Bonnet

Bonnet, a head covering. The term was formerly applied in France and Scotland to some forms of male as well as female head-dress. For men, the bonnet was superseded by the hat in England in the 16th century. The "bonnet rouge," or cap of liberty, an imitation of the cap worn by the Roman slave on his emancipation, became, after 1791, the emblem of Republicanism in France, and later in the Republics (Helvetic, Ligurian, etc.) formed in imitation of it. It was, however, confined to men, women using the cockade. In Scotland bonnets were worn till the end of last century. The Lowland Scots bonnet was made of thick seamless woollen stuff covering the head and part of the neck; it was usually blue with a red tuft. The Highland bonnet was a large variety of the "Glengarry," now familiar as the undress head-covering of the British infantry. The Balmoral bonnet was an intermediate form. As to ladies' bonnets, Leghorn bonnets are made of a peculiar wheat-straw, grown in Tuscany for some 200 years. Split-straw bonnets have been made about Dunstable for over a century. Bonnets of other materials, e.g. silk or velvet, with artificial-flower or feather trimmings, are largely made, or at least designed, in Paris. No article of dress, probably, is subject to such variations in size or form.