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4[[quoteright:350:[[ComicBook/ArchieComics https://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/jugheadhat.png]]]]
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7%% Example list is alphabetized. Please sort new examples accordingly. Thanks!
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10
11->''"You ever see me without this stupid hat on? That's weird."''
12-->-- '''Jughead Jones''', ''Series/{{Riverdale}}''
13
14"Clothes make the man" is a well-established idiom, but we all know it's specifically the head gear that makes you who you are.
15
16Distinctive headgear (or hair accessories) make people stand out in the crowd. Most of the time, the headgear is unique to only that character (or that group). They also tell you a little something about the character's personality. Oftentimes the headgear/hair accessory is so ingrained into the character that one only needs to use the headwear as a symbol for that character's presence.
17
18It's also an easy way for creators who are prone to OnlySixFaces to give a little bit more distinction to their characters, similar to how WorldOfTechnicolorHair is used to give characters their own special flair through unique hair colors.
19
20A subtrope of DistinctiveAppearances and MeaningfulAppearance. Compare to ArtsyBeret, CoolCrown, HatOfAuthority, HatOfPower and other headgear related tropes that creators use for characterization and/or distinction purposes.
21
22Related to IconicItem, for character-defining items or props well recognized outside of a work. Also related to HelmetsAreHardlyHeroic, where the protagonist ''lacks'' headgear to highlight their specialness and make them easier to recognize.
23
24See also NeverBareheaded, where a character is never seen without their hat, and ImportantHairAccessory, which is when removing or putting on the headgear defines a moment of CharacterDevelopment.
25
26Not to be confused with TheHatMakesTheMan, about hats that alter the wearer's personality. Also not to be confused with BracesOfOrthodonticOverkill, a different type of "headgear".
27----
28!!Examples:
29[[foldercontrol]]
30
31[[folder:Anime & Manga]]
32* ''Manga/The100GirlfriendsWhoReallyReallyReallyReallyReallyLoveYou'': Among the titular girlfriends:
33** Kurumi has her jacket hood up and wears headphones to avoid being distracted by food.
34** Naddy wears an oversized Stetson as part of her [[InvertedTrope reverse]] OccidentalOtaku schtick.
35** Momiji usually has her ponytail in a prominent hair bow. A couple of times when she's changed things up, she's had a small decoration in the shape of a bow instead.
36** GyaruGirl Ahko decorates her hair with hearts and hairclips, and has a side ponytail in a scrunchie.
37** Uto wears a minstrel's hat complete with a feather in the band as part of her WanderingMinstrel act.
38** Rin has two long ribbons tied into her hair, one each side of her head, as part of her [[{{ojou}} ladylike]] appearance.
39** Tama wears an AnimalEaredHeadband to complete her CatGirl appearance.
40** Matsuri wears Gothic Lolita headdresses as part of her ElegantGothicLolita look (although she sees it all as festival wear instead).
41* Hild from ''Manga/AhMyGoddess''; the number of decorations and ornaments in her hair are incredible. Her daughter, Urd, seems to copy this aspect of her.
42* ''Manga/AirGear'': Kururu's hair is absolutely ''littered'' with bobby pins, as well as a large X-barrette. The reason she has so many bobby pins in her hair is that she is trying to make her hair look a little neater. Although, unfortunately for her, the bobby pins are ineffective in that regard.
43* In ''Manga/ArpeggioOfBlueSteel'' Ashigara wears a pair of hair clips in the shape of a stylized wolf, which along with her CuteLittleFangs reference her RealLife counterpart's nickname "The Hungry Wolf"
44* In ''Manga/AttackNumberOne'', the easiest way to distinguish which girl is which is by their headbands or bows. Kozue wears a yellow headband with a bow on it. Midori has a blue headband.
45* Almost all the girls in ''Manga/CandyCandy'' wear something in her hair. The eponymous Candy has her iconic twin red bows, Annie wears a hairbow, Eliza and Susanna prefer big bows on the back of their heads, Louisa uses blue bows, etc. Pretty much the only girls who didn't put hair decs were Patty (she uses a short bob) and Frannie (too practical to be concerned with her appearance). [[spoiler: It becomes very important when Candy is framed by Neil and Eliza for trying to hurt Annie: Annie can't testify in her favor, but she manages to leave one of her hair ribbons to silently tell Candy that she believes in her innocence.]]
46* ''Manga/CaptainTsubasa'': Genzo Wakabayashi is easily identified by his habit of wearing a cap on every match. The most iconic ones are one with a stylized W he wears as a kid, and another with the Adidas logo when he goes pro.
47* ''Manga/ACertainScientificRailgun'': Kazari Uiharu is well-known for the headband of artificial flowers she wears on her head. Strangely, whenever people ask Uiharu about the flowers, she'll say she doesn't know what they are talking about. In the third volume of the MMR side-GagSeries, she's been rendered effectively invisible while it's under repair.
48* ''Franchise/{{Digimon}}'': All of {{the Protagonist}}s except for [[Anime/DigimonDataSquad Masaru]] have goggles on their head as their signature accessory. In ''Anime/DigimonFrontier'', Tomoki/Tommy seemed to feel his hat was notable enough to warrant a special mention in the entry for him Bokomon was writing in his GreatBigBookOfEverything.
49* ''Manga/DragonBall'' has Gyu-Mao/The Ox-King, who wears a Viking helmet reminiscent of HornyVikings which he's rarely seen without, but InUniverse his ethnicity is ambiguous since there's nothing to suggest he's NorseByNorsewest, which suggests that his Viking horned helmet is simply related to the show's AlternateUniverse feel.
50* ''Manga/DrStone'': Yuzuriha is never seen without her headband, which [[MadeOfIndestructium somehow survived for 3700 years]] while all other clothing rotted away. [[https://www.crunchyroll.com/anime-feature/2019/08/07/how-did-yuzurihas-headband-survive-for-thousands-of-years-in-dr-stone It's one of the biggest mysteries in the series.]]
51* ''Manga/HidamariSketch'': [[CheerfulChild Yu]][[OlderThanTheyLook no's]] own X-shaped hair clips are her defining physical characteristics, often serving to symbolize her in the anime. Miyako was surprised to find out that they aren't hereditary. One time, when they went to the pool, Yuno wore a bathing cap, but when Sae removed it, she went back to get her clips. And at the bathhouse, when she removed them to wash her hair, Miyako put them on and got Yuno to look at her newly-''X'd hair''.
52* ''Manga/JoJosBizarreAdventure'':
53** ''[[Manga/JoJosBizarreAdventurePhantomBlood Phantom Blood]]'': Will A. Zeppeli has a rather extravagant signature top hat with a checkerboard pattern. [[spoiler:Speedwagon wears it once Zeppeli dies, and Caesar ends up wearing it in Part 2.]].
54** ''[[Manga/JoJosBizarreAdventureBattleTendency Battle Tendency]]'': Caesar Zeppeli is always seen with a purple-and-orange headband. [[spoiler:Once he dies, he uses it to pass on his remaining power to Joseph Joestar, who wears it for the rest of the part and uses it as a weapon during Wamuu's fight.]]
55** ''[[Manga/JoJosBizarreAdventureStardustCrusaders Stardust Crusaders]]'':
56*** [[Characters/JoJosBizarreAdventureJotaroKujo Jotaro Kujo]] is almost always seen wearing a hat that tends to blend into his hair. The author said that this was done to give him a distinctive silhouette in comparison to his peers.
57*** Apart from Jotaro, old Joseph Joestar always has on an Indiana Jones-style cowboy hat. Minor villain Oingo also has a very tall baseball cap that can be shapeshifted thanks to his stand's ability, while major villain Vanilla Ice wears a headband with a heart on it to symbolize his loyalty to DIO.
58** ''[[Manga/JoJosBizarreAdventureDiamondIsUnbreakable Diamond is Unbreakable]]'': Rohan Kishibe, the Mangaka, has a zig-zagged headband just under his hair, though in the [[Manga/ThusSpokeKishibeRohan spinoff series starring him]] it's implied he has many due to there being multiple colors. His [[FightingSpirit stand]], Heaven's Door, also has a translucent top hat and is carried over for Pink Dark Boy's design. In this part, Joseph Joestar has yet another different signature hat, sporting a leopard-print ushankha.
59** ''[[Manga/JoJosBizarreAdventureGoldenWind Golden Wind]]'': Bruno Bucciarati, [[{{Deuteragonist}} the deuteragonist]], has two golden barrettes in his hair at all times. Ally Narancia Ghirga always has an orange headband covering his messy hair. Minor villain Polpo has some sort of pincushion-looking hat on.
60** ''[[Manga/JoJosBizarreAdventureStoneOcean Stone Ocean]]'': Ermes Costello is always seen with decorative clips in her hair. Narciso Anasui has what looks like a traditional flight attendant's cap in black, and Weather Report has a fluffy horned hat based on ''Music/{{Jamiroquai}}'''s album covers.
