What is a Pith Helmet

Crude forms of pith helmets have been around since the 1840's. and are typical associated with European colonial rule. All colonial powers used versions of the pith helmet. Even the US Army adopted it in 1880's for soldiers serving in the Southwest US.
The shape may have been influenced by the German PICKELHAUBE, worn during the Franco-Prussian war. The space for all intended purposes, is a man cloche.  Une cloche being french for a bell.  The cloche is more associated with ladies hats.

The shoal (sola)-style pith helmet—also known as the Bombay Bowler, the sun helmet, topee, shoal topee, salacity or topi, is a lightweight helmet made of shoal pith, with a cloth cover and a particular design and thickness designed to shade and insulate the wearer’s head from the sun. It was veery popular with the British colonialists in India, Pakistan, Egypt, Sudan, Iraq, Transjordan, Palestine, Sri Lanka, and other tropical and subtropical British colonies until the late 1960s.

The Shalo Pith used as the bass of the hat is a dried milky white spongy plant matter. Shalo grows in marshy waterlogged areas. When the pith helmet is soak din cold eater, the pith absurd the water and help deep the wearer cool in tropical climates. The original Indian shall helmets a re much lighter then the subsequent "cock" made pith helmets.

Later this style of hat became associated with colonial oppression and was slowly abandoned by the military, government, traffic police, etc. The Shola-style pith helmet usually has a flattened top and thick brim with either square or rounded edges. It is easily confused with other styles of "pith helmets" that were manufactured outside India and are usually made from cork or other materials. Some shola-style pith helmets feature a crisscross quilt-stitched cloth cover. 

classic shola pith helmet

note the tight 7 pleated puggaree

the under brims are traditionally green

note the design ventilation between the sweatband and the hat body.

the hat base is made of thick shola pith but it is very light weight.

The latter had more rounded edges at the brim. The cork-style pith helmets, contrary to their misleading name, are not made out of pith; they are much thinner, heavier, and more rounded on the top.

Both styles of hats feature puggarees (pleated hatbands on the outside of the hat), air vents, khaki or white covers, and green inner brim liners. Pith Helmets were originally white and it was not until the Anglo-Zulo war, that the British troops dyed their white helmets with tea and mud for better camouflage. After this episode, khaki became the standard issue for active tropical service.Some have chin straps made of leather, in others they are made of cloth. Some Shola-style pith helmets feature a thin leather belt that runs from under the puggaree across the top. The chin strap commonly runs across the front brim. Shola-style pith helmets are still being sold in Indian, Pakistani, and Nepali polo-equipment stores, though they are seldom used in actual polo matches.

At the same time the military adopted a similar helmet of dark blue covered cork and added a spiked top for a more aggressive look. The dark blue cloth hemet went on to become the hard British bobby hat which we know today. Many military pith helmets have regimental insignia and feathers added as decoration.

The "WOLSELEY PITH HELMET", which became poplar in the early 1900's, is a distinctive British pith helmet and was the official pith helmet of the British army 1899-1948. This variation of the helmet was named after (but not designed by) Sir Garnet Wolseley and widely used by the British Army and Colonial civil service from 1900. The Wolseley helmet differs from other pith helmets in having a more sloping brim with a widows peak at the front and back. The dome is also taller and more conical than the other more rounded variations. It is the helmet often portrayed as being worn by stereotypical "Gentleman Explorers".

It was worn by diplomatic and consular officials in hot climates. Higher ups, like Governors and Governor generals were allowed to add 10-inch red and white swan feather plumes.

The last time it was seen worn as a colonial hat symbol was at the handover of Hong Kong back to China in 1997.

WOLSELEY PITH HELMET WITH WIDOWS PEAK BRIM AND HIGH CONICAL CROWN.

Saint Laurent's spring 2015 showed nailed the American Canyon W2014 trend

Hedi Slimane covered all his bases in his spring AMERICAN CANYON 2015 collection.

Little Bugle Boy jackets, ponchos, sheepskins, army surplus, embroidered jeans, shamans, amulets, snakeskin boots, in fact all the drag that a garage band would need for a night on the town. And of course what 1960's inspired rock star wound be seen naked without a great hat.

The sound track was by the underground MYSTIC BRAVES, who look a little like The Beatles.

MYSTIC BRAVES

Their Desert Island LP cover, even has a very 1970's peace and live feel about it

DESERT ISLAND

WWW.MYSTICBRAVES.COM

The hat of the collection was a brown CORDOBES style with trim inspiration that can be seen on the Mystic Braves safari style hats.

