Hanna Zeckau

It covers, it hides, it protects. Visible from afar, it communicates its messages, demands respect, creates distance and closeness at the same time. It functions as a status symbol, as part of professional attire, as a social brand or religious confession. It can be warm or cool, hard or soft, colourful or mouse-grey, made of rabbit fur or straw braid ... For centuries, it was almost unthinkable to go out on the street without a head covering. Numerous idioms in our everyday language bear witness to the former significance of the hat. Although it has visibly disappeared from the cityscape since the 1960s, there are still many people whose outfits would be unthinkable without a hat. In recent years, it has experienced a revival: wearing a hat is chic again.