Tyrolean hat

The Tyrolean Rifles wearing traditional hat styles as part of their village costume, L to R: Bozen, S Tyrol; Lienz, E Tyrol; Abfaltersbach, E Tyrol; Kaltern, S Tyrol; Jenesien, S Tyrol. (commanders)

The Tyrolean hat (also Bavarian hat or Alpine hat) is a type of headwear that originally came from the Tyrol in the Alps, in what is now part of Austria and Italy.

A typical Tyrolean hat originally had a crown tapering to a point and was made of green felt with a brim roughly the width of a hand, something that was especially common in the Zillertal.^[1]

There are various forms of Tyrolean hat. Frequently the hats are decorated with a coloured, corded hatband and a spray of flowers, feathers or "brush" at the side of the crown. The traditional "brush" is made of the tail of the chamois goat. It takes a variety of forms, and may often be combined with feathers.^[2]

The Tyrolean hat became even more well known thanks to Edward VIII who, after his abdication, frequently stayed in Austrian Styria and often wore a hat of Tyrolean style, although it did not come from there.^[3]

In the 19th and 20th centuries, Tyrolean costumes developed a certain degree of uniformity in their appearance. In the local village costumes of the Tyrol, the various styles of Tyrolean hat have survived since the 1830s/40s, albeit similar to those of contemporary fashion. These original forms vary from the tall, relatively narrow-brimmed hats of North Tyrol which were dented on top, to the small, wide-brimmed hats of the South Tyrolean wine country.

Later the Tyrolean hat became the image bearer of "Tyrolean culture" as a tourist symbol, influenced also by folk music bands who wore fanciful "local" costumes. The musician, Billy Mo, wrote a song in 1962 called I prefer to buy a Tyrolean hat, which reinforced the link between the hat and traditional Alpine (brass band) folk music. In 1965, a comedy musical appeared under the same title.^[4]

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  Boy with Tyrolean hat and monkey (Knabe mit Tirolerhut und Äffchen). Oil on canvas, ca. 1834

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  Andreas Hofer, wearing the typical, broad-brimmed flat hat of the South Tyrolean type (posthumous portrait, mid-19th century)

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  Self portrait with Tyrolean hat (Selbstporträt mit Tiroler Hut), Lovis Corinth

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  Simple version of the Tyrolean hat

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  Tyrolean hat with Volksmarching pins

References