What's That On Your Head?!- Odd Lolita Headwear

Lolitas are no stranger to wearing odd headwear. Even the basic rectangle headdress is sort of WTF to most people (because, really, what is it?) or the mini hat or giant head bow are a bit odd if you really stop to think about it. But there have been things released and things that somehow got popular that have always sort of made me think "Who the heck thought this would be a good idea to put on their head?" Some end up being awesome, others end up looking just as ridiculous as you would expect them to.

So let's take a look at some of the stranger things Lolitas have decided to perch on their heads over the years!

Cake Hats

First up is what I like to think of as the original "weird Lolita headwear" the infamous cake hat. Cake hats come in a variety of different styles, from an individual slice of cake perched atop your head, to pieces that look a bit like mini top hats made out of cake, to just plain ol' balancing a wedding cake made out of lace on top of your head.

Angelic Pretty's Ice Cream Cone headbands.
A sibling to the cake hat would be Angelic Pretty's ice cream cone headbands. These come in two styles- upright, and spilled all over your head and dripping into your hair.

Angelic Pretty's Fluffy Bunny-chan Bonnet
I'm not being silly and making of dumb names for a dumb bonnet, that's actually what Angelic Pretty calls this monstrosity.  While adding bunny ears to a bonnet is not something Angelic Pretty invented, they certainly took it to the extreme. The best part about this bonnet is the bunny ears sort of flop up against the furry brim, and look like shorter bear ears, so instead of a cute fluffy bunny bonnet, what it looks like is a giant bear sneaking up behind you.

Alice & the Pirates' Pirate Hats
Their name is Alice & the Pirates, so of course they are going to put out pirate hats! Although, maybe we don't exactly need a full size pirate hat covered in bows to go with our Lolita. I'm sure that these could work in some coordinate, and I'm sure they could look awesome, but they're just so wacky looking I just can't imagine any self respecting pirate would go for a giant pink tartan bow on their hat, or even be able to see out from under that one with the stars all over it.

Extreme Mini Top Hats
If there is a brand that has elevated the act of gluing pompoms and small toys to a mini top hat, that brand is Angelic Pretty. These mini top hats are usually a bit bigger or taller than your average mini top hat, but that's really only so you can fit more crap on them.

Angelic Pretty's Jello Mold Hat
When Angelic Pretty came out with Jewelery Jelly, the Lolita communities first reaction tended to be "Since when is jello Lolita?!" which quickly turned into "OMG GOTTA HAVE IT!" but as quickly as many of us changed our mind on jello in our Lolita, most of us still were a bit confused by Angelic Pretty's choice of headwear for the set. They released a headdress made to look like a glittery brick of jello, complete with frothy lace whipped cream. On first glance it might just look like yet another silly cake hat, but the jello part of the hat his actually made with some sort of stiff sheer fabric. I've always been curious what this hat was made of!

Antique Beast's Bat Maid Headdress
 Definitely my favorite headwear on this list! Because it combines the kitchyness of Maid Lolita with Gothic elegance and bats. Because even Aristocrats need maids, and those maids are probably going to be dressed like frilly bats.

BtSSB's Usamimis
Usamimis were a trendy accessory for a little bit, mostly in the Gyaru fashion it seemed. They were little wired pieces of ribbon that were worn around the head and folded in a way that sort of made them look like lopsided bunny ears. They were cute and casual, then Baby decided to get their mitts on them. While some of Baby's usamimi's were just fine, some of them were completely ridiculous and ended looking giant and sloppy.

Very Expensive Hair Scrunchies
For some reason, a couple summers back, hair scrunchies got very popular in Japanese fashion. So brands started to jump on the scrunchie bandwagon and release their own versions of these little throw backs to early 1990's kids wear. Only, being from a Lolita brand, these hair scruncis (or "chou chou" I guess they are called when you want to pretend they aren't meant to be worn by an 8 year old in 1992 to decorate her side ponytail) tended to cost between $20 and $35. Hair scruncies are fine and all, especially with the often pigtailed-hairstylings of Lolita, but there's a limit to how much hair scruncies should cost.