61** ''[[Manga/JoJosBizarreAdventureSteelBallRun Steel Ball Run]]'': Johnny Joestar has a star-patterned beanie with a horseshoe pin on it (to symbolize him being both a Joestar and an American), while his companion Gyro Zeppeli has a slitted cowboy hat with green goggles on the brim. Frienemy Diego Brando has a cap with large lettering spelling "DIO" on it, while other frienemy Hot Pants has a Pickelhaube.
62** ''[[Manga/JoJosBizarreAdventureJoJolion JoJolion]]'': Josuke has a sailor's hat that matches his uniform. It's actually used as a plot point: because he lost his memory, he goes back to the hat shop to ask who bought it. His adoptive nephew Tsurugi always wears an origami frog in his hair that fits his Stand ability.
63** ''[[Manga/JoJosBizarreAdventureTheJOJOLands The JoJoLands]]'': Jodio wears a star-shaped hairclip in his braid, symbolizing him as part of the Joestar family.
64* Chika Fujiwara from ''Manga/KaguyaSamaLoveIsWar'' has her ever-present "super black" bow that stays affixed to her hair without any visible means of support. [[RuleOfFunny She even has it on when she's wearing a bald cap and trying to fool everyone into thinking she shaved her head.]] She also carries a backup "not as black" bow in case she needs it. [[spoiler:A FlashForward shows that she continues to wear it as an adult despite otherwise switching over to [[LadyInAPowerSuit a more professional attire]].]]
65* ''Anime/KazeNoShojoEmily'': Perry is never seen without his red beret. He doesn't even take it off when he wears a fake horse head, causing Ilse to double over laughing. [[spoiler: He loses it as an adult]].
66* Midori Asakusa of ''Manga/KeepYourHandsOffEizouken'' is almost never seen without her distinct camouflage bucket hat. When she first meets Mizusaki, she's not very happy when Mizusaki takes it from her in an attempt to escape from her bodyguards.
67* ''Manga/LifeWithAnOrdinaryGuyWhoReincarnatedIntoATotalFantasyKnockout'': Early in the story, Jinguuji purchases a crown for Tachibana to wear that acts like a PowerLimiter on his SuperGenderBender powers, which seduce anyone who lays eyes on him. Without it, entering any populated area would cause every man nearby to fall over themselves to woo him. Prior to obtaining the crown, Tachibana caused an entire gang of bandits to turn on one another fighting over him. The crown acts as a PerceptionFilter, causing Tachibana to go largely unnoticed so his powers only activate when someone makes a point of looking at him. Naturally, Tachibana wears the crown almost always and, whenever it's lost or removed for some reason, chaos ensues.
68* In ''Manga/{{MAR}}'', Princess Snow almost always wears her iconic oversized pink bow on her head. If she isn't... there's something wrong. It's also helpful in distinguishing Snow from Koyuki, [[spoiler: as it's eventually revealed Snow is a copy of Koyuki, who ends up merging her soul back into her at the very end.]]
69* ''Anime/MobileSuitGundamSeedDestiny'': Lacus's iconic hairclip is almost the only thing Durandal didn't feel the need to replicate. Meer's is a giant gold star. Given how this is the only thing to identify her while she works for ANaziByAnyOtherName, it has [[UsefulNotes/TheHolocaust deeply and deliberately unsettling implications]]
70* Chiyo Sakura from ''Manga/MonthlyGirlsNozakiKun'' wears ribbons in her hair, which are red with white polka dots. It's one of the only ways the titular Umetaro Nozaki can recognise her, much to her annoyance. This is taken to its logical extreme when Nozaki is asked to draw sidebars for volumes of ''Let's Fall in Love'' and writes a column about conversations with his assistants. There, he draws Sakura first as a floating ribbon, then as a person with a ribbon for a head.
71* ''Anime/NeonGenesisEvangelion'':
72** Asuka Langley Sohryu has her A-10 neural clips, which she wears even when she's not on assignment. She wears them as a symbol of how important being an Eva pilot is in her life, and they're so strongly associated with her that even spinoffs set in an AlternateUniverse have her constantly wearing them, or at least hairclips that look similar. The fact that they look like two horns coming out of her head is the reason why Toji Suzuhara likes to call her "the Red Devil".
73** The second ''Anime/RebuildOfEvangelion'' film gives Asuka a black cap with [[AnimalEaredHeadband cat ear-style flaps]] coming out of its top. It helps increase the strength of her "tired-at-the-world" KubrickStare.
74* Chitoge Kirisaki from ''Manga/{{Nisekoi}}'' has her distinctive red, rabbit ear-shaped hair bow, which she wears due to a storybook from her youth and wanting to be like a girl in it. Because of its distinct shape, it's often used as a funny visual shorthand to identify her speech-bubbles when she's not on screen.
75* ''Manga/OnePiece'' has several examples just in the main crew alone:
76** Perhaps the most iconic headgear in all of anime and manga: the simple yellow straw hat with a red ribbon around it. It has adorned the head of series protagonist Monkey D. Luffy since chapter/episode one and continues to do so over a thousand chapters/episodes later, and is so synonymous with Luffy that not only is his moniker "Straw Hat", his entire pirate crew is officially called the Straw Hat Pirates. It even has in-universe cred: before it was passed down to Luffy, it belonged to Shanks (one of [[TheDreaded the Four Emperors of the Sea]]), and it was passed down to ''him'' by none other than the legendary Pirate King himself, Gol D. Roger (although only in his early career; Roger is most commonly associated with his own bicorne pirate hat that bears his Jolly Roger).
77** To a much lesser extent, Zoro's bandana. While most of the time he has it tied around his left arm, he only puts it on his head when in his most serious fights. As a consequence, some of Zoro's most memorable fights happened with the bandana firmly wrapped around his noggin, cementing the popular image of Zoro as a bandana-wearing badass.
78** Usopp has two: the yellow net-patterned cap/goggle combination he wore pre-timeskip, and the white hat with an oversized rim post-timeskip. The former tied into his [[GadgeteerGenius tinkering habits and ability]], as well as (before Franky officially joined the crew) his effective role as the crew's shipwright.
79** Chopper also has two: the pre-timeskip one was a simple fuzzy pink top hat with a sideways medical cross symbol (essentially a white 'x'), while the post-timeskip one is a blue round helmet with dotted circles worn on top of the pink hat. The hat also contains openings for his antlers... that sometimes come off ''with'' the hat in sillier moments. The hat is of personal importance to him because it was given to him by his mentor and father figure, Dr. Hiruluk.
80** Brook ''also'' has two: a simple black top hat pre-timeskip, and a far snazzier hat covered by a giant, golden crown post-timeskip.
81* ''Manga/OshiNoKo'': Memcho often wears devil horns and some scenes add a tail and wings when she has something mischievous in mind.
82* ''Anime/PokemonTheSeries'': Ash Ketchum can easily be recognized by his red trainer cap. He has seven distinct caps (eight if you count the AlternateContinuity Ash from ''Anime/PokemonIChooseYou''), each of which represent a different series Ash is in.
83** ''Anime/PokemonTheOriginalSeries'': The most famous is the very first one, the Pokémon League Expo hat, a red and white cap with a green L (stands for League) in the middle. Unlike the other caps, this League cap actually has a backstory in that Ash sent millions of postcards to get it and thus, it's a physical representation of Ash's dream [[ToBeAMaster to be the best like no one ever was]]... and a sign of his immaturity given his attachment to that cap.
84** ''Anime/PokemonJourneysTheSeries'': Ash's seventh and final cap has a unique Poké Ball symbol that is shaped like a C. This reflects his newfound status as a regional Champion of Alola and {{foreshadow}}s [[spoiler:his eventual ascension as the [[WorldsBestWarrior World Monarch (aka Champion) of the World Tournament]]]].
85* ''Anime/{{Pretear}}'' is one of the only series that gets away with having a distinctly heterosexual male character wearing a dec, though it manifests in the shape of a large, tube-shaped bead and clasps around his ponytail in back. Later, it is revealed that every Leafe Knight possesses one of these "communicator beads" to some varying degree of size and placement.
86* Hair decorations are extremely common in ''Anime/PrettyCure'', to the point where in the entire franchise, only the first Cure, [[Anime/FutariWaPrettyCure Cure Black]], doesn't have any. Among the more notable:
87** ''Anime/FutariWaPrettyCureSplashStar'': Saki wears three barrettes, two plain pink and one flower; they show her to be a TomboyWithAGirlyStreak, setting her apart from Nagisa who was a straight tomboy.
88** ''Anime/YesPrettyCure5'': Cure Mint and Cure Aqua wear matching butterfly bows, since they are best friends and closer with each other than they are to Cures Dream, Rouge, or Lemonade.
89** ''Anime/FreshPrettyCure'': While the other Cures only wear one heart hairpiece, Cure Peach wears two, since she's a LoveFreak.
90** ''Anime/SuitePrettyCure'': Hibiki wears thin ribbons in her hair, adding to its wild, messy appearance, since she's the sporty wild child of the team.
91** ''Anime/HappinessChargePrettyCure'': Cure Princess gets a miniature crown to show off her royal status while in Cure form.
92** ''Anime/GoPrincessPrettyCure'': Of the Cures' tiaras, Cure Mermaid's crown is the most connected to her theme, as it resembles coral and has a pink seashell attached to it.
