Posted
on May 15, 2014
Ever since humans first became humans – ever since they first wore ANYTHING – they have covered their heads against the cold or against the sun. From hoods to head wraps, turbans to scarves, baseball caps to top hats, bowlers to boaters, people have sought protection for their precious brain-boxes as well as followed fashion by making, buying, and wearing hats.
Today
is supposed to be the day when we Northern-Hemisphere types put away
our warm hats—the stocking caps, felt hats, etc.—and replace them
with cooler straw hats that will keep the sun off of our heads and
faces without keeping our heads so toasty warm. I think that the idea
is that straw hats are woven more loosely than, say, felted
fabric—and so our heads are more ventilated.
One
of the most popular straw hat styles for men has been the Panama hat.
The are made in Ecuador, not Panama, but they were shipped to ports
in Panama, where travelers and merchants often came to make
purchases. In the1800s the Panama hat was showcased in Paris at the
Universal Show, and soon it became a must-have accessory for the rich
and well-traveled. Famous people of the 19th and 20th Centuries who wore and were photographed in Panama hats include Theodore Roosevelt, Winston Churchill, Nikita Khrushchev, and Harry Truman.
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| Teddy Roosevelt and Paul Newman, sporting Panama hats. |
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| A hat factory in Ecuador |
A straw hat made from actual straw is the boater, also called a basher, skimmer,
cady, katie, somer, or sennit hat. It is made from stiff sennit
straw. 
A boater has a stiff flat crown and brim, and it often sports a ribbon as a hat band. These hats were popular in the late 1800s and early 1900s, especially when boating (hence the name).
Nowadays they
are more common as part of a costume, especially for a barbershop
quartet, rather than as a fashion, although a thinner, softer version
crops up as popular now and again. Boaters have hung on as a part of
boys' school uniforms in some countries as well.
Straw
hats for men and women, boys and girls, continue to be varied and
popular. They're big in casual looks, on beaches, at resorts, and (as always) in the summertime.
Check out this video on how one particular kind of straw hat is made.
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