Costumes make a film.  With the right costume designer, they can convey much about a character to the audience before they utter a word. It’s not just the clothes that make it, but it comes from the accessories too, hats included! Every little detail of a character’s wardrobe can tell us so much about them and who they are.

Here are 5 of the most iconic hats from movie history:

One of the most fashionable characters in film history is Holly Golightly from Breakfast at Tiffany’s.  We see in the very first moments of the film,  Audrey Hepburn standing outside of Tiffany’s in a long black dress decked out in pearls wistfully looking at the window.  That scene is one of the most iconic scenes in film history and is the definition of the perfect “little black dress”.  While that outfit is stunning, the viewer gets to see the iconic wide brimmed black hat with a cream colored silk bow.

The costumes for the film were designed by French fashion designer Hubert de Givenchy and Audrey looks beautiful in every outfit.  Her elegant wardrobe throughout the film shows how Holly wants to escape her pervious county girl life for the upscale New York life.

 

Another film from a totally different era features Scarlett O’Hara in Gone With The Wind. The film spans 12 years from 1861 to 1873.  We see Scarlett’s life go through many changes, from privileged young Southern belle, to struggling to feed herself and her family, and finally to wealthy business woman. Her costumes through the film highlight her struggle and changes in life. From the fluffy white dress in beginning showing her childhood and innocence to her calico dress that she wears through a good course of the film because she has no money, and then the beautiful gowns she wears when she has money from the lumber mill and marriage to rich Rhett Butler. With many of her outfits she wears hats or head pieces that perfectly match with her dresses.

There are so many to choose from, but I have to go with the hat she wears with the iconic green curtain dress. While not necessarily the most outrageous of her dresses, it is certainly the most memorable. It was even parodied by comedian Carol Burnett in the 90s on her show. She wears the dress to meet Rhett in jail in Atlanta to get money to save Tara showing how dedicated she is to saving her beloved Tara.

Does Audrey Hepburn make two appearances on this list? Yes she does!   Audrey’s hat from My Fair Lady is probably one of the most famous hats from the silver screen.  The movie came out in 1964 with a budget of $17 million. It was the most expensive film made in the US at the time. Costume designer Cecil Beaton designed more than 1,000 costumes for the film and won the Academy Award for Costume Design.

This hat is worn by Eliza when she attends the Royal Ascot after her makeover from simple flower girl to elegant lady.  The hat, along with the dress, were auctioned off for $3.7 million dollars!

Time to show the fashionable men some attention.  While this is not the most crazy or interesting hat by any means, it certainly has left its mark. Once the first Indiana Jones movie came out many men wanted to sport this iconic brown fedora to be like star Harrison Ford. Indy wears a simple white button down with brown slacks, leather jacket and the hat just makes the look forever memorable. People just see the hat and his whip alone and they will know what character you are talking about even if they haven’t seen the movies. The hat adds to this rugged adventurer look (and it doesn’t hurt that a younger Harrison Ford looks amazing in it).

Designer Deborah Nadoolman Landis designed the costumes for the iconic Steven Spielberg franchise. Though Harrison himself wasn’t in love with the look as he once stated, “whoever decided that Indiana Jones should wear a felt hat and a leather jacket in the jungles should be shot,” While an exaggeration, it’s understandable that the outfit was more than likely not the most comfortable for the actor. But I think designer Deborah Nadoolman Landis knew what she was doing when she designed this iconic wardrobe. The Indiana Jones recently went for $650,000 in a recent auction.

Last, but not least, is what could probably be seen as the most iconic hat in film history. The pointy witch hat worn by the green Wicked Witch of the West in the beloved film, The Wizard of Oz, is world famous. Designed by Adrian Adolph Greenberg, the Wizard of Oz costumes are remembered by people of all ages.

The black pointy witch hat has become the staple for any Halloween witch costume. All you have to do is put on the hat and people atomically know what character you’re trying to be. That says so much about the iconic status of the hat!

 

 

Probably my favorite fashion movie clip of all time is the Ascot Gavotte scene from “My Fair Lady”. It’s utterly gorgeous in its simplicity. The starkness of black and white make the clothing and hat designs stand out. In my opinion, there is nothing more classic than black and white. It remains my signature color combination. My best sellers overtime have been black and white hats, with a burst of color such as hot pink.

Since Ascot is this month, I thought it only fitting that I focus on hats from this famous scene in film history.

In the first photo, the hat on the far right caught my eye.  It is historical in nature, perhaps similar to a hat from the 1700’s worn by Georgiana, the Duchess of Devonshire.  She was also the great, great, great grand aunt of Diana, the Princess of Wales.

 

The hats in this image are stunning too, as are the long gloves.

I am in love with all these hats.  Note that the one in the middle was also modeled by Audrey Hepburn for a publicity shot.

As you can tell, I am quite in love with this series.

A comical scene was where these two ladies were wearing the same exact hat.

To finish, I will leave you with the most famous hat of all, the one worn by Eliza Doolittle to her society debut.

By Polly Singer