Metro Pulse/Artbeat/Headgear as Identity

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What:
Hats and Headdresses: Adornment of the Head from Around the World

Where:
UT's McClung Museum, 1327 Circle Park Drive (call 974-2144 for information)

When:
Mondays-Saturdays 9-5, Sundays 1-5, through August 31

McClung Museum models hats from around the world

by Heather Joyner

Think you know a thing or two about hats? Where does the expression "mad as a hatter" come from? What do the 100 pleats in a traditional chef's hat represent? (Answers at bottom).

If you're at a loss regarding the above, you're probably not alone. These days, milliners are about as common as scribes. But watch an old movie and you'll notice that almost all of the men have hats (not ball caps, but the real kind). Lots of people still sport substantial hats in winter, and women occasionally wear hats to church or just for fun, but hats don't seem as essential as they once did. Nevertheless, they continue to communicate ideas.

Enter mitrologist Stacey Miller. A collector of and authority on hats, New Jersey resident Miller is currently presenting approximately 100 of her treasures in an exhibit at the McClung Museum on the UT campus. Though it's a somewhat small show (and here for only 18 days longer), "Hats and Headdresses: Adornment of the Head from Around the World" is well worth seeing.

When I visited the exhibit recently, I was struck by the hats' remarkable colors and materials as well as their scope. Apparently, other gallery-goers were too. While I was there, two little girls dragged their father around by the hand, pointing excitedly. A large group of seniors seemed rapt as they moved about the well-illuminated exhibition space. Whatever the reasons for fascination, Miller says that hats "have significance beyond their artistic value...not only does the variety of shapes and materials reflect human ingenuity and creativity, but knowledge of the hat itself can provide insight into a culture."

So how does one become a hat aficionado? In Miller's case, her collection began in the late '70's while she was traveling from Spain to India. Her first purchase, a "topi" from a vendor of skullcaps in Istanbul, ignited an interest that led to amassing hats representing more than 80 countries and various cultures, tribes, and ethnic groups in Europe, North and South America, Africa, Asia and the Pacific area.

"Hats can instill an awareness and appreciation within and across cultural boundaries," Miller says. "By understanding the purposes for which they are worn, hats reinforce attitudes and values of people around the globe. As multi-cultural artifacts, hats and headdresses provide the foundation for programs on cultural diversity and ethnic understanding.

"As a public display, the hats make a strong visual statement that appeals to viewers on artistic and emotional levels," Miller adds. "They provide an educational gateway into the cultures that produce and use them."

Beyond their protective use, hats have been worn to beautify the wearer and to scare enemies (although nowadays an AK-47 pretty much says it all). They have also been worn to show off wealth and transport coins on one's person, to announce where one is from, to mark an event like graduation or marriage, to confirm one's religion, or to magnify a position of power—like that of the Pope. Along similar lines, the McClung show is divided into sections with approximately 20 hats each.

In the power and status category, a feathered "hat" (or Tse Nteng disk) from Cameroon boasts striking plumage dyed magenta and teal. About three feet in diameter, it is worn by Bamileke ceremonial dancers and can be collapsed inward for easy storage. Another feather piece is from the Kayopo tribe of Brazil: a semi-circular "radial headdress" made from iridescent blue macaw feathers. Worn by both males and females, it is displayed alongside other hats reflecting ethnic traditions—in this instance, a ritual in which children are granted honorific titles.

Glowing with gold leaf, a "ladies dancing hat" (Chadok) from Thailand is like a miniature version of temples one might visit in Bangkok or Chiang Mai. Also used in Myanmar and Cambodia, the pyramidal-shaped headdress is worn by a "kinnaree" (or young, beautiful woman) whose birdlike gestures suggest flight between human and mythical worlds. Another Thai hat is a turban-of-sorts from the Lisu tribe, usually worn to welcome a new year. Interwoven lacing in Day-Glo colors such as hot pink and lime green form a long fringe in back.

If one is forced to choose, hats from Thailand and Cameroon are generally the most intriguing and dramatic. The aforementioned Bamileke tribe is also represented by a "prestige hat" (Ashetu) with leopard fur and what resembles scores of brown fingers reaching outward. Items that could be considered ordinary (like a Yankees baseball cap, an academic mortarboard, and a Mickey Mouse Club hat) are, in the context of the exhibit, quite symbolic.

Incidentally, seven hats with regional significance—drawn from the McClung's own collection—occupy a case at the entrance to the show. An understandably battered Union Army hat once belonged to a Corp. John Watkins of the 19th Battery of the Ohio Light Artillery. Stationed at Fort Sanders under General Burnside's command during the November 1863 assault, Watkins presumably wore his hat throughout the harrowing event. If only it could speak. Likewise for the smoky blue pearl-studded stage cap donned by "Tennessee Nightingale" Grace Moore in her 1932 role as Juliette in a French production of Romeo & Juliet.

Providing glimpses of various cultures' affinities and values, hats perhaps say more than any other article of clothing. Whether crafted for the sake of necessity, authority, conformity, spirituality, integration, or simple aesthetic effect, they often reveal what's going on in the heads they adorn, telling us much about each other.

Answers: the term "mad as a hatter" referenced a nervous disorder caused by mercury used in the manufacturing of hats. A chef's many pleats acknowledge the number of ways he/she can prepare an egg).