93** ''Anime/MahoGirlsPrecure'': Ironically, despite being the only Cure of non-magical origins, Cure Miracle is the one who gets a mini witch hat as part of her Cure outfit.
94** ''Anime/KiraKiraPrecureALaMode'': Each of the Cures wears an AnimalEaredHeadband themed to their specific animal; bunny ears for Cure Whip, squirrel ears for Cure Custard, lion ears from Cure Gelato, cat ears for Cure Macaron, dog ears for Cure Chocolat, and horse ears for Cure Parfait.
95** ''Anime/HugttoPrettyCure'': Since her Cure theme is a flight attendant, Cure Etoile gets a little blue flight cap.
96** ''Anime/StarTwinklePrettyCure'': Lala is identified with little cup-like bobbles in her hair, where her antennae come from.
97** ''Anime/HealinGoodPrettyCure'': While the other Cures have simple bead tiaras, [[spoiler:Cure Earth]] gets a fancy winged crown.
98** ''Anime/TropicalRougePrettyCure'': Fitting to the ocean theme of the season, Cure Coral gets a sailor hat to wear.
99** ''Anime/HirogaruSkyPrettyCure'': Since the main theme is air, Cure Sky gets a pair of little fluffy wings to wear in her hair.
100* ''Manga/ThePrinceOfTennis'': Protagonist Ryoma Echizen is almost always seen wearing a white cap with the letter R.
101* ''Manga/TheQuintessentialQuintuplets'': Four out of the five Nakano sisters wear notable head accessories that identify them and go with their NumerologicalMotif and respective NumericalThemeNaming:
102** Nino wears '''two''' butterfly-shaped ribbons on the sides of her hair.
103** Miku wears a pair of headphones with triangles (a '''three'''-sided shape) on the outside of the speakers. Notably, she almost always wears them on the neck instead of her head.
104** Yotsuba wears a hair ribbon shaped like a '''four'''-leaf clover.
105** Itsuki wears a pair of hairclips shaped like '''five'''-point stars.
106* ''Anime/SailorMoon'':
107** Sailor Moon, Sailor Chibi Moon and Sailor Chibi Chibi Moon all wear {{Odango}} orbs and tiaras (and one of the first attacks Sailor Moon learns is Moon Tiara Boomerang, where she throws her tiara like a boomerang at the enemy). Their Super Sailor forms throw in barrettes, while in the [[Manga/SailorMoon manga]] they had the barrettes from the beginning.
108** Minako has a red bow, which even has a backstory of its own: in ''Manga/CodenameSailorV'', it was her first crush who suggested her to wear it, telling her it would look good on her. [[TragicKeepsake Then she found out he was a youma, and ended up making him her first kill]]... [[SubvertedTrope And kept wearing it because he was right: it]] ''[[SubvertedTrope did]]'' [[SubvertedTrope look good on her]].
109** Naru always wears her green hairbow, and in the manga, most of Usagi's classmates are distinguished by their Ahair ties.
110** The Sailor/Amazoness Quartet from the manga is an extreme case, as their hair decs (and hairstyles as well) are [[AnimeHair practically]] [[ImprobableHairstyle improbable]].)
111* Kafuka of ''Manga/SayonaraZetsubouSensei'' almost always wears a distinctive yellow ribbon in her hair. It's been noted that without their hairstyles, most of the girls would look [[OnlySixFaces practically identical]].
112* ''Manga/SpyXFamily'': Anya Forger is almost always wearing a pair of black-and-gold horn-like accessories on the sides of her hair, even while sleeping. One of the few times she wasn't was during a flashback to her life as an experimental subject (where she had OdangoHair in their place).
113* Krystal, or Hime, from ''Manga/TalesOfWeddingRings'' is never seen without her distinctive crown-shaped hairpin. It doesn't matter if she's bathing, trying to make love to her husband Satou, or [[spoiler:undergoing a brief EvilCostumeSwitch]]; regardless of the situation, the hairpin stays on.
114* Most of the girls in ''Anime/TenchiMuyo'' are recognizable for their iconic headgear: Ayeka has a tiara that is mostly obscured by her bangs, Sasami has two orb-shaped hair decorations that hold up her twintails, Washu has the massive purple scrunchie that holds up her hair in a ponytail, Mihoshi has the ribbon that holds her own hair up in a ponytail and Kiyone has the headband around her forehead. Only Ryoko and Noike don't have any specific headgear.
115* Yoko of ''Anime/TengenToppaGurrenLagann'' always has a skull hairpin in her hair. This fits her personality as someone who is both cute eye candy and a no-nonsense, badass fighter. The skull is iconic enough that it has appeared in shoutouts to the show in other media, such the visual skull motif of [[Anime/KillLaKill Nonon Jakuzure]], whose character design is similar to Yoko's.
116* Nitori from ''Manga/WanderingSon'' is associated with headbands. She's a trans girl whose LGBTAwakening was being forced to wear a headband by classmates as a joke. Nitori initially wore headbands to pass as a girl, but she phased them out as a part of her CharacterDevelopment.
117* ''Anime/ZombieLandSaga'':
118** Ai always has a collection of small yellow flower ornaments in her hair. Normally she'll have just two or three, but dons a whole bunch when performing live.
119** Lily is always with her signature star decoration in her hair. It ties into her general [[CosmicMotifs star motif]] and helps her look cuter according to her bandmate Sakura.
120[[/folder]]
121
122[[folder:Arts]]
123* Art/NefertitiBust: There have been many crowns in Ancient Egyptian history, and due to Nefertiti's bust, her crown is one of the better known among them in the present day. Nefertiti is also the only one known to have worn this crown and it's so strongly associated with her that, on one hand, the nameless crown is referred to as hers ("the Nefertiti crown (cap)") and on the other, if someone shows up wearing this crown, no guesses that they're Nefertiti.
124[[/folder]]
125
126[[folder:Asian Animation]]
127* ''Animation/BoBoiBoy'': The titular protagonist [[NeverBareheaded always wears his]] iconic orange dinosaur-like cap. It has 3 white spikes, yellow spots at its sides, his lightning insignia, and a mouth-like shape with teeth on the opposite side of the bill. The earliest concept design even gave the hat 3 open eyes. These were evidently removed, and so were the teeth in ''[=BoBoiBoy=] Galaxy'' and onwards, but the overall design remains the same. His [[ElementalPowers elemental]] [[LiteralSplitPersonality counterparts]] all wear similarly designed hats, although each with a different base color and insignia depending on the elemental. Each elemental appears to have their own style of wearing the cap as well, respective to each of their personalities.
128[[/folder]]
129
130[[folder:Comic Books]]
131* ''ComicBook/ArchieComics'': Jughead Jones wears a very distinctive hat that he is almost never seen without. Properly called a 'whoopee cap', it is made from a man's felt fedora hat with the brim trimmed with a scalloped cut and turned up. A common item of fashion for boys and teens when the character was created, it is now almost exclusively associated with Jughead to the extent that it is often called a 'Jughead hat'.
132* ''ComicBook/DisneyDucksComicUniverse'':
133** Donald's sailor "pankake cap", that he apparently stole from an actual sailor as a child (the sailor tried to take it back, but gave up due how much of a fight Donald was putting). He loves it so much it's even part of his outfit as Paperinik the Devilish Avenger, his superhero[=/=]antihero alter ego, to the point the police will sometime summon him by [[BatSignal shining a signal of a bat wearing that hat]] (how he gets away with keeping a SecretIdentity is [[ClarkKenting another matter entirely]]).
134** Scrooge's top hat. He actually has many of them, the first being bought in Tsarist Russia for an audience with the Tsar. Some of them have a secret compartment for emergency money or other objects.
135** John Rockerduck's bowler hat, at times used as a sort of insignia. He also has the habit of eating it whenever Scrooge defeats him, [[SurprisinglyRealisticOutcome eventually leading to him having a chronic stomacache]].
136* ''ComicBook/JudgeDredd'': Judge Dredd's helmet is so iconic to the character because [[NeverBareheaded it rarely comes off]] and even when it does, his face is obscured in some way. In fact, anyone who tries to discover what he looks like tends to end up having misfortune happen to them.
137* ''ComicBook/MegaManArchieComics'': The Blue Bomber's signature helmet is synonymous with him, to the point that Auto wears one while playing pretend when no one's looking. In one arc, it's left crushed and shattered to be found by Rock's successor, X, 200 years in the future, implying a grisly fate for Mega Man until the next issue reveals that he'd simply lost it in a fight with one of Wily's weapons platforms.
138* ''ComicBook/{{The Outsiders|DCComics}}'': Villain the Duke of Oil is never seen without his 10-gallon hat.
139* ''ComicBook/StarWarsKanan'': The only way to tell named clone troopers from all the rest when they're in full armor are the little modifications they've made to personalize their armor which is mostly done to helmets.
140** Commander Grey has painted his helmet with a series of symmetrical tapering red stripes.
141** Captain Styles has painted the crest of his helmet red, painted two red stripes that go from the back of the helmet across his eyes and down to the mouth, and two red stripes around the air filtration casing.
