Article: Hats off: An exhibit of headgear -- from practical to ceremonial -- is on display at UMFA

A chadurn. A bowler. A fez. A montera. A yarmulke.

You can look at these hats and see how different they are. One has feathers; another is made of felt. One is made of tortoise shell; another is of fabric.

But you can also see the similarities. They are all worn on the head -- for protection; to show status; as part of ritual or ceremony.

That's the fun thing about hats, says Bernadette Brown, curator of African, Oceanic and New World Art at the Utah Museum of Fine Arts on the University of Utah campus. Hats are as different as the people who made them, yet they show us how alike we are. It seems that every culture, every society has had a need to cover and adorn their heads, she says.

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