Cordobes with metal band trim

Cordobes with grosgrain trim

Cordobes with feather trim

THE HATS OF THE MONTH (JULY 2014 MENS S15 FASHION RUNWAYS)

Hats were well represented on fashion run ways last month from London to Paris. We saw the gentleman traveler inspired floppy cerulean fedoras from Burberry.

 MAX MARA's resort collection gave us a playful leopard topper.

Rihanna was looking so romantic is a floppy floral bucket at the Brooklyn Nets game.

The hats kept turning heads for week 6/23 of the mens fashion week.

Buckets at CAVALI.

Buckets at ICEBERG.

VIVIENNE WESTWOOD continues her over sized hat crown but adds a pigs snout Will this be PHARRELL'S new look?

PIG IN THE HAT VERSUS CAT IN THE HAT

Saint Laurent's CORDOBES hat for her

and for him.

HAT DAY IN THE SUN - FREE HATS

Summer’s Safeguard: Hat Day in the Sun

Hat Day in the Sun

New York—The first day of summer isn’t officially until Saturday, but that hasn’t stopped the sun and the heat from making themselves know already.

That sunshine has its double edge, as dermatologists and other physicians can tell you.

Those concerns are behind the 7th annual “Hat Day in the Sun,” sponsored by The Headwear Association (THA).

Facebook Promos

To celebrate the THA is giving away thousands of free wide-brimmed sun-protection hats in cities across the country as part of a public awareness campaign to educate people that the right hat can protect against skin cancer, sun damage, and premature aging. Host cities include: New York, Philadelphia, Boston, Los Angeles and more.

In New York, “Hat Day in the Sun” is returning to Harlem’s Heaven Hat Boutique at 6 pm today. (For complete event details and all host cities, please visit: www.TheHeadwearAssociation.org/hat-day-in-the-sun)

Melanoma is the most common of all cancers, and 90% of all cases are caused by sun over-exposure. The right hat can protect against skin cancer, sun damage, and premature aging. For tips on how to select the best sun protection hat click here.

If you do not live in one of the host cities, check out the THA Facebook page for a chance to win a sun-protection hat. To win you need to “Like” the THA Facebook page and comment on your favorite hat.

Free hats are being provided by Broner, Dorfman Pacific, Bollman Hat Company, Magid, Wallaroo, San Diego Hat Company, Korber, and Head’n Home American Hat Makers.

BURBURRY PRORSUM- HAT KING OF THE S15 LONDON MENSWEAR SHOW

OMG, the clothes, so wearable, so chic, and the colors, j'adore the color, and the crowning glory, the jewel in the crown, the hat, in a gamut of colors to die for.  OK before, I get carried too far away, the hat, which Bailey used to pull all the looks together, is just not practical to wear. It is basically an unblocked felt capaline 3" brim, which will loose it shape in the first mist but who cares, it looks gorgeous in all the colors. A blocked safari with a raw edge would have been much better but who asked me!

unblocked felt hood

PHARELL INSPIRED CROWN BUT IT IS TOO FLOPPY FOR THE AVERAGE GUY. GIRLS WILL LOVE IT!

But darlin's we are talking fashion so who the F&*K cares about being practical. It is a fun collection inspired ny Bruce Chatwin, writer and adventure, was a British world traveler. Bailey use a book of Chatwin's "The History of English Tailoring" to print on T-shirts and the words "Exploration" and 'Adventurer" to print on leather jackets and weekend murses.
But it was the colors that make me shriek with delight.
Bravo, Mr. Bailey, Bravo.

3D PRINTED HATS

Gabriela Ligenza is definitely a pioneer when it comes to modern millinery. Her training as an architect and interior designer is easy seen in her millinery creations.
Gabriela has been making hats for the rich and  famous for the past 25 years. She travels back and forth from London to Italy. Her London store is on Ellis street, just around the corner from Sloane Square.
Her new 3D PRINTED COLLECTION of 5 silhouettes, is just wonderful and modern yet still classic in its lines. 3D printing offers milliners endless possibilities to individualize each hat, for each specific customers wants. Milliners will also be able to send the finished file to their overseas customer and the customer can have it printed locally. WOW, how exciting and brilliant!

Brava Gabriela, Brava!!!

The Poem Hat

The 3D POEM HAT is a wonderful idea as a special occasion hat. The words could be switched out for a brides favorite poem.