142** Corporal Big-Mouth painted a widening stripe of forest green on the center of the top of his helmet and a stripe of the same green at the edges of the eyes.
143** Trooper Stance painted the crest of his helmet lime green.
144* ''ComicBook/UltimateXMen'': Ultimate Iceman wears a durag, which helps to set him apart to the otherwise similar-looking mainstream Iceman.
145* ''ComicBook/WonderWoman'':
146** ''[[ComicBook/WonderWoman1942 Volume 1]]'': Queen Clea's crown, which she foolishly wears even when in "disguise", is a rather unique article which makes her easy for characters to identify. It consists of a large round white horizontally pleated piece with a red Uraeus sitting atop like colored [[https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Laminar_armour lames]] in the center front.
147** ''[[ComicBook/WonderWoman1987 Volume 2]]'': ComicBook/PostCrisis Clea's crown was updated so that the formerly white portion was switched out for silvery scales and the Uraeus is smaller and gold, sitting instead on a gold edging that frames the opening for her face.
148* ''ComicBook/XMen'': [[Characters/MarvelComicsMagneto Magneto]]'s helmet has been his signature headgear since 1963. While sometimes the colors change, to reflect a change in the colors of his costume, the shape is unique and is uniquely associated with him. It is sometimes, especially in the Film/XMenFilmSeries, said to provide him with protection from telepathic attacks, which is useful considering he often finds himself in opposition to [[Characters/MarvelComicsProfessorX Professor X]].
149[[/folder]]
150
151[[folder:Comic Strips]]
152* B.D. in ''ComicStrip/{{Doonesbury}}'' wore a helmet of some sort (football, army, police, etc.) all the time for the first 30+ years he was in the strip. It wasn't until 2004, after he was seriously wounded in Iraq, that we actually saw what he looked like ''without'' one.
153* Peter Fox from ''ComicStrip/FoxTrot'' has his blue and white baseball cap with an "A" on it (supposedly a reference to creator Bill Amend's alma mater, Amherst College), which he considers his trademark. He's rarely ever seen without it, except when [[NeverBareheaded wearing some other kind of headgear]].
154* Lucky Eddie, right-hand man to ''ComicStrip/HagarTheHorrible'' wears a funnel on his head 24/7, unlike the other Vikings in the Hagar universe, who wear normal helmets, or helmets adorned with horns. Being TheFool as well as the comedic foil to Hagar, this odd headpiece signifies that Lucky Eddie comes up short by Viking standards.
155* Thandi from ''ComicStrip/MadamAndEve'' always wears two pink bows in her short pigtails.
156[[/folder]]
157
158[[folder:Fan Works]]
159* ''Fanfic/{{Contraptionology}}'': Applejack is very attached to her hat, which was given to her by her deceased father, and goes off her shits when Rarity not-so-accidentally incinerates it.
160-->'''Rainbow Dash:''' Come on, admit it. You [[spoiler:sold your soul]] for me ''and'' a new hat.
161-->'''Applejack:''' That I did.
162-->'''Rainbow Dash:''' It is a nice hat.
163* ''Fanfic/DungeonKeeperAmi'':
164** Crowned Death's black crown which he wears, and so does any entity that belongs to him, like if a bit of him is cut off, or is possessing something.
165** Sailor Mercury's circlet with a sapphire is created by her TransformationSequence and used to be given to all her minions until she fixed that, and now it only applies to those who share her transformation.
166* Fanfic/DustInTheWind: Courier Six has worn a series of obscuring helmets and headgear across the course of the story. Though he prefers the iconic Helmet and gas mask combo of the Ranger Veteran armor. Since the story's inception, he's worn the helmet of the Riot Gear found in the Divide. He also refuses to take them off regardless of the situation. Even ones where it might prove dangerous, such as swimming.
167[[/folder]]
168
169[[folder:Films -- Animation]]
170* Fievel Mousekewitz from the ''WesternAnimation/AnAmericanTail'' series has his iconic blue hat that was passed down to him as a family heirloom. It (somehow) turns inside out into a white cowboy hat for ''WesternAnimation/AnAmericanTailFievelGoesWest''.
171* WesternAnimation/{{Barbie}} movies:
172** The Sugarplum Princess from ''WesternAnimation/BarbieInTheNutcracker'' is identified with a tiara that shines a brighter gold than her blonde hair. [[spoiler:When it's revealed that Clara is that princess, she gets to wear it.]]
173** Princess Melody from ''WesternAnimation/BarbieAsRapunzel'' is never seen without a blue headband.
174** While living in the forest with all the animals, Odette from ''WesternAnimation/BarbieOfSwanLake'' is given a wavy silver tiara with a pink jewel to wear. [[spoiler:In the finale, her tiara becomes the shape of a tiny swan.]]
175** Marketing for ''WesternAnimation/BarbieAsThePrincessAndThePauper'' gives Anneliese a gold tiara and Erika a pink-and-blue flower crown. However, the flower crown is never seen in the movie, and the tiara is never worn by Anneliese, but instead by Erika when posing as Anneliese.
176** In ''WesternAnimation/BarbieAndTheMagicOfPegasus'', after building the Wand of Light, Annika goes through a transformation that gives her an ice tiara.
177** In ''WesternAnimation/BarbieInTheTwelveDancingPrincesses'', Duchess Rowena always has a decorative doily on top of her head.
178** In ''WesternAnimation/BarbieAsTheIslandPrincess'', Queen Ariana's beehive is always tied up with a big red bow.
179** Marketing for ''WesternAnimation/BarbieAndTheDiamondCastle'' gives Liana and Alexa a purple and pink tiara, respectively, inverting each other's colour schemes.
180* ''Franchise/DespicableMe'': [[{{Tomboy}} Edith]] is never seen without her pink-knitted hat. This contrasts with some of her different outfits like her white ballerina outfit from the first movie or her black ninja costume from the second.
181* ''WesternAnimation/{{Encanto}}'': Dolores is never seen without a red bow in her hair, even her childhood photo on the wall. It makes her look just a little longer than her weeks-older cousin, the golden child Isabela.
182* ''WesternAnimation/TurningRed'':
183** Mei is rarely seen without her green hairclip and bobby pins. The exceptions being during the period between the night she gets her panda transformation and when she is visited by her friends in her room and during the climax of the movie. Similarly, she only takes her glasses off to go to bed.
184** Miriam is [[NeverBareHeaded never seen without]] her green toque, even during gym class.
185[[/folder]]
186
187[[folder:Films -- Live-Action]]
188* ''Film/AngryWhiteMan'': One of [[TheProtagonist Skeeter]]'s friends, Walt, is usually seen wearing a cap that has "Shut up & fish" written on it.
189* In ''Film/{{Antigang}}'', squad member Genu is never seen without his knit cap; wearing it even when the squad are in the office working at their desks.
190* Norma in ''Film/Carrie1976'' spends the entire movie wearing a distinctive red baseball cap. Even when she and her friends are getting their hair done for prom, she still finds a way to "wear" it [[https://nypdecider.files.wordpress.com/2017/10/norma-curlers.jpg atop the dryer.]] According to P. J. Soles, who played Norma, the hat was a ThrowItIn from director Creator/BrianDePalma; she had worn the hat to the audition because she had just arrived in California from New York and wasn't used to the bright, sunny weather, and De Palma liked how it looked on her and [[https://www.syfy.com/syfywire/chosen-one-of-the-day-pj-soless-hat-from-carrie asked her to keep wearing it.]]
191* In the movie ''Film/ElDorado'', Mississippi (Creator/JamesCaan) [[https://i.pinimg.com/originals/63/6b/88/636b883dba6819ef16d215dafbe977be.jpg wears a hat]] that is so distinctive (it's essentially a low crowned top hat with a wide cowboy brim, plus a hatband with a ribbon over it studded with silver conchos) that almost nobody can refer to the character with also mentioning the hat. Nobody except Mississippi actually ''likes'' the thing, but everyone notices it.
192-->'''Bull Harris:''' ...might have anyhow if I wasn't tryin' to figure out what that fella's got on his head.\
193'''Alan Bourdillon Trehearne (Mississippi):''' It's called a hat.\
194'''Bull Harris:''' Well, I'll have to take your word for it.
195* Franchise/IndianaJones' fedora is one of his two {{Iconic Item}}s; the other being his trusty bullwhip. He even risks death doing the now famous IndyHatRoll to retrieve it in ''Film/IndianaJonesAndTheTempleOfDoom''.
196* ''Film/TheProfessional'': Leon's hat is so iconic, in UsefulNotes/{{Iran}} (where the film is [[GermansLoveDavidHasselhoff even more popular than its home audience]]), that kind of hat is exclusively called "Leon hat".
197* ''Film/{{Tremors}}'': Burt Gummer constantly wears Atlanta Hawks baseball caps. The other characters may wear baseball caps at times, but he's the only one who wears caps with that team's logo, which [[spoiler:helps set up a (false) DeadHatShot in ''Tremors 3: Back to Perfection''.]] He notably switches to wearing Chicago Cubs caps from ''A Cold Day In Hell'' onwards [[spoiler:and said Cubs cap ends up [[TheHeroDies adorning his headstone]] in ''Shrieker Island''.]]
