12 Day Countdown to Christmas, Day 5 – Higher and Higher

It’s the 5th day of our countdown and also December 17th, which means today I fly back to the US to spend Christmas with the family!! (hence the title “Higher and Higher”) To coordinate with this idea of flying home and heights, I’ve shied away from the obvious post about the height of Chinese peoples’ hair (CPHNS has had some stellar posts on hair before so check out this tag thoroughly!) in favor of hats this time, which I’ve posted less about before but have recently captured some amazing pictures.

Anyway, this is the picture that got me thinking that Chinese peoples’ hats were almost as impressive as their hair because of the solid amount of height that sticks above the actual head of the person…

…And then I saw this guy and began to think that Chinese hats are equally if not more impressive than Chinese hair.

I mean, this hat adds at least 10% of height to this cute old man, and I must say I like the interesting proportion that it gives him.

It’s like the hat of an elf from the hood…

…Or maybe it could be more accurately described as the hat of an elf from pre-1911 China.

I don’t know exactly when this picture is from, but I’m guessing around 1890ish; and judging from this special garb, I would say these two Chinese people are not commoners.

But the tradition has existed throughout many dynasties for Chinese people of all level and rank to experiment with hats and the adornment of the head (usually the higher rank the taller the hat, but this wasn’t always true), which has translated into a rich and deep sartorial tradition unique to Chinese people. I mean, this hat is nothing short of phenomenal:

Such hats give these Chinese people some great height, which is sometimes very necessary to compensate for their typically smaller frames; the thing that makes incredibly high hats on Chinese people so interesting is because it creates an exaggerated silhouette that is rarely seen elsewhere in Chinese sartorial culture.

Best Dressed Generation:
Gen X – 180 points + 10 points for dominating the field in the Chinese hat height category = 190 points
Gen Y – 195 points
Gen Z – 148 points