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Straw hats are a casual and carefree form of headgear in the West, suggesting idle summer days when a cool covering to protect the head against the sun is a requirement of civilized society. In other cultures, though, such as those in Asia, straw...
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Straw hats are a casual and carefree form of headgear in the West, suggesting idle summer days when a cool covering to protect the head against the sun is a requirement of civilized society. In other cultures, though, such as those in Asia, straw hats are used for the same protective purposes, but the wearers are usually workers toiling in fields. Because of the wide availability and low cost of straw and grass, which can be plaited to create cordage known as sennit, straw hats are thought to be one of the oldest types of hats. European artwork from the Middles Ages depicts people wearing straw hats, while palm-leaf hats in Central and South America date even earlier. By the 18th century, well-to-do European women had embraced the country styling of straw hats. The peasant look became fashionable, as wide-brimmed straw hats and high-crowned straw bonnets were adopted by the upper classes. Straw cloth was also employed for its country look and ability to keep heads cool. In England, especially in the Bedfordshire area about an hour’s drive north of London, straw hatmakers became a powerful industry that was intensely competitive with woolen hatmakers farther north. Like woolen hats, straw hats were blocked and formed in traditional shapes. There, though, the similarities ended, since straw hats were more conducive to naturalist looks than their felt counterparts. By the 1870s, small straw bonnets and wide-brimmed straw hats alike were loaded up with feathers and other decorative embellishments. At the same time, simple straw boaters with flat tops and brims came into vogue for both men and women. The origins of the design are difficult to pin down, but the Venetian gondoliers, who tied brightly colored ribbons around the crowns of their hats, were probably their inspiration. Around the same time, on the other side of the Atlantic, another straw-hat industry was finding its footing in Ecuador. There, the Panama hat was born. Unlike boaters and...
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