198* ''Film/WillyWonkaAndTheChocolateFactory'': The Arizona residing Mike Teavee wears a cowboy hat which represents his love for watching violent Westerns on television and that AmericansAreCowboys.
199[[/folder]]
200
201[[folder:Literature]]
202* One story in ''America's Dumbest Criminals'' had a murder suspect who wore a really distinctive hat. The officer telling the story claims that it reminds him of Carmen Miranda's signature headwear. During the suspect's interrogation, he claims that his girlfriend will confirm his alibi. So, they take him home and forbid contact with her. Somehow, he manages to get to her house, tell her what to tell them, and leave before they can get there. But when they enter, guess what they find on the coffee table. [[note]] Yes, it's the hat. [[/note]]
203* ''Literature/AscendanceOfABookworm'': Myne is in a ReincarnateInAnotherWorld situation, resulting in her living in a MedievalEuropeanFantasy with memories of modern-day Japan. She takes to bundling her hair with a hair stick, but girls her age aren't allowed by custom to wear their hair up, so Myne instead wears her hair pulled about halfway, resulting in her having a quite distinctive hair style by the standards of her new world, and starting a trend of hair accessories.
204* ''Literature/BeastTamer'': The fairy twins Sora and Runa each wear flowers in their hair. Sora wears a closed flower on the left side of her head, while Runa an open flower on the right. The flowers reflect their contrasting personalities, Sora being quiet and reserved and Runa benig outgoing and mischievous, and serve as their IdenticalTwinIDTag.
205* In ''Literature/{{Discworld}}'', WizardsAndWitches are extremely attached to their hats. One interesting case is IneptMage Rincewind, who identifies very strongly as a wizard despite his ineptitude, because if he wasn't a wizard he wouldn't be anything, and is never seen without a red hat that says "[[RougeAnglesOfSatin Wizzard]]" on it.
206* The villain of ''Literature/DoctorSleep'' is Rose the Hat, a sociopath never seen without her pork pie hat.
207* In ''Literature/GirlsKingdom'', Himeko is never seen in public without her white feather accessory, which she wears just above her right ear. What significance it bears, if any, is unknown.
208* The titular ''Literature/HaruhiSuzumiya'' is easily identified by her yellow hairband with two yellow ribbons attached to it. Without it, her character design is a very generic Japanese schoolgirl look (shoulder-length brown hair, brown eyes, school uniform), so the hairband highlights that she is a very strange and special person inside a seemingly normal person's body. Notably, she only adopts this style at the start of the story when she decides to found her club (cycling through a variety of distinctive and attention-grabbing hairstyles and accessories), and it's made clear only ''this'' Haruhi, in the company of these people, keeps ''this'' particular look - sometimes important given the nature of the story.
209* Princess Ozma from ''Literature/LandOfOz'' has her ringlet and the two flowers on the side of her head. Virtually all adaptations feature them. They were introduced in the illustrations of the third book, ''Literature/OzmaOfOz'', and [[EarlyInstallmentCharacterDesignDifference didn't appear]] in ''Literature/TheMarvelousLandOfOz''.
210* ''Literature/Mask2020'': The Doll Lady, one of the villains of the book, is identified by her penchant for wearing wide brimmed hats.
211* ''Franchise/SherlockHolmes'': Despite the fact it has never been mentioned in [[Literature/SherlockHolmes the literary canon]], a deerstalker hat became this for Sherlock Holmes. It helps add enigma to his character and its unmistakable design is all people need to see when one wants to refer to him indirectly.
212* ''Literature/StarTrekTheLostEra:'' ''The Buried Age'' has Guinan and her distinctive giant hats. It's even a semi-running gag that her hats are the first thing anyone notices about her (though she has smaller, less giant hats for when she's travelling.)
213* ''Literature/TheWheelOfTime'': Mat Cauthon buys a wide-brimmed black hat in the Aiel Waste and keeps it for the rest of the series. When he becomes a general, rumors spring up among his soldiers that the hat is magic and that he obtained it from a supernatural entity, but all it really does is keep the sun off.
214-->'''Mat:''' When [[TheStoryteller Thom]] puts this all into song, he better remember my hat. It really is a nice hat.
215[[/folder]]
216
217[[folder:Live-Action TV]]
218* ''Series/BigBrother'': Ashley, from season 14, always wore some kind of hair accessory in her hair, whether it was barrettes, flowers, clips, headbands or floral crowns. Her hair accessories were part of her signature style.
219* ''Series/ElChavoDelOcho'': El Chavo wears a green, checkered cap with long ears that's become iconic for the fandom. To a lesser extent, there's Quico's tri-color kiddie cap, and Don Ramón's blue hat (that he often stomps on when he gets angry).
220* ''Series/DoctorWho'': The Fourth Doctor's fedora is second to his scarf as the most recognizable of his outfit. Similarly, the Fifth and Seventh Doctors' Panama hats. Subverted with the Eleventh Doctor, who ''wants'' to have a signature hat, only for Amy and River to ban them - in River's case, [[RunningGag usually by shooting the hat in question]].
221* Jayne and his “cunning” knit hat with ear flaps from his mom on ''{{Series/Firefly}}''. It was only in one episode, but it’s still an iconic part of the character.
222* Blair on ''Series/GossipGirl'' was known for her headbands during the first two seasons, and it was even [[LampshadeHanging lampshaded]] by Serena, who ripped off one during a fight once, and Dan.
223* ''Series/{{Justified}}'': Series protagonist Deputy US Marshall Raylan Givens wears a distinctive white cowboy hat.
224** In the episode "Hatless", he loses the hat in a bar fight. For the rest of the episode, every character he interacts with asks about his missing headgear.
225** In the episode "The I of the Storm", Dewey Crowe impersonates Raylan by wearing a cowboy hat while robbing drug dealers under the guise of a drug raid. The dealers don't remember a name but everybody who hears their description assumes it was Raylan until he finally shows up and the witnesses can see he looks nothing like Dewey.
226** In the episode "Slaughterhouse", Raylan discovers that his [[ArchnemesisDad father Arlo]] killed Trooper Tom Bergen to help notorious criminal Boyd Crowder evade arrest. Later, when Raylan is explaining what happened to Winona, he theorizes that Arlo probably didn't even know he was shooting a state trooper.
227--->'''Raylan:''' He just saw a man in a hat pointing a gun at Boyd.\
228'''Winona:''' A man in a hat?\
229''[Raylan nods, stands, puts on his hat, and walks out]''
230* Grandad Trotter was always seen in his trilby in ''Series/OnlyFoolsAndHorses''. It was so much a part of him that Delboy put it in Grandad's grave at his funeral. [[spoiler: It was actually the priest's hat but it's the thought that counts]]
231* ''Series/{{Riverdale}}'': As in ''ComicBook/ArchieComics'', Jughead Jones is almost never seen without his unique scallop-rimmed hat, a fact that he once {{lampshade|Hanging}}s as "weird". The show updates it from a modified trilby [[https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Whoopee_cap "whoopee cap"]] to a more era-appropriate, but still idiosyncratic, beanie.
232* Dustin's red, white, and blue trucker cap in the first two seasons of ''Series/StrangerThings''. In the third, he swaps it out for a yellow-and-green Camp Know Where baseball hat, having given his old one to Suzie, a girl he met at camp.
233[[/folder]]
234
235[[folder:Professional Wrestling]]
236* Wrestling/JohnCena's baseball caps.
237* Wrestling/HulkHogan's bandanas.
238* Wrestling/ElSanto's silver mask. He never took it off in public until his final TV appearance, and was buried wearing it.
239* Wrestling/RandySavage had headbands in the '80s, but switched to cowboy hats in the '90s.
240* Wrestling/TheUndertaker's black wide-brimmed derby hat.
241[[/folder]]
242
243[[folder:Sport]]
244* UsefulNotes/{{Cricket}}:
245** Caps, to the point where getting selected for a team is referred to as getting "capped", and it's tradition for an established team member to hand a new one their cap. The Australian test team cap is often referred to as the "baggy green cap", and the New Zealand team is nicknamed the "Black Caps".
246** In the 70s, some cricketers started wearing broad-brimmed hats instead of caps, especially in hot conditions. Australian captain Greg Chappel was among them, to the point where the broad-brimmed hat is still sometimes referred to as the "Chappel Hat".
247** Most of the aforementioned broad-brimmed hats were white, but West Indies' Richie Richardson was known for his maroon-colored hat.
248[[/folder]]
249
250[[folder:Tabletop Games]]
251* ''TabletopGame/ArsMagica'': House Mercere serve as the messengers and middlemen of MagicalSociety, often traveling between Tribunals, and wear pointed red hats to identify themselves. "Redcap" is a common InSeriesNickname for them for this reason.
252* ''TabletopGame/{{Atmosfear}}'': Zass, the "soul trader", has his peaked hat as his distinguishing feature.
253* Mr. Fixer in ''TabletopGame/SentinelsOfTheMultiverse'' is never seen without his hat. In fact, if he doesn't have his hat (as is the case with his Dark Watch variant card) or someone else has his hat (as is the case with Unity's Freedom Six variant card) it's a sure sign that he's either a ghost haunting a zombie or just straight up dead.
