TextileGlossary.com

Headgear, headwear or headdress is the name given to any element of clothing which is worn on one's head. Common forms of headgear include hats, caps, bonnets, hoods, headscarves and helmets. Headgear can have great symbolic significance: in a monarchy, for example, royalty often have special crowns. Hair accessories and replacements, such as wigs, may also be included in the category of headgear. Headgear can serve a variety of purposes:

Types of headgear

Hats

Hats often have a brim all the way around the rim, and may be either placed on the head, or secured with hat-pins (which are pushed through the hat and the hair). Depending on the type of hat, they may be worn only by men, women or by either sex.

Caps

Caps are generally soft, and often have no brim, or just a peak (like on a baseball cap). For many centuries women wore a variety of head-coverings which were called caps. In the 18th and 19th centuries for example a cap was a kind of head covering made of a flimsy fabric such as muslin; they were worn indoors or under bonnets by married women, or older unmarried women who were "on the shelf" (e.g. mob-cap).

Bonnets

Bonnets, as worn by women, were generally brimless hats worn outdoors which were secured by tying under the chin, and which covered no part of the forehead. Some styles of bonnets had a large peak which effectively prevented women from looking right or left without turning their heads. Bonnets worn by men and boys are generally distinguished from hats by being soft and having no brim - this usage is now rare (they would normally be called caps today).

Helmets

Helmets are designed to protect the head, and sometimes the neck, from injury. They are usually rigid, and offer protection from blows. Helmets are commonly worn in battle, on construction sites and in many contact sports.

Turbans

Turbans are primarily worn for two reasons. Firstly due to religious or cultural beliefs and secondly for protection from the elements, especially sun. So you will for example find that the Sikhs are required to wear a turban as a religious necessity while Arabs in the Middle-East wear it for protection and cultural reasons.

Hoods

Hoods today are generally soft headcoverings which form part of a larger garment like an overcoat, shirt or cloak. Historically, hoods were either similar to modern hoods, often forming part of a cloak or cape, or a separate form of headgear. Soft hoods were worn by men under hats. Women's hoods varied from close-fitting, soft headgear to stiffened, structured hoods (e.g. gable hood) or very large coverings made of material over a frame which fashionable women wore over towering wigs or hairstyles to protect them from the elements (e.g. calash).

Headgear, headwear or headdress is the name given to any element of clothing which is worn on one's head. Common forms of headgear include hats, caps, bonnets, hoods, headscarves and helmets. Headgear can have great symbolic significance: in a monarchy, for example, royalty often have special crowns. Hair accessories and replacements, such as wigs, may also be included in the category of headgear.