Millinery, like any category of creative activity, is the art of making, designing or selling hats especially for women. Although men wearing cowboy hats could be traced back to four hundred years earlier, women had caught up with the trend and started to wear hats that were very much in fashion until the 1960’s.

When teased and bouffant hair styles became popular, women went hatless. Hats were worn only on the coldest days for warmth or on the hottest days for protection against the sun. With the jeans generation returning to dresses and skirts in the 1980’s, hats became a fashion accessory and often used as headpieces for weddings and were also designed for historical shows or theatrical costumes.

Today, the use of hats is back. Although no longer the old gaudy and dressy style as they used to be, men and women who love outdoors prefer to wear country western outfits or cowboy hats for fun and fashion. Influenced by country singers, celebrities and rodeo players, cowboy hats are likely to be among the favorite fashion accessory in today’s generation. With the return of hats to the fashion scene, designers have created custom millinery of cowboy hats that are hot items in retail trade and in the broad realm of e-commerce.

As a craft, millinery specializes in all types of head coverings. Milliners would use different fabrics, materials, shapes and styles. People may regard it as a lost art or a dying industry, but making and designing hats not just for women but also for men is making it alive today. It is a lingering art. The demand for cowboy hats is especially significant with their unique design and usefulness which are considered contemporary that evolved out of past styles.

Head coverings, as a source of inspired millinery design includes the following:

• A Bonnet. A bonnet is a head covering that has a crown or the top part of a hat and a brim which is a projecting rim or edge. The brim is usually curving around the face and is held by ribbons tied under the chin.

• A Cap. A cap is a close fitting head covering having a low crown and very little brim. The brim is usually in the form of a visor.

• A Hood. A hood is a soft head covering that fits closely around the face and neck. A hood can be worn separately or as part of the robe or cloak. It is also a term for an unblocked, cone-shaped form of fur fiber or straw that is used in making hats.

• A Hat. A hat is a head covering that has a crown and a brim.

Generally made from leather, felt, wool, palm or straw, cowboy hats are apt to be the people’s choice when it comes to shopping for an all-time head wear or fashion accessory for fun and convenience.