254* ''TabletopGame/Warhammer40000'': Due to many factions having {{Cool Helmet}}s and hats, it's not uncommon for there to be headgear that's pretty iconic and signature.
255** The Commissars of the Astra Militarum are not only well-known for their habits of executing their own men for a variety of reasons but also their {{Commissar Cap}}s. They are even highly prized among orks, who recognize their value as symbols of authority (having noticed that when a human wearing such a hat shoots one of his own men, the rest fight better).
256** The Mk. VI 'Corvus' powered armor, an earlier pattern of Space Marine armor. It is mostly well-known for the nickname "Beakie" due to their well. Beak-shaped mouth guards for their helmets. They are quite popular with the Raven Guard.
257* ''TabletopGame/WarhammerFantasy'':
258** Azhag the Slaughterer is an orc warlord with a looted crown, an acute sense of tactics and a strange tendency to talk to himself. In fact the crown is the one (sometimes) calling the shots: it's an artifact belonging to Nagash and trying to return to its master by controlling the mind of its wearer. Unfortunately for it orcs are TooDumbToFool and the control tends to fail, leading to Azhag seemingly arguing with thin air.
259** Imperial [[TheWitchHunter Witch Hunters]] wear distinctive wide-brimmed hats when they want to be recognized. In the GaidenGame ''TabletopGame/WarhammerFantasyRoleplay'', unexpectedly seeing someone wearing one of those hats can sometimes be enough to force a saving throw against Fear.
260[[/folder]]
261
262[[folder:Theatre]]
263* In ''Theatre/CrossRoad'', the devil Amduscias wears a quite distinctive hat with feathers and a unicorn horn. It features in most of TheMerch.
264[[/folder]]
265
266[[folder:Theme Parks]]
267* In the original version of ''Ride/JourneyIntoImagination'', Dreamfinder wears a fancy top hat with flight goggles on it.
268[[/folder]]
269
270[[folder:Video Games]]
271* ''VideoGame/ANNOMutationem'': The [[MysteriousStranger Masked Woman]] is always wearing a plated mask whenever she appears to provide an InfoDrop.
272* ''VideoGame/Drakengard3'': In One's DLC, you can distinguish male One from her by his headband, which resembles a pair of horns. They are otherwise identical.
273* ''VideoGame/FatalFury'':
274** [[Characters/FatalFuryTerryBogard Terry Bogard]] is almost never without his iconic "Fatal Fury" branded cap, having some iteration on it since 1992.
275** Billy Kane can't be seen without the red and white striped bandana all over his head. Sometimes the colors or the design changes (like his bandana from ''KOF XIV'') but always Billy's head has covered with a bandana.
276* ''Franchise/FinalFantasy'' has recurring headgear for the Black Mages in a pointy hat that completely obscures the mage's face outside of two glowing eyes. In ''VideoGame/FinalFantasyBraveExvius'', every member of the Emperor's Orders wears eye-obscuring headgear.
277* ''VideoGame/GuiltyGear'': Sol Badguy has his red headband with the words "Rock You" (a reference to Queen's "We Will Rock You" song) engraved on it, which he's never seen without. Despite its crude appearance, it's actually a PowerLimiter made to suppress Sol's Gear nature and retain his sanity, albeit at the cost of about 90% of his power.
278* ''VideoGame/HoshiWoMiruHito'': The FanRemake ''Romancing [=StellaVisor=]'' gives each party member a distinct set of headgear: Minami wears goggles, Shiba wears a bandana, Misa wears a headband, and Aine wears a scrunchie.
279* ''VideoGame/TheKingOfFighters'': Most of the VideoGame/IkariWarriors (with the exception of Leona Heidern and Whip) wear distinctive headgear in their outfits: Ralf Jones uses a red-green camouflage bandana, Clark Still has a cap and black sunglasses, and Heidern wears an olive-green beret and an {{eyepatch|OfPower}}.
280* ''Franchise/TheLegendOfZelda'':
281** Link is known for wearing a green pointy hat which [[VideoGame/TheLegendOfZeldaBreathOfTheWild almost]] [[VideoGame/TheLegendOfZeldaTearsOfTheKingdom appears]] for all of his incarnations.
282** ''VideoGame/TheLegendOfZeldaTwilightPrincess'': Midna's "helmet" is actually a Fused Shadow, one of the PlotCoupons she's trying to recover to restore her power.
283* Komari Kamikita from ''VisualNovel/LittleBusters'' has her trademark star-shaped hairclip and very long hair ribbons, which she notably considers to be her {{Charm Point}}s.
284* ''VideoGame/MasterDetectiveArchivesRainCode'': Yuma occasionally wears a blue hat during his investigation in Kanai Ward. Shinigami, in both ghost and human form, wears a crown atop her head.
285* ''VideoGame/MetalGear'': Solid Snake's trademark accessory is the bandana he constantly wears.
286* ''VideoGame/NobodySavesTheWorld'': Nostramagus is always depicted as wearing a RobeAndWizardHat on top of a barbarian helmet and upper armor. [[spoiler:Nobody starts wearing the hat and helmet after the TomatoInTheMirror reveal, but throws them away in the ending after deciding ThatManIsDead.]]
287* In ''VideoGame/NoUmbrellasAllowed'', Jane Kim, the jeweler and owner of Gem by J, has gems stuck in her curly white hair. [[spoiler:She loses them when her store gets shut down by AVAC for "Avarice Crimes".]]
288* VideoGame/PaRappaTheRapper has his trademark orange beanie with a frog on the front, which he's [[NeverBareheaded never seen without]]. It's even part of the logo for the second game.
289* ''Franchise/{{Pokemon}}'' and its various adaptations almost always have a protagonist that has a hat/headgear that unique only to them. You can easily tell which character is which by simply just looking at their hats.
290* Keith Wayne from ''VideoGame/PowerInstinct'' series had a distinctive blue headband in the classic games previous to ''Matrimelee'', which more than decorative was used to hide his DuelingScar in the forehead (unveiled since ''Matrimelee'' accompanied by [[DyeHard a notable]] [[YouDontLookLikeYou change of look]]).
291* ''VideoGame/ProfessorLayton'': The titular Professor Hershel Layton wears a tall top hat, and is the only character to do so. This becomes a plot point in ''VideoGame/ProfessorLaytonAndTheUnwoundFuture'', where several characters in Future London recognize the Professor by his hat alone, with one even hiding in fear from him.
292* ''VideoGame/{{Scribblenauts}}'': In all incarnations, protagonist Maxwell is never seen without his rooster helmet; a red hat with three horns. It was revealed later on that his entire family has their rooster hat as well.
293* ''VideoGame/StoryOfSeasons'':
294** The series as a whole is associated with a blue baseball cap on its male protagonists. The original Pete from ''VideoGame/HarvestMoon1'' had a blue hat in his sprites, but it is supposed to be ''green'' according to official art. It became canonically blue in ''VideoGame/HarvestMoon64''. Many other protagonists have the blue hat and the NPC Taro even wears one in [[VideoGame/HarvestMoonIslandOfHappiness two]] [[VideoGame/HarvestMoonSunshineIslands games]], but the hat has been largely phased out since the early 2010s.
295** Gray has his baseball cap with "UMA" ("horse" in Japanese). This hat originated in ''VideoGame/HarvestMoon64'', where Gray is the son of a rancher and used to race horses until he had a CareerEndingInjury. Gray in ''VideoGame/HarvestMoonBackToNature'' is [[AdaptationalJobChange a blacksmith's apprentice]] but kept his iconic hat because it fits his design and his ShrinkingViolet personality. Gray kept his hat until the 2019 remake ''VideoGame/StoryOfSeasonsFriendsOfMineralTown'', where he was redesigned to look more like the city-born blacksmith he is.
296** Kai from ''VideoGame/HarvestMoon64'' and ''VideoGame/HarvestMoonBackToNature'' always wears a purple bandana. It's changed to a purple hat in ''VideoGame/StoryOfSeasonsFriendsOfMineralTown'', but the idea is the same.
297** In ''VideoGame/HarvestMoonMagicalMelody'', Blue and Kai have {{exp|y}}ies in Blue and Dan. The two share their original's accessories, though Dan's bandana is red instead of Kai's purple.
298* '' Franchise/SuperMarioBros'': The Mario Bros caps are as iconic as the bros themselves, with Mario and Luigi respectively sporting a cap of their signature colors and letter.
299** Likewise, their EvilCounterpart, Wario and Waluigi sport a similar cap designed like them. In the ''VideoGame/{{Warioware}}'' series however, Wario instead wears a yellow biker helmet.
300** The Princesses Peach, Daisy, and Rosalina all wear a crown. Pauline on the other hand wears a sunhat as part of her mayor outfit. The hat in question is based on one of the lost items in the original Donkey Kong game.
301** ''VideoGame/DonkeyKongCountry'': Donkey Kong's little buddy, Diddy Kong is always seen wearing a red hat with a Nintendo logo on it.
