Identity Hats
I don't like wearing things that have a brand on them. I'm not going to wear t-shirts with some sports company's name emblazoned across the front, or designer shirts that have a logo stitched into the pocket. If I'm going to pay for something, I'm not going to provide free advertising as well. Except for baseball caps and visors. I not only wear, I seem to collect, hats that remind me of an event I've enjoyed or a place I've been. I have a whole box of them now—commemorating the celebration for the Statue of Liberty in New York, Earth Day 1990, Haley's Comet's pass by Earth in 1986, a couple of vacation spots, and a favorite New York restaurant. There is a hat from a sailing ship that used to do day cruises in Antigua before it sunk in a hurricane; that one has a feeling of loss attached to it. The "Cows on Parade" hat from the Chicago public art exhibition in 1999 has nothing but happiness and laughter associated with it.
In the show on How We See Ourselves, Shellie McDowell talks about the African-American tradition of wearing a special hat to church. It can be traced back to the days of slavery, when the slaves were allowed to dress up on weekends and colorful hats were one way of expressing their true identity. Shellie calls the hats she makes today "crowns," because they make women feel like queens.
My mother always wore a hat to church, but I rarely see someone with one in my church. Nevada Barr, author of the book Seeking Enlightenment . . . Hat by Hat, says she was the only woman in the Episcopal church she attended for six years who regularly wore one. She writes: "My hats, with their feathers and veils and dusty velvet, remind me that there are times in life when it is important to pay homage and respect, when it behooves me to wash my face and hands and put on my Sunday best." What she put on her head conveyed her individuality and her reverence for tradition.
Looking through my box of hats, I realize that they reflect who I am, too. They express my interests and my enthusiasms. They don't brand me (I'd have to stick to just one to make that work), but they do say how I see myself. Maybe next week I'll wear one of them to church.