Underground. And he was very upset.
Today, the Hat Council is no more and hats are no longer a daily wardrobe essential. Rewind through history, however, and head wear is a defining item. A crown transferred from the head of a king killed in battle to the head of his conqueror.
The admiral’s bicorn as made famous by Horatio, Lord Nelson and Napoleon Bonaparte; Winston Churchill’s homburg, Abraham Lincoln’s silk stove pipe top hat; Charlie Chaplin’s bowler; Carmen Miranda’s confection of fruit; Che Guevara’s beret; Frank Sinatra’s fedora; Bob Marley’s woollen beanie, Sherlock Holmes’ deerstalker, the cowboy’s stetson.
Today, hats are most often associated with royalty, catwalks, the beach and the ubiquity of baseball caps, worn frontways and backwards.
Roll back to the London crowds celebrating victory in 1918 after the First World War and most men were in hats or caps. Look at the crowds at the 1945 VE day celebrations and there are few hats.
When I went to my all-girls secondary school in 1966, a beret was part of the uniform. Older girls would zap around the cloakroom and snip off its small felt stalk, a process known as christening.
Today, hats tend to be confined to special occasions such as weddings, ladies’ days at the races, county shows, meeting the Queen.
Other than that hats today are largely the preserve of the uniformed services, most notably the police officer’s helmet and the grenadier guards’ bearskin.
I recall one ageing socialite appearing on breakfast TV and applying her make up without a mirror. When she had finished, she produced a large floppy hat from her bag and rammed it on her head, announcing: “And if you do look a complete mess, a hat will cover it up.”
Among those supporting this year’s Wear a Hat Day are Norwich City Chairman Ed Balls (I’m hoping for a knitted bobble hat in green and yellow), who says: “I am delighted to lend my support to this wonderful campaign. Working together we will make a difference for those diagnosed with a brain tumour.” Actor Nigel Havers, who lived in Suffolk as a boy, says: “You can have fun wearing any kind of hat whilst raising awareness for an important cause. It is shocking that just one per cent of the national spending on cancer research is allocated to this devastating disease.”
braintumourresearch.org offers fundraising ideas for events on Wear a Hat Day (see website for more):
• Coffee Morning, Ladies Lunch or Afternoon Tea - with everyone in their favourite hat or tea cosy.
• Hat Hoopla – Persuade local businesses, friends and family to donate some tempting prizes, lay them out in a line, then test your aim; win the prize your hat lands on!
• Big Hatty Bake Off – A hat-shaped baking competition or host a delicious bake-sale
• Pass the Hat – collecting money in a big hat
• Hat Quiz – A selection of quizzes are available on the charity’s Hatters Workshop on the website.
• Hat Walkabout – A hat-themed sponsored walk
• Design Your Own – Grown-ups and children can get creative, designing and making their own #hattastic creations – think toilet rolls, pipe cleaners and lots of glitter.
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