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Cowboy hat
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The cowboy hat is a high-crowned, wide-brimmed hat best known as the defining piece of attire for the American cowboy. Today it is worn by many people, and is particularly associated with ranch workers in the western and southern United States, western Canada and northern Mexico, with country-western singers, and for participants in the North American rodeo circuit. It is recognized around the world as part of Old West cowboy lore. The shape of a cowboy hat's crown and brim are often modified by the wearer for fashion and to protect against weather.
It is an item of apparel that can be worn in any corner of the world, and receive immediate recognition as part of American cowboy culture.
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Encyclopedia
The cowboy hat is a high-crowned, wide-brimmed hat best known as the defining piece of attire for the American cowboy. Today it is worn by many people, and is particularly associated with ranch workers in the western and southern United States, western Canada and northern Mexico, with country-western singers, and for participants in the North American rodeo circuit. It is recognized around the world as part of Old West cowboy lore. The shape of a cowboy hat's crown and brim are often modified by the wearer for fashion and to protect against weather.
It is an item of apparel that can be worn in any corner of the world, and receive immediate recognition as part of American cowboy culture.
The first western model was the open crowned "Boss of the Plains," and after that came the front creased Carlsbad, destined to become “the” cowboy style. The high crowned, wide brimmed, soft felt western hats that followed are intimately associated with the cowboy image.
Design
Modern cowboy hats are made of fur-based felt, straw or, less often, leather. They are sold with a tall, rounded crown and a wide flat brim. They have a simple sweat band on the inside to stabilize the fit of the hat, and usually a small decorative hat band on the outside of the crown. Hats are customized by creasing the crown and rolling the brim. Often a more decorative hatband is added. In some places, "stampede strings" or "wind strings" are also attached. They can be manufactured in virtually any color, but are most often seen in shades of beige, brown and black. Beginning in the 1940s, pastel colors were introduced, seen often on hats worn by movie cowboys and rodeo riders.
"Today's cowboy hat has remained basically unchanged in construction and design since the first one was created in 1865 by J.B. Stetson."
History
The concept of a broad-brimmed hat with a high crown worn by a rider on horseback can be seen as far back as the Mongolian horsemen of the 13th century A tall crown provided insulation, the wide brim, shade. The Spanish developed a flat-topped sombrero, which they brought to Mexico., which was modified by the vaquero into the round-crowed "Mexican" sombrero seen today. Other influences included various wide-brimmed hats worn by farmers and stockmen in the eastern United States, as well as the Hardee hat design used by the United States Cavalry.
"Cowboy hats go back to almost the inception of the cowboy himself." However, It is not clear when the cowboy's hat began to be named as such. Westerners originally had no standard head wear. People moving west wore many styles of hat, including top hats, derbies, remains of Civil War headgear, sailor hats and everything else. The working cowboy wore wide-brimmed, high-crowned hats long before the invention of the modern design.
The original "“Boss of the Plains," manufactured by John Batterson Stetson in 1865, was flat-brimmed, had a straight sided crown, with rounded corners. These light-weight, waterproof hats, were natural in color, with four inch crowns and brims. A plain hatband was fitted to adjust head size. The sweatband bore Stetson’s name. While only making one style of hat, they came in different qualities ranging from one-grade material at five dollars apiece to pure beaver felt hats for thirty dollars each. A large brimmed felt hat, designed for plantation workers in the West Indies was previously produced by Christy's hat factory in Park Lane, Bristol, England. But Stetson was the first to market the "Boss of the plains," to Cowboys, where it has remained a universal image of the American West.
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