Metamorphose's Gardening Teddy Kerchief
 
Sometime last year, when Metamorphose released their Gardening Teddy series, they really busted out some old school designs, but maybe went back a little too far into the old school, into the realms of Natural Kei, when it came time to think up some matching headdresses for the series. For whatever reason they decided a kerchief was in order. While it's certainly not awful looking, it's just an incredibly bizarre choice that seems several decades out of date.

Witch Hats 
 These are usually released around Halloween to go with whatever special Halloween set is being released that year, but I believe Antique Beast sells them year round. Personally, I like the idea of witch hats being worn every day. They're good hats, they've got a big wide brim to keep the sun out of your eyes, some flowers and bows for prettiness, and a point to show that you mean business.

Baby's Freakishly Huge Fur Bow
It seems like headbows have been getting larger over the years, but Baby, of all people, really took the cake when they released this monster of a headbow. To make sure that it will never stay up and probably even give you a neck ache at the end of the day, they decided to make it out of faux fur, which I'm sure you're aware is significantly heavier than cotton.

These aren't all the strange things Lolita brands have released as headwear over the years, and certainly not all the strange things individual Lolitas have decided would work best as a hat, but these are some of my WTF favorites. I really shouldn't be one to talk about wearing weird things on your head though, as I'm sure you all know, I have quite the fondness for oversized bonnets, and those of you that know me personally know that I keep a drawer in my armoire devoted to bonnets, which include a BtSSB bear eared one and a black and white bodyline one with huge awkward floppy bunny ears. And, as I've mentioned in this post, I would just love to see people wearing books as hats!

What do you think of out-of-the-ordinary Lolita headwear? Are you more of a tiny-side-bow kind of Lolita or do you like your headwear to be a bit more attention grabbing?

37 comments:

  1. I wish I could wear Baby's Freakishly Huge Fur Bow at work, it would be the perfect pillow during my breaks for a quick nap.

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  2. What about the stack of books hats? I've seen those somewhere...

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  3. I think the Jello Mold was made out of Boiled Organza. You wrap the fabric around the shape you desire, the submerge it in 220F boiling water to fuse the tightly woven acrylic threads. At least...that's how I thought to make one for myself.

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  4. I am sure the book hat has already happened or either I dremed it, honestly I am not sure anymore.
    I am not a fan of either the cake hat or any other thing related to food in your hair, but I will admit some people manage to make it work strangely well. The Angelic Pretty's Fluffy Bunny-chan Bonnet on the other hand... I just cannot get behind that, is truly and monstrosity.The bait maid headdress and the witch hats I find kinda interesting, but I don't think I would wear them outside halloween... the pirate hats though... I want a really excesive one please XD Everyone has her quirks I guess XD

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  5.  ''(or "chou chou" I guess they are called when you want to pretend they aren't meant to be worn by an 8 year old in 1992 to decorate her side ponytail)''
    Or you know, when you're speak French like me. :P
    Still, those aren't getting anywhere near my hair again.

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  6. Yes, I do wonder how exactly the rectangle headdress came about XD I have to say I'm quite partial to that kercheif, and although those chou chous are overpriced... I can't help it, I want one! They look very sweet worn around the wrist, I think.

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  7. I'm not a great fan of big hair accessories, with my lolita coordinates I usually wear simple headbands, maybe with a little side ribbon or sometimes, when I attend meetings or conventions, I use bigger bows (the ones you can detach from skirts, mounted on a headband). The bunny bonnet and the ice cream cones are way too much in my opinion, but the pirate and witch hats would be really cool for Halloween :)

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  8. I love the Antique Beast bat headdress too *nn*

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  9. One of my favorite head accessory is the tea cup hat <3 I also want to make a book hat but first I need to get some of those storage book things. I usually prefer more toned down head accessory like a nice mini hat, a simple rectangle headdress, and some simple bows and clips.

