Hats in School

[zeldaman67]

I have been wondering about this a little lately.

If you remeber in book 1 one of the things Harry needed to go to Hogwarts was a black pointed Wizard hat. And it is mentioned that they wear them during class (Harry puts out a small fire with his that Seamus made trying to make his feather fly)
But after the first book their is never a mention of them anywhere. Is it just a tradition first years do? In the movies everyone in the first one wore them but in the second no one did.

Is this just an idea J.K. Rowling had but decided to scrap in latter books?

[Phxtvlr]

It does seem like they've "gone away", but I feel that it is just because they are not important to the story line. Jo painted a picture of what we expected to see a witch or wizard wearing in PS/SS, but now that the background is in place, has just not mentioned it anymore. Almost like its assumed that they're there....


My two cents.

[sentry]

i read in very very small writing on page 44 in the 2nd book that they traded them in for thesrtal repelant

[hpfan10]

i think that we must natuarally assume that they wear the hats for class etc..

[xX_Sturm_Xx]

Sometimes it Lockhart would wear one. But other then that, they really don't mention it at all. They don't even have them in the movie....

[bludger_beater]

I think JKR just felt like they didn't need to mentioned, like the robes. The Hogwarts robes are seldom mentioned in the books, but we al just assume that they're being worn; I think it's the same with hats.

[bravo]

I never really noticed the hats.

[advil]

Maybe they all have them, but don't have to wear them. Maybe the older students think it looks dumb or something, whereas the first years don't know that they don't have to wear them, so they just do.

[Baron_G]

They wear the hats for feasts and visiting delegations from other schools. I want to think it is part of their uniform but they are allowed to take them off when they get to class. Maybe not Snape's class.

[rotsiepots]

I think people are less inclined to wear school hats as they get older. I was forced to wear a hat at school and did so happily until I was about 12. After that I realised my school hat was really rather impractical and unattractive, so I stopped wearing it. I do have an enormous head and couldn't get a hat to fit me, so that had a lot to do with it. :D

Basically, as people get older they become more self-conscious. It could be that older students are "too cool" for their pointed hats and only the ickle firsties wear them by choice.

Don't Dumbledore and McGonagall wear hats? I'm sure their's are sartorially splendiferous compared to the school hats.

[advil]

I think people are less inclined to wear school hats as they get older. I was forced to wear a hat at school and did so happily until I was about 12. After that I realised my school hat was really rather impractical and unattractive, so I stopped wearing it. I do have an enormous head and couldn't get a hat to fit me, so that had a lot to do with it. :D

Basically, as people get older they become more self-conscious. It could be that older students are "too cool" for their pointed hats and only the ickle firsties wear them by choice.

Don't Dumbledore and McGonagall wear hats? I'm sure their's are sartorially splendiferous compared to the school hats.

copycat!

Haha, at least you went in depth :p

I like Dumbledores clothes, I wonder if he goes shopping himself..

[Scoop33]

I don't think that they were that important. But like sentry said "i read in very very small writing on page 44 in the 2nd book that they traded them in for thesrtal repelant". I think that answers it, but I don't remeber that at all.

[luna the pixie]

Hats are just a small part of the entire Harry Potter picture. JKR may have overlooked the small detail when writing the later books.

[Jinxed]

In one book (can't for the life of me remember which) I seem to recall that JK writes something along the lines of - "it took Harry a while to realise he was trying to pull his hat onto his foot instead if his sock..."

[Mrs Padfoot]

Basically, as people get older they become more self-conscious. It could be that older students are "too cool" for their pointed hats and only the ickle firsties wear them by choice.

I think that is probably true. I know at my school, it's only the younger children who bother to do their top bottons up and tuck their shirts in. As you get older, you just don't bother with uniform anymore.

[NashiraErato]

There's mention somewhere of Harry putting out a fire with his hat. I think they wear them in lessons, but it's not put in the films because it would just be too impractical.

My school had hats as part of the uniform. Thankfully we were only meant to wear them as we arrived and left...They were itchy, uncomfortable and suited no one...The seniors refused to wear them. There was also a boy who would use his cap as a sickbag...He must have really not liked it.

[glugunkwen]

I can't imagine the hats are an integral part of the story. Rowling is pretty good about planting hints - and the hat thing just seems more descriptive than an important plot point.

Of course - Rowling has fooled me before!

[RemusLupinFan]

Yes I agree glugunkwen, I think the hats are included as a descriptive element and not to further the story in any way. They kind of paint the picture of what all of us have envisioned a typical/archetypal wizard or witch to look like. The pointy hat is usually a central part of that mental picture (it is for me anyway).

[Knight Bus]

Maybe the hats are for formal occasions and they don't wear them every day, they look silly any way.