302** [[VideoGame/SuperMarioOdyssey Cappy]] is a signature headgear [[LivingHat himself]], as he partners up with Mario throughout Odyssey, taking the form of the latter's iconic hat and many others.
303** Toadette has a signature headgear that is actually a power-up known as the Super Crown. Putting it on allows her to transform into Peachette.
304* ''VideoGame/TalesOfPhantasia'': [[TheHero Cless Albane]] has a headband that several later games in the series include it as a costume option, if not a full-blown equippable helmet. [[WhiteMagicianGirl Mint Adenede's]] nurse hat is likewise iconic enough to be a recurring costume option for healers in later games.
305* ''Franchise/TouhouProject'' really loves this trope. Almost every character in the series wears a signature hat or hair decoration (or sometimes even both).
306* ''VideoGame/YandereSimulator'' has lots of female characters who wear hair accessories.
307** Osana and Raibaru wear similar-looking pink hair scrunchies with white polka-dots. It's mentioned that after becoming best friends at the end of their first high-school year, they became so close they started wearing matching accessories. Another reason behind this is [[DevelopmentGag development-related]]. Raibaru (also known as Rival-Chan) is the first concept design for Osana, but she was eventually turned into a separate character who is used as Osana's best friend and bodyguard.
308** Each member of the Light Music club wear hair clips shaped like musical notes and other graphs. Yandere-chan herself will wear one shaped like a sol key if she joins the club. If Yandere-chan kills at least one of the members, the leader will disband the club and remove all her accessories and make up, as well lose her GenkiGirl personality and go back to her ShrinkingViolet one.
309** All the members of the Gardening club wear flowers in their hair, to symbolize their conection to nature.
310** Supana Churu from the Occult club wears skull-shaped clips over her pigtails. According to Druelbozo, they can change expressions.
311[[/folder]]
312
313[[folder:Web Animation]]
314* ''WebAnimation/HappyTreeFriends:''
315** Giggles wear a red hair bow.
316** Petunia wears a flower on her hand.
317** Handy wears a hard hat everywhere.
318** Pop always wears a Gatsby hat to go with his [[Standard50sFather '50s style personality]].
319** Cub wears a propeller beanie.
320** Russell wears a [[DressedToPlunder pirate hat]].
321** Shifty wears a fedora to [[IdenticalTwinIDTag differentiate himself from his brother, Lifty]].
322** Flippy always wears his army hat.
323** Lammy wears a purple hair bow.
324** Mr. Pickels wears a top hat.
325[[/folder]]
326
327[[folder:Web Comics]]
328* In ''Webcomic/ApricotCookies'', most of the characters have hair decorations as a nod to anime character design, but some of these say things about the characters as well. Protagonist Apricot wears large pink hair bows even while sleeping, as she's consciously trying to become a stock MagicalGirl protagonist. Cream Tea, the obligatory ForeignExchangeStudent character, wears Union Jack hair bows to further point out her country of origin.
329* ''Webcomic/ChampionsOfFaraus'': Within the main cast, Daryl has his [[WildWestTropes white cowboy hat]], Skye has her [[RedheadInGreen green beret]], Karla has a black mask with a red X on it, and Rom has his enchanted helmet from when he was [[spoiler:in Sarengal's cult]].
330* ''Webcomic/GirlGenius:''
331** The Jaegers and their hats. It's a hobby of theirs to maintain their humanity. A Jaeger without a hat may as well not ''be'' a Jaeger, a WorthyOpponent or honored ally will be buried with one, and the less intelligent ones will calculate risk solely on the factor of whether they'll lose their hat.
332** On a related note, Gil's gift of a hat from the Jaegers, a monstrous thing which shoots flames out the top and has a plaque emblazoned "Schmott Guy" on the front. They meant it as a genuine compliment, but Gil despises it.
333** Airman Higgs has a sailor's cap, which he goes to great pains to keep hold of. The band just above the brim changes to signify which ship he's currently serving on. [[spoiler:Of course he has a hat - he's actually a Jaegar.]]
334* In ''Webcomic/TheGodOfHighSchool'', Jin Mo-Ri is almost never seen without his signature sleep mask, which he uses to doze off anywhere between fights, reflecting his family "do what you want" motto. [[spoiler:When he regains his former powers and memories as the Monkey King, it's replaced by his magical headband while in his godly form.]]
335* In ''Webcomic/ElGoonishShive'', Helena is almost always [[https://www.egscomics.com/comic/2005-02-07 seen]] with a headband and spherical earings. The only exception being [[https://www.egscomics.com/comic/2005-06-08 right after waking up]].
336* In ''Webcomic/IMadeAComicAboutInternetExplorer'', the main character has a hair clip shaped like the Internet Explorer "e" logo, which is the main thing that identifies her as the MoeAnthropomorphism of Internet Explorer. Tor also has a tiny crown as a hair decoration which identifies her as the "Queen of the Dark Web".
337* ''Webcomic/TheOrderOfTheStick'': [[BigBad Xykon]] wears a gold crown that he killed [[TheLeader Roy]]'s father's mentor to steal. He loses it to Roy as a BattleTrophy but reclaims it in their next confrontation, where he [[https://www.giantitp.com/comics/oots0434.html brags]] that he only took it because it looks "REALLY badass". (As an undead skeleton, he's short on facial features of his own.)
338* ''Webcomic/SleeplessDomain'': Cassidy's distinctive feature is her hair bow, which also mimics the shape of a pair of scissors, [[ShearMenace her weapon in magical girl form]]. When she uses her SelfDuplication ability her hair bow becomes an IdenticalTwinIDTag, with each clone having one half of the bow bigger than the other.
339* ''Webcomic/{{Unsounded}}'': Karl, a foppish SmugSnake whose primary asset comes from having seduced his way into a lordship, always wears a vivid purple wide-brimmed hat, no matter what else (if anything) he has on.
340-->'''Queen Sonorie:''' Chancellor Ufal, I believe something beneath that hat just made words at me.
341[[/folder]]
342
343[[folder:Web Videos]]
344* ''WebVideo/BelkinusNecrohunt'': Bloodstride is always seen wearing the skull of an infant Tarrasque as headgear.
345* ''WebVideo/CriticalRole'': Keyleth is almost never without her "antlers", in fact an enchanted {{druid}}ic Circlet of Wisdom that she inherited from her MissingMom. Taryon sometimes calls her Antlers as a nickname.
346-->'''Keyleth:''' Respect the antlers.
347* ''WebVideo/TheLizzieBennetDiaries'': The show is mostly shot as TalkingHeads. Several hair accessories or hats are used as props in Lizzie's Costume Theater whenever someone is playing someone else. Sometimes they use other props and clothes, too.
348** William Darcy is represented by a newsie cap (and a bow tie). He doesn't really wear a newsie cap himself but it fits his hipster persona.
349** Lizzie's sweet elder sister Jane is represented by an artificial pink flower worn in someone's hair.
350** Bing Lee is a rich and hot medical student. Whoever plays Bing wears a doctor's head-mirror on their forehead.
351** Caroline Lee is a RichBitch who is represented by her CoolShades and a black scarf.
352** Wickham and other members of the swimming team are represented with swimming goggles.
353** Mr. Bennet has a short-brimmed hat and a pipe. (Once they used a model of a train, too.)
354** Mrs. Bennet, Lizzie's embarrassing mother, has a large floppy garden hat, chandelier earrings, and a rainbow scarf.
355** Gigi Darcy is represented by a newsie cap (which is also used for her brother) plus Jane's pink flower.
356** Fitz, a close friend of the Darcy kids, is represented by a big poufy wig provided by Darcy.
357** Lizzie's best friend Charlotte has a knit purple hat, pigtails and a book that says "Charlotte costume" on it. Lizzie had to improvise. Charlotte is not impressed with Lizzie's uninspired choice.
358--->'''Charlotte:''' You had ninety-six episodes to think up a costume for me, and you came up with... pigtails and a book?
359* WebVideo/PartyCrashers:
360** Sophist's avatar is always seen wearing a [[https://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/sophist.png purple top hat]].
361** Vernias' avatar is often seen wearing a [[https://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/vernias_face.png pink beanie]].
362[[/folder]]
363
364[[folder:Western Animation]]
365* ''WesternAnimation/AdventureTime'''s Finn, one of the pseudo-VagabondBuddies protagonists of the Finn and Jake duo, wears a white bear hat that covers up his long, blonde hair that he is (almost) never seen without. It's so iconic, that even in the AlternateContinuity comic books and videogame ExpandedUniverse material, he does ''not'' have the hat off.
366* ''WesternAnimation/{{Amphibia}}'': Sprig wears a green hat and goggles, which were given to him by his parents before their death.
367* ''WesternAnimation/AroundTheWorldWithWillyFog'':
368** When he's outside, Mr. Willy Fog always wears a top hat.
369** Rigodon wears a bowler hat which he believes brings him good luck and refuses to replace it when he briefly loses it. It's from his grandpa.
370** Princess Romy has a jeweled head-dress, a traditional Indian maang tikka. Revealed in one episode to contain medicinal chicken bones.
371** Inspector Dix always wears a flat cap.
