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The coolie hat, also known as a sedge or rice hat, originated in East and Southeast Asia and is worn by both men and women for sun and rain protection. The term “coolie” is believed to be racially offensive. Japanese variations include the kasa and jingasa. The coolie hat has periodically gone out of fashion in the West.
A coolie hat, also known as a sedge hat, rice hat, or rice hat, is a conical-shaped hat typically made of straw that originated in countries in East and Southeast Asia, such as Vietnam, China, and Cambodia. It is also used in some parts of India and Bangladesh. The word coolie is believed to come from Urdu, a language spoken in India. The original word was kuli and dates back to the mid-16th century, meaning a laborer or hired person. The use of the word coolie to describe a person is now thought by some to be a racially offensive term.
Coolie hats are traditionally worn by both women and men and are generally worn to protect the head and face from the sun and rain. It was considered useful for outdoor workers such as farmers and fishermen. Not only a form of sun protection, the coolie hat could also be worn wet to provide relief from the heat. Coolie hats generally have a chin strap and band inside the cone to allow the hat to sit slightly on the wearer’s head without direct contact. This allows for airflow and increased cooling capacity.
In Vietnam, the word for coolie hat is not la. There is the word for hat, and the means leaf. Sometimes hats are not designed with more than functionality in mind. Designers may weave words or poetic verses into the hat, some of which can only be seen in direct sunlight. Japanese versions of coolie hats, while not commonly worn by modern Japanese, are called kasa, which is also the term for umbrella or parasol, and refers to the shape of the coolie hat. Another variation is the jingasa, which is Japanese for soldier’s cap, or literally, military hat.
Jingasa developed in the mid to late 18th century, also known in Japan as the Edo era. Instead of straw, they were made of leather or iron, but still carried a peasant stigma to the wearer, much like coolie hat wearers in other countries. In the West and Europe, the coolie hat shape has periodically gone out of fashion. The most notable example of its popularity may have been in Christian Dior’s New Look collection in the 1950s. Conical hats balanced the wide skirts and narrow waists that became the new fashion of the time.
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