[miss_hyde]

maybe she just wrote about the hats in PS but then didn't in the rest of the books because she forgot about them because she had a story to write. After all, the first book is written more like a children's book than the others, she changed her writing style in later books, maybe she thought hats "were, like soooo PS". *

*i'm joking, she didn't really say that, just in case you didn't catch my sarcasm.

[Phxtvlr]

(FYI) I just finished re-reading GoF, and while I didn't make note of exactly where I saw the references, I did note that there were several places in the book that the students and teachers are mentioned wearing their hats in class.

[padfootgrim]

its probably not as important... i think JK just added it cause its such a vital part of the witch/warlock outfit

[harripottrfreek]

I think it was there to begin with to introduce us and tell us as much as possible about Hogwarts and the wizarding world, but now that we're so far into the series I think it has lost importance and we just assume that they are there or whatever...it's not a big thing...just there for us to get an understanding and feeling for the world.

[arcanus]

(FYI) I just finished re-reading GoF, and while I didn't make note of exactly where I saw the references, I did note that there were several places in the book that the students and teachers are mentioned wearing their hats in class.

I can still remember one scene in GoF when JK described students wearing the hats in class. When the Gryffindor fourth years practiced the banishing charm, Ron didn't really concentrate and knocked Parvati's hat off.

[Classical_Wizar]

think it is just a given by now, kind of like you already know what they are wearing so i dont have to describe it every time.

[HarryPotter]

I agree... I think she doesn't mean to mention the hats everywhere... they are there, and that's all...
Personally I prefer to imagine them without hats...

[Romy]

Wouldn´t it be highly impractical to wear a pointy hat all day? Just a thought. I think I´d take it off the moment the teachers are looking somewhere else.

[noxerised]

i think the hats are for special events, such as the sorting ceremony/dinner, and any holiday dinners and whatnot...just a thought, part of a 'dress code' for dinner?

[Earendil]

I'd hate the thought of them wearing pointy hats indoors all day. Not only is that impractical, as Romy pointed out--it's also somewhat goofy. I can handle them on the teachers, but on the students?

It seems like pointed hats in a school environment is an invitation for trouble. I can just see the hazard of a quarrel breaking out and someone whipping off the hat and thwapping people with it. Bad idea.

[dumbleedore]

In GoF I believe Harry tries to put his hat on his foot instead of his sock ;).

I pretty much agree with everyone else- they were mentioned to build up the mental picture and perhaps as they got older they stopped wearing them everyday. I know I'd protest about the hat wearing every day- think of my hair!

[Gryffindorgod]

They are mentioned wearing hats a couple of times in the other books so I think they do have to wear them to class, you do feel sorry for the people on the back row who have to try and read the blackboard/see what the teacher is doing round all those pointy hats.

[starlette01350]

I'd hate the thought of them wearing pointy hats indoors all day. Not only is that impractical, as Romy pointed out--it's also somewhat goofy. I can handle them on the teachers, but on the students?

It seems like pointed hats in a school environment is an invitation for trouble. I can just see the hazard of a quarrel breaking out and someone whipping off the hat and thwapping people with it. Bad idea.

And wouldn't it be hard for students to see over the students in front of them if there a tall, pointy hats in the way? How are they supposed to see the teacher and the blackboard?

[Hollis]

Actually there are a few mentions of hats, specifically tall pointy ones I believe...

Luna Lovegood has the crazy lion hat and later a Ravenclaw hat in OotP
(the chapter drawing for ch. 19 makes the hat look like it was originally widebrimmed like the classic image of a tall pointy witches hat)
George and Fred demonstrate the"headless hats" that make your head invisible (can't find the exact page it's on) in OotP

then there are all the hats that Hermione knits for the house elves, but except for stocking caps, they aren't tall and pointy : )

[KatieJoy]

Maybe it's something to do with them actually being first years... like first years HAVE to wear hats. Apparently (so I was reading in my college's newspaper a couple months ago) freshmen at some colleges used to have to wear beanies (a kind of hat)... when I ran across this thread that was the first thing I thought...

[Sprout1962]

Yes, I remember the freshman "beanies" - embarrassing... but practical (you could always count on a professor to help you find your way if lost...). Part of university tradition in some places... Sororities and Fraternities do similar things to "pledges", who are students that want to join. Sometimes they have to wear a certain something to show their intentions of joining.
I think the hats have been relegated to background status, like the robes in the movies (I'm not happy about the robes disappearing, btw).

[DocHollidaywe]

I agree with what a lot of people have said. "The hats are no longer mentioned and we are to assume they still wear them." I know I never think of them wearing hats, but it does not bother me either way.