The History Of Bucket Hat

The bucket hat is a soft cotton hat. The brim is narrow and small, so that it can be covered very deeply, and is the same for both men and women.

In American culture

One of the most famous early wearers of the bucket hat in American popular culture was Gilligan. He was a well-known character in the 1960s American television comedy "Gilligan's Island" and wore a bucket hat on camera for many years. The famous American comedian Rodney Dangerfield used to laugh that in his later years, if he wore a bucket hat, he would usually get a free bowl of soup (because of the bowl-like shape of the hat), and in 1998, the lead singer of the American band Radicals, Gerry Alexander, wore a bucket hat that became almost a personal trademark of his.

In lsraeli culture

In Israel, the bucket hat is often referred to as the fool's cap. In the early days of Israel's independence, many Israeli soldiers found that they needed a hat to protect them from the sun and heat, and at first they adopted the Arab-style turban, but later they wanted to distinguish themselves from the Arab warriors, so they enlarged the yarmulke to resemble a bucket hat, which in Israeli is called a kova tembel. The hats are still used by the Israeli army today (mostly in straw green, the Israeli soldier pictured here is wearing a bucket hat) and are seen by most Israelis as an important symbol of freedom and independence.