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  10. Pearmaiden has some lovey headdress, that though they are beautiful are way over the top. When I first saw them I was like what? then" I want that on my head!"
    http://pearmaiden.tumblr.com/post/12633985424/honeyed-pearmaiden-book-headdress-source
    and  http://pearmaiden.tumblr.com/post/11969809888

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  11. I LOVE cake hats! Just like real cakes, the hats have a great variety available. I'm not too fond of the animal bonnets though. They just looks strange to me =/ I definitely want to try the bunny ears and the flan/jello if I see them though xD Thanks for sharing~!

    ~ Kieli ~

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  12. That faux fur bow.... why do I NEED it?? O_o

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  13. I'm definitely the tiny (well, smaller) headbow type -- I have somewhat short, flat hair so anything big just looks awkward on me!

    And oh my god, even if it's WTF headwear, I'm in love withe Meta's kerchief piece, it's so adorable... And the bat maid headdress is simply wonderful too.

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  14. I kind of like the kerchief, but I agree that it does feel more Natural Kei than Lolita.

    The Jello one is the most "WTF?" one, I think, followed closely by that bunny bonnet that looks like a bear.

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  15. I think the most surprisingly awesome head gear I've seen is a stack of gift boxes Takulu put on her head to match Meta's Star Rabbit dress. 

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  16. I love cake hats! I'd get one, if I'd get the chance! XD I also like Meta's kerchief, and the witch hats; I agree it's convienent lol. Also, as much as I love bonnets, the giant Angelic Pretty one looks a little intimidating imo...it's just sooo huge! (Btw I'm glad you got the blog back working again Caro-chan!)

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  17. Great list, as always :)

    I think my absolute favourite ridiculous lolita headwear is tiny carousel hat. Though I believe it wasn't actually brand.

    http://27.media.tumblr.com/tumblr_lca8ahXmfO1qc6uimo1_400.jpg

    Just look at this thing. My head CRAVES it, and I'm the type that always alters standard headbows, because they are too big.

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  18. I have to say, I love rectangular headdresses. It was love at first sight. <3 Also, I've been known to wear kerchiefs with Lolita, and they can look quite beautiful with classic, imho. :D

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  19. I think , most of these Hats are pretty cute ♥
    But they are odd , too - you`re rigt ^^
    I mean.......acake ? on my head ? ^^

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  20. Uhh, I know somebody that wears book hats > < It;s not me, cause I'm not Lolita , yet!

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  21. I love witch hats! And that bat headdress is just gorgeous!

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  22. I agree!  Rectangular headdresses are so cute and classic looking!

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  23. Whenever I see those cake hats, I think of a T-shirt from Hot topic that says, "A cupcake is not a hat!", that also features a pony from My Little Pony wearing a cupcake as a hat.  XD  

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  24. Side ponytails? In my 1992?

    Seriously, I thought they were out of fashion by then.

    Also, I didn't know what natural kei was until just now, but I think I love it.

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  25. A pointed hat with a veil and without a brim is not a witch's hat, it's a hennin :)

    http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hennin

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  26. Thanks for the link! I never knew the specific names of those kinds of hats! The AP hat actually does have a brim (it's just a bit covered in ruffles!) and it was sold, I believe, as part of a Witch costume.

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  27. Heheheh, the ice-cream one made me laugh so hard!

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  28. Waoo! What a nice post.I wish i could wear all these hats .

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  29. Most of these look completely ridiculous and should only be worn with the exact coordinates that were made to go with them... I never expected to actually WANT something that was pictured in this post... But that Gardening Teddy kerchief is so adorable!! I WANT it!! And... I think it would be fun to have at least one cake hat in your collection, for days when you feel like being mistaken for a big frilly dessert.

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  30. Great variety of hats! rock this winter with stylish and cool color headwear in variety of styles!

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  31. My favorite is the cake, because it is totally crazy but in a good way. XD
    The pirate, bat, kerchief, and witch hats look awesome too.

    I wish we lived in a society where people were willing to wear this stuff on a daily basis. Life would be so much more interesting. :P

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  33. When was this huge headbow released? If in the past few years, I'd say it was a shout out to Kyary, like PLEASE WEAR THIS xD

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  35. I want one of those pirate hats.

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