The 500 Hats of Jennifer Hango

Disclaimer the second: I don't have 500 hats. Yet. Some of them do have very nice feathers, though.

I really like to wear hats. It can probably be traced back directly to the spring of 1994, when I'd borrow Josh Smith's cool black fedora with the white band (which sometimes turned out to be Jim Frinier's not quite as cool black fedora with the white band, but I digress....). I had a couple berets and a couple "Oliver" type hats; you know, the ones with the snaps in the middle of the brim? Anyway, I started to wear those a little bit more that semester. I think that Monty Python's The Meaning of Life was also a TNM feature that semester, and the line "People aren't wearing enough hats" struck me as true. I briefly considered the possibility that they meant that people should be wearing more than one hat at a time, but I decided that they probably really meant that more people should be wearing hats. My collection has grown considerably since then, including the sometimes Josh/sometimes Jim fedora (the real one, though). I'm guessing maybe 20 hats, but it may well be more than that. This ennumeration will be incomplete for a while, as I'm still unpacking and I need to find some of the hats that aren't with all the rest.

Perhaps someday if I get a digital camera or a scanner and have lots of diskspace to waste, I shall photograph my hats and put their likenesses upon this page. Don't hold your breath, though....

The black fedora

Symbolicly the first hat in the collection. I had a number of hats before (mostly baseball caps, berets, and the aforementioned Oliver hats), but the fedora was really my foray into wearing hats as a regular accessory. Quite a stylish hat, with a fedora point at the front, a nice concave-down brim, and the spiffy white band.

The black velveteen beret

I've had this hat since 1995, several months before the whole Monica Lewinsky ordeal began. Currently, this hat has a lovely black ostrich plume attached on the right side. It also has been seen sporting a white ostrich plume.

The black hat with netting and feathers

This hat has been accused of being a funeral hat. It's quite fancy, and I've typically worn it with black dresses. It has a low crown and a wide brim. The netting tries to approximate a short veil, perhaps in a faux-60s style?

The maroon hat with feathers and a scarf band

The feathers are black.

The burgandy floppy hat with a white ostrich plume

The black velveteen floppy hat

Sans feathers.

The black velvet floppy hat with a multicoloured velvet flower

The black "bowler"

Not really a bowler, but that's what it resembles. It has a black velvet band. Thanks, Reebee!

The patchwork leather cowboy hat

Something I got in Silverton, CO in '94. Different shades of brown, with a tassel at the back.

The Quakes baseball cap

The Rancho Cucamonga Quakes are a minor league baseball team in Rancho Cucamonga, CA. I think their name is great. They play at the Epicenter....

The black beret

This one is wool.

The blue beret

Also wool.

The red beret

Again, wool.

The Yosemite "fedora"

It looks kinda like a fedora. Brown, with a tan band with "Yosemite" embroidered in brown thread.

The mit.edu baseball cap

What, does it look like I have "Geek" written across my forehead?! Also sports a blue ribbon.

The Dodger cap

Ancient by my hat standards. I got it at the '83 playoffs.

The "Polyanna" straw hat

With a black band whose ends dangle off the back of the hat.

The "Madeleine" straw hat

Looks kinda like Madelein's hat. Definite British schoolgirl hat overtones.

The wide-brimmed straw hat

Very wide brim. The weave is very open, so this is more of a decorative hat than one that will actually keep the sun off your head.

The MIT baseball cap

One of the first pieces of MIT apparel that I owned