372* In ''WesternAnimation/AvatarTheLastAirbender'' and its SequelSeries ''WesternAnimation/TheLegendOfKorra'', Avatar Kyoshi's battle outfit contains a headdress that once belonged to her mother. She's never been seen without it and the Kyoshi Warriors AmazonBrigade wear similar ones.
373* ''WesternAnimation/BobsBurgers''' Louise Belcher is never seen without her pink bunny ear cap. The episode "Ear-sy Rider" has Logan steal it and throw it away, which makes her so angry [[DisproportionateRetribution she sics a motorcycle gang after him!]]
374* ''WesternAnimation/EdEddNEddy'': Edd has his black toque hat which he [[NeverBareheaded never takes off]], driving Eddy to nickname him "sockhead".
375* ''WesternAnimation/TheFairlyOddParents'': Timmy always wears a pink hat, which is always associated with him. He uses it in one episode to help Cosmo and Wanda identify him, and in [[Film/AFairlyOddMovieGrowUpTimmyTurner the live-action film,]] him replacing it with a different pink hat is a sign he's maturing.
376* ''WesternAnimation/FatAlbertAndTheCosbyKids'': Dumb Donald wears a pink knit cap that covers most of his face, with eyeholes cut out so he can see. It accentuates his less-than-bright nature, and it sets him apart as he's the only character who wears such an obviously cartoony article of clothing.
377* ''WesternAnimation/GravityFalls'':
378** Dipper Pines has his trademark blue and white baseball cap with a pine tree on the front, which he wears since he picked it out from the Mystery Shack's gift shop.
379** Stan Pines has his big red fez with a yellow Pac-Man like fish symbol.
380** Soos Ramirez mostly wears his big brown visor hat.
381** Wendy Corduroy has a tan and dark brown lumberjack hat, which she probably got from her father Manly Dan.
382** In the GrandFinale, [[spoiler:Dipper and Wendy swap hats so they'll each have a keepsake from their time together, while Stan passes his fez down to Soos with the title of "Mister Mystery" when he gives him the Mystery Shack.]]
383* ''WesternAnimation/HaileysOnIt'': Kristine is almost always never seen without the hat she wears; in fact, she's borderline obsessed with them and has even written a hat-themed musical.
384* ''WesternAnimation/HandyManny'': Manny Garcia has his trademark red and white repairman hat, which he is never seen without almost 90% of the time.
385* In ''WesternAnimation/Hero108'', Mystique Sonia's hat is an actual living creature named Yaksha that usually rests on her head, but also helps her in battle or other activities with the different forms it can take, like a trampoline. It's also literally unique to her because Sonia is the only known character in the show to be cursed in a way that if a man who loves her confesses his feelings three times in a row, he turns into a Yaksha. In "Lion Castle", the original Yaksha died in battle, but she soon gets a new one with the same appearance and personality when a soldier who loves her is tricked by her into saying this three times.
386* ''WesternAnimation/KingOfTheHill'': Dale Gribble's orange Mack cap, which he mainly wears to hide his baldness.
387* ''WesternAnimation/TheLoudHouse'':
388** Leni always wears a pair of rounded white sunglasses with black lenses on top of her head.
389** Lana is very rarely seen without her red baseball cap.
390** The same can be said of a black princess tiara that Lana's twin Lola wears.
391* You have to wonder how WesternAnimation/MinnieMouse manages to tie up a ribbon on top of her bald head she always had.
392* ''WesternAnimation/MyLittlePonyFriendshipIsMagic'':
393** Applejack's brown cowboy hat is an iconic part of her appearance, especially since she's the only one of the Mane Six who regularly wears any kind of headgear. She even has a closet full of replacement hats in case something happens to the one she's wearing.
394** Applejack's younger sister Apple Bloom is almost never seen without the large pink bow she wears in her mane. The DistantFinale shows that she still wears it as an adult.
395** Diamond Tiara wears a diamond tiara all the time, which is also a signifier of her AlphaBitch status.
396* ''WesternAnimation/OverTheGardenWall'': Protagonists Wirt and Greg each have their own distinctive head coverings; Wirt wears a pointy red hat, while Greg dons an upside-down tea kettle.
397* In ''WesternAnimation/PAWPatrol'', each of the pups has a hat to match their work gear; Marshall has a fire helmet, Rubble has a hard hat, Skye has a pair of goggles, etc.
398* In ''WesternAnimation/PegPlusCat'', Peg wears a woolen hat all the time and when the Neighbour Ladies change her dress, they want to take her hat too, but she insists on keeping it.
399* ''WesternAnimation/PhineasAndFerb'':
400** All the secret agents of OWCA are easily recognizable by their FedoraOfAsskicking, without which they look like normal animals. A RunningGag with Doofenshmirtz involves him being unable to recognize Perry the Platypus without his hat. In another episode, the opposite situation happened: he confused a normal platypus that just likes sandwiches with Perry, despite lacking the latter's experience in fighting and intelligence (yet he ''still'' manages to defeat Doofenshmirtz), because of the hat.
401** Isabella Garcia-Shapiro has her trademark pink hairbow to match her dress, and she almost never takes it off. She even continues to wear it into adulthood.
402** Stacy Hirano also has her signature blue hairbow matching her top, which unlike Isabella is attached to a hairband. Unlike Isabella however, she takes it off on occasion.
403* Blossom of ''WesternAnimation/ThePowerpuffGirls'' almost always wears a big, red bow and a pink barrette, even when it would be impractical (such as when sleeping or swimming).
404* ''WesternAnimation/ReadyJetGo'': Mindy is identified by her crocheted bear hat, which aids in her [[AnimalMotifs bear motif]], as well as just looking cute. Mitchell has a red checkerboard aviator hat, to go with his detective schtick.
405* ''WesternAnimation/{{Recess}}'' has King Bob (OnlyKnownByTheirNickname, and [[NonIndicativeName not actually of royal blood]], who wears a crown-shaped football helmet that has a brown B on its front. He wears it almost every episode, with the sole exception of "Bad Hair Day", when we see him get an ImportantHaircut, but StatusQuoIsGod reverts it back to the iconic crown-shaped football helmet right after that.
406* ''WesternAnimation/StarWarsTheCloneWars'' has several among the named clone characters on the show, with the color typically associated with their respective unit.
407** Captain Rex of the 501[[superscript:st]] painted a blue border around the visor of his helmet, with the bottom edge continuing to a point that ends at the lower air intake. The forehead has ''Jaig'' eyes painted in blue, there is a thin stripe of lighter blue framing the top air intake that then wraps around the casing of the lower intake and there are a series of simple tally marks around the crown. After the clones switch to the Phase II clone trooper armor, Rex cuts the "T" shaped visor out of his Phase one and welds it into his Phase II helmet.
408** Corporal Echo of the 501[[superscript:st]] has the crest of his helmet and hollow cheek portions in dusty blue, and two stripes of darker blue framed with dusty blue starting at the brow and running parallel along the crest to the back of the helmet over the top.
409** Fives of the 501[[superscript:st]] has a symmetrical blue inkblot design on the top of his helmet, incorporating two red dots. Beneath the design on the forehead, there is a downward-facing red arrow, and the hollow cheek portions are painted blue. This design represents the fate of fellow Domino Squad trooper, Cutup, as he was eaten by a giant eel on the Rishi Moon in the episode "Rookies".
410** Tup of the 501[[superscript:st]] painted a blue band around his helmet above the visor and a blue teardrop under the right eye.
411** Kix of the 501[[superscript:st]] painted a wide blue band around his helmet which merges with a blue frame for the visor and matches the blue on the crest.
412** Commander Cody of the 212[[superscript:th]] has a yellow sun visor and understated yellow sunburst pattern around the air filtration intakes.
413** Captain Gregor of the 212[[superscript:th]] painted a yellow border around the visor of his helmet and then kept a messy KillTally in thin black lines all over the helmet.
414** Commander Wolffe of the 104[[superscript:th]] goes through several helmet designs. The common theme is a large wolf design on his faceplate. He also uses a different style of helmet from most after the switch to Phase II.
415** Commander Fox of the Coruscant Guard has painted his entire helmet maroon, save for a series of parallel stripes near the intakes of his air filtration casings, the crest, the triangular piece directly over his mouth, and his grey sun visor.
416** Commander Thorn of the Coruscant Guard has painted the face of his helmet red with three stripes around each air filtration casing, red wings originating at each temple and added a grey sun visor.
417** Commander Bly of the 327[[superscript:th]] has a pale yellow stripe down the center of his helmet with electrobinoculars attached over the visor. His Phase II armor adds brownish-yellow markings on the air filtration units.
418* The eponymous Wander of ''WesternAnimation/WanderOverYonder'' has his special big floppy green hat, which doubles as a BagOfHolding whenever he needs something. It's also heavily implied to be a living sentient.
419* Clay, the American monk from ''WesternAnimation/XiaolinShowdown'', is almost never seen without his cowboy hat that he is protective of. He gets angry when it gets destroyed (happened twice in "Chameleonbot") or when Omi and Raimundo fill it with milk ("Big as Texas").
420[[/folder]]

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