Original ESB Hoth Rebel Hat

[Darth Lars]

I have recently been staying at hotel "Finse 1222" in Finse, Norway. The outdoor scenes of Hoth have been shot right outside the hotel, which the actors and production have stayed at. I was there together with ~40 other guys from the 501st and Rebel Legions.

The hotel has an original Rebel hat from the production ... and they let anyone who asked borrow it for pictures. I'm not kidding... I have half a dozen pictures of troopers wearing it. It even appears in the 501st/RL group picture.
I did take detailed pictures and measurements of the hat, inside and out.
Unfortunately, my camera acted up, so I can't post pictures until tonight when I will have got home from Norway. I am sure that lots of them from 501st members will appear soon, though.
The hat has already been posted about on the web on Mark Dermul's Hoth-travel site a few years ago.

One strange detail about this hat, is that it has an oversized chin cup made of fabric attached to it with elastic. I saw ESB last night and could notice only one person who wore that kind of cup: Han Solo.

Could ... it ... be? :eek

I would like some help to identify, if this hat really is one that was worn by Harrison Ford.
Please, if you have detailed pictures of Han Solo wearing his hat, then please post them so that we could compare the seams (that are not always perfectly straight) to those of this hat.
Also, if you have seen another person in the movie wearing an oversized fabric chin cup, then speak up!

 

[agent5]

Re: Original ESB Hoth Rebel Hat - Help me identify it

I'm going to have to take a guess here that Ford's Hero costume would have been safely returned back to LFL and what the hotel probably has is a piece worn by one of the extras playing a Rebel Trooper. Of course, there is always the small posibility that someone on the production befriended and gifted someone at the hotel with a piece of the Hero gear but I think that would probably not be the case.

 

[vaderdarth]

Re: Original ESB Hoth Rebel Hat - Help me identify it

But then again, the deathstar wound up in a dumpster. Nothing from the OT amazes me anymore. They threw away stuff like it was trash. Chances are, Ford wasn't the exclusive wearer of the costume piece. It may have gotten reused for different scenes and maybe ones where it wasn't a close up shot.

 

[Art Andrews]

Re: Original ESB Hoth Rebel Hat - Help me identify it

Brandon Alinger might be able to shed light on this as I remember him seeing that hat years ago and I think he even got a few pics with it!

 

[Darth Lars]

Re: Original ESB Hoth Rebel Hat - Help me identify it

Never mind... I have studied some reference pics a bit more, and I have seen several trench troopers with the chin cup. I have not found any tells on Han's hat/s that makes it stand out. I would need better pics than the HD/1080 screencaps that I have been using so far.

Luke's first cap in the movie has a few blotches, and those blotches seem to be there on the cap that Lucasfilm has shown in exhibitions.
Luke's second cap (after the Wampa) has a few ripped seams, which rules it out completely.

 

[Darth Lars]

Re: Original ESB Hoth Rebel Hat - Help me identify it

And at last ... my pictures and observations:

This is where it is stored at the Hotel:

The hat could be said be made of three pieces:
1. An inner cylindrical hat.
2. A quilted cover around the inner hat.
3. The bills attached to the front of it all.

It was made from two types of fabric:
- A medium-weight twill in a very light tan color. Almost, but not quite white. I'll call it "light" hereafter for simplicity.
- A slightly ligher and softer twill in a slightly darker tan color. I'll call it "dark" from here on for simplicity.

The edging around the bill and the back are not woven ribbons - they are actually just strips cut from fabric.

The cylinder has a slit that goes a little bit more than half the way up. Over the slit is a strap of velcro which allows the hat to be adjusted for different sized heads.

The padded cover is made from two layers of "lighter" fabric. The most part is quilted with padding in-between but above a certain line there is neither.
The bottom edge is curved, and the front edges are slanted so that they meet at the tips at 45 degree angles.

Both front edges has white elastic on the insides, attached with zig-zag stitch.

The edging around the bottom/front is of the lighter fabric. The chin strap is sewn onto the outside and is closed with white velcro.

There are three small loops of "darker" fabric on the back of the hat. They are stitched to the cover at the top and closed with white velcro on the bottom.

There is a flap of darker fabric over each ear. Each is double-stitched at the top and closed with velcro.
The comm radio was attached to the left ear flap with a thin fishing line. There are stains left from the comm radio prop - possible from its black paint. The comm radio was gone, unfortunately, but it has been well researched already and I believe that good resin replicas are available.

The edging around the top is the "darker" fabric -- and this same seam is what holds the quilted cover to the inner hat. The seam starts below the bill, but the edging starts where the bill is attached.

I can not tell much about the bills, except that it is stitched all the way around to the rest of the hat. There is a simple ribbon of the darker fabric in the crease attached to the bills only at the two corners.
There are also, some obviously hand-made stitches at these corners.

I overlooked the oversized chin cup, and I don't have any good pictures or measurements of it. I noticed, however that it has both a top and a bottom, with a seam in a curve so that it cups the wearers chin. The bottom part is lemon-shaped (for lack of a better word) and the top part is more angular. It is double-sided, made from the light fabric on one side and the darker on the other. It is sewn to a long strip of the same type of elastic as is used in the hat.

I do have more pictures, and in higher resolution ... as well as detailed measurements. However, to avoid counterfeits being made and passed of as real, I will not publish those for everyone to see. I am willing to share the info with individual good-standing members here who want one made for their own collection and who promise not to pass the info on to everyone.

 

[n0x23]

Thank you very much for posting these pictures with the detailed description!
Awesome!
I love these hats. :love

So, did it feel like it would actually keep your head and ears warm out there?

I know Ford's costume was actually meant for the studio use, not real world conditions, so he froze the whole time.

I've always wondered if these costumes were designed purely for aesthetics, or they actually kept the actors warm.

 

[Darth Lars]

Oh. I forgot to mention, the very top of the hat isn't padded in any way. It is just one layer of cotton twill. I think that it could keep your ears warm, but not the top of the head.

I read somewhere that a few of the trench troopers suffered from frostbite ...
A few of them also built an igloo to keep warm in in-between takes.

 

[Stormy320]

Very cool. I would like to see pictures from the trip too.

 

[Katsu Ma'roy]

These are very cool! I'll be letting the Mountain base/garrison folks here know about that!

 

[Darth Lars]

Very cool. I would like to see pictures from the trip too.

http://www.therpf.com/showthread.php?t=85403

Not that much in there, but I will post more.

 

[Loanstar]

I have to go to norway one day.

Great pics.

 

[Darth_Hombach]

I have to go to norway one day.

Great pics.

I second that