To see more of Gabriela's millinery go to.
www.gabrielaligenza.com

BOLIVIAN LADY BOWLER HATS

One of the things that sticks in the mind of most visitors to La Paz, is the traditional dress of many of the local women - an over sized-crowned bowler hat with satin binding, worn rakishly on the head and a long decorative skirt called a pollera or often 2,3 or more of them! These distinctive looking residents of the capital city are known as cholas or cholitas and have been wearing this traditional dress for many generations.

Cholita with her "BOMBIN"

The bowler hat, or Bombin as it is locally called, always seems too small for the owner and for some unknown reason is usually perched on top of the head rakishly tilted to one side . These hats are a source of pride for the cholas and theft of these hats straight from the wearers head is not unknown in La Paz; at a cost ranging from US$50 (wool felt) to US$200 (vicuna fur felt) it is not so surprising,  US$50 is about what an average Bolivian earns each month. The hats always seem sparkling clean and brand new, and it's not uncommon to see cholas covering their hats with plastic wrap when it rains to keep them that way.

CHOLITA WITH HATITUDE

I love the energy in this photograph by Rochelle Comeaux. the personalized bombin, the proud display of family gold, the twirling of the petticoat and the innocents of the freshly cut flowers.

For generations, the cholitas (indigenous Aymara and Quechua women) were refused entry to taxis, restaurants and even public buses. They were forbidden to walk in the main square of La Paz and in the wealthy suburbs of Zona Sud. But, today with a renewed confidence gained from education, these ladies are becoming a driving force in modern Bolivia. These former downtrodden, discriminated against, "maids to the middle class" are gaining clout with the economic and political world of Bolivia.

If you want to buy a Chola hat in La Paz, get your noggin over to Callejon Tarapaca, a small street in the Garita de Lima area. It is packed with milliners making and selling hats. This is also where the cholitas go to have their Bombins spruced up for special occasions.

The wearing of the hat originates from the times when they were in fashion in Europe and were also worn by the upper class Spaniard settlers in La Paz. For a long time people of mixed Spanish and indigenous blood were not respected by neither the Spanish nor the indigenous population, as pure blood was seen as the ideal by both sides. The Spanish thought the indigenous to be simple and savage people whilst the indigenous despised the Spanish for the invasion of their homelands and maltreatment of them. Due to there being less Spanish women than Spanish men it was inevitable that some would take wives from the indigenous population and as time went on the mestizo population (mixed Spanish and indigenous blood) started to increase. The mixed race women became known as Cholas and the traditional dress was most likely adapted from a mix of the Spanish fashion of the time and the indigenous traditional dresses in order to give themselves a sense of identity. Originally the men were known as cholos but today this is seen as a derogatory term and is not often heard.

The long flowing skirt that is worn by the cholas is known as a pollera and is often covered in sequins with decorative seams. The poller is pull high up on the bum to create the illusion of a bigger buttocks. Beneath the poller is usually a layer of underskirts called centros. As many as 20 polleras and centros can be worn together (not an uncommon amount in festivals) although a combination totalling 3 or 4 is more likely. This can make these tough looking women seem extremely wide and definitely makes them hard to pass on the narrow streets!

The proud cholita uniform. Bowler hat, tightly pulled back hair, big gold jewelry, shawl, skirt and petticoat.

To the unknowing tourist it seems like many of the cholas wear very similar clothing and that fashion must be an unknown entity to them, but in fact each year there are new styles of pollera, different fabrics in season and even chola fashion shows. Limbert Cussi, is the leading Cholita fashion designer. Cholitas can be founds all over Bolivia but the hat and shirts change with each region. The style of the hat pretty much stays the same from year to year, possibly due to the cost.

Whilst the chola style of dress is still very much in evidence in La Paz, like so many places, things are changing . More and more the young girls are turning to western style dress and forsaking the traditional costume of their mothers, at least in their day to day lives. This is to be expected really as more indigenous are entering higher education and pursuing professional careers. Culturally it is expected that they wear more business like attire to become successful. You will find many indigenous girls in the universities of La Paz these days but are unlikely to find any wearing a pollera and hat.
Maybe for the first time since the chola traditional dress was adopted a difference of opinion regarding fashion has developed between daughters and mothers but there doesn't seem to be a danger of the traditional costume disappearing altogether. It still features strongly in festivals and formal celebrations for both young and old alike.

for more information on CHOLITAS GO TO.WWW.CHOLITAPACENA.COM