By Molly Latterner
Why do people wear hats?
Well now a days people wear hats mostly for fashion, but in earlier days as much as 100,000 years ago people wore them for protection, communication, and decoration.
During the 1400’s European women wore tall cone-shaped hats called hennin. The hennin measured from 3 to 4 feet (.9 to 1.2 meters) high and it also had a long, floating veil. Then in the late 1700’s both men and women began to make the Gainsborough hat popular. This hat had a wide brim and was decorated with feathers and ribbons.
One of the most probable reasons people began to wear hats is because of climate. For example in the warmer climates people would wear wide brimmed hats to provide shade from the sun. In the colder climates, the Lapps in northern Europe, for example, wear tight fitting wool hats that have earflaps to protect them from the cold. Hats also can be worn to communicate what the certain person likes or does for a living.
Coal miners along with firefighters and matadors indicate the wearer’s occupation. Other people such as clowns wear colorful, ridiculous looking hats to express fun and happiness. Hats can also express religion. Among the members of the religious group known as the Amish, the width of the hat brim and the height of the crown can communicate one’s marital status. Most people wear hats that make them look attractive.
Although most people wear hats to make them look attractive, the hat’s main purpose may be for protection and communication. Much protective headgear, such as hoods and rain hats are both attractive and stylish. Caps of police officers and military personnel are designed to enhance the appearance of the uniform. Many decorative hats are worn as tradition. In Scotland people wear caps called tam-o-shanter that is part of their traditional costume.
So to answer the question of “Why do people wear hats?” I must say that the main purposes of hats are protection, like the hats of coal miners and construction workers, communication, such as the hats of police officers and military personnel and the purpose of decoration like, baseball hats and the hats they wore in the 1400’s in Europe. Although the main question at hand is “Why does Lynott wear the hat that he does?”