Hats

by Colin McDowell

Book Overview

This survey on hats explores and illustrates every aspect of the subject. It catalogues the myriad styles from royal crowns to Rasta caps, and includes chapters on the etiquette of hats and the... This description may be from another edition of this product.

• Format: Hardcover
• Language: English
• ISBN: 0847815722
• ISBN13: 9780847815722
• Release Date: October 1992
• Publisher: Rizzoli International Publications
• Length: 224 Pages
• Weight: 2.95 lbs.
• Dimensions: 1.0" x 8.3" x 12.1"

Customer Reviews

Best Of This Type Hat Book

This coffee table size and style book reviews its subject by hat style. Big photographs and good illustrations take the reader through a brief history of tophats, boaters, bowlers, ballcaps (the only style that America can lay claim to creating), fezzes, etc. This book is more scholarly than I assumed upon my first impression. I come back to it regularly for information.

A coffee table history of hats

There aren't many books about hats, which gives this one an edge. Most of the text in the book deals with history of hats. The history starts to get detailed around 1800. So only about half of what you find in this book applies to hats you might find in a thrift store. In the margins are small period advertisements for hats and depictions of hats from cartoons and simple drawings. Scattered throughout are full page color plates with photos of hats. Half of the text pages are printed on green paper, so the illustrations there would be green and white. It bothers me a little. The pictures here are nice. They are useful for seeing how a particular style was worn and for trying to determine a bit about when a hat was made. There is also a section on hats today. Consider when this book was published. There is a little too much about Boy George here and how he will bring about a comeback for hats. All in all this is a nice picture book and history for hats. If you are into that kind of thing then this is fine to look through.

Hats from every angle - in texts and pictures (GREAT!!!)

For me, this is the most comprehensive book on the subject that is available - and that includes several out-of-print-books as well. The pictures are great, often full-page, mostly in colour. The texts cover every angle of hat history, style, trade, designers, and everything else you can think of. The pictures cover all kinds of hat styles, usually putting traditional or classic shapes in contrast with modern versions or interpretations, there are also pictures of hats by a lot of great designers with a short synopsis on their work and simply wonderful hats. The book is a rare treat for the eyes and a great source of information. Be warned, however, that the subjects are treated usually rather briefly, and not in detail. Turn to other books concentrating on single aspects for that - for an overview, you can't do better than this. I want to point out, however, that the book does NOT deal with the do-it-yourself-creation of hats, and anyone looking for information on hatmaking or millinery instruction has to turn elsewhere. Still, if you're interested in hats and / or millinery, you don't want to miss this book.