HEALTH MATTERS:A hat is much more than a head covering: it makes a statement about the wearer, writes MARIE MURRAY.
Whe’er I go they shout, ‘Hello!
Where did you get that hat?’
HATS ARE of greater psychological significance than might be supposed. Paintings, mosaics and sculptures from ancient times portray their role and symbolism in human life. Because hats are much more than head coverings. They are statements about the wearer.
Hats may be worn less routinely than in past times but they continue to signify occupation, profession, rank, social activity, special occasions and fashion choice. In some climates they are necessary for survival, in others their survival depends upon fashion’s whim.
But whether fashionable or functional, to wear a hat is to make a statement, the meaning which is revealed in the material, shape, slant and extent of the head covering. Think of the bonnet, boater, busbie, derby, sou’wester, homburg, trilby, top hat, turban, panama, baseball cap, fez, visor and sunhat. Hats say something about their wearers.
Hats may be frivolous or functional, self-effacing or outlandishly coquettish. They may be the most recognisable part of a uniform. They may signify power, position and might, or status within a group. They may signify lack of status. They may be used to publicise and advertise a product or they may be worn to hide the wearer from view.
Hats may be practical, sensible, seductive, themed, utilitarian, utterly impractical or of religious significance as symbolised by the mitre, tiara, skullcap and camauro. Hats may be protective, sports orientated, protocol-driven or high fashion. The hat proposes what the wearer wishes. It is a stark, immediately visible form of non-verbal communication. Its meanings are many.
And it is not just the hat that tells us something about the wearer: it is the origin and era it comes from, the slant at which it is worn, the purpose for which it is worn and the air and personality of the person whom it adorns.
Take the marabou, the beret, the cloche and the cocktail hat, the Hollywood hats of former times and the ethnic and op-art hats of the 60s. Each one has its history and its place in the history of the hat.
A hat may be pushed onto the head, or tipped at a jaunty angle. It may be strapped, tied by ribbons or secured by pins. It may hide the face as in the concealment and mystery of the veiled hat or it may be a frippery upon the head inviting and revealing: a hat to attract.
Hats have been worn by men to protect them in battle, to threaten the enemy, to identify their allegiance in war and to adorn them in peaceful times.
There was a time when men especially wore their hats with panache and when they symbolised suave incalculable masculinity. For example, can you imagine Humphrey Bogart without his hat? His hat was a statement about who he was and what he represented.
The metaphoric meaning of hats is extensive. Wearing too many hats, “changing hats”, “tipping the cap”, “going cap in hand”, “if the cap fits”, “passing the hat” – all these ordinary expressions remind us that the hat features in our emotional language as well as in our physical world. The expression “here’s your hat and what’s your hurry” encapsulates the classic Irish mixed message of welcome and dismissal while we take our “hats off” to someone whose achievements we wish to praise.
Psychology too has appropriated the hat in analogy and analyses of the meaning of the hat in different contexts. Think of Edward de Bono’s “Six Thinking Hats” technique which involves approaching a problem from six different viewpoints.
Why did Van Gogh paint so many self-portraits wearing a straw hat? What was the significance of the Mad Hatter’s Tea Party? How did the bowler hat become emblematic of the British business man?
Why was the term “as mad as a hatter” accorded to milliners of former times? Why do Ascot and hats form close word associations? Why is the Luke Song hat which Aretha Franklin wore at President Obama’s inauguration important?
What is the origin of gentlemen raising their hats to acknowledge women? What made Sherlock Holmes’s hat special? What did cowboys do with their hats to deceive their enemies in a shoot-out
Why is it that magicians pull their rabbits from hats and not from any other clothing item?
And what happened to the Easter Bonnet, “with all the frills upon it”? What happened that hat that recorded the end of Lent, the celebration of spring and the bright joyous expression of occasion?
To answer the above puzzles it is necessary to “put our thinking caps on”.
Clinical psychologist and author Marie Murray is the director of the student counselling services in UCD