This hat is constructed of a plaid weave silk wound around and interspersed with velvet bands. As with many fashionable hats of this period, the fabric is pinned into place rather than being stitched. This would enable the hat to be easily reconstructed if so desired and would avoid marking an expensive silk fabric. Traditional Scottish dress and tartan in particular, had been popularised in the late eighteenth century by the Prince of Wales, later George IV. Tartan appears frequently in fashion plates of the first two decades of the nineteenth century, mostly in the form of accessories, such as shawls, ribbon belts or hats such as this one. The silhouette of the hat takes on that of the traditional tam o shanter, an oversized woollen beret worn by Scottish soldiers. It was named after the protagonist Tam O Shanter in Robert Burns poem of the same title published in 1791. This was a popular form of fashionable headdress from the 1790s until 1820s and with its emphasised front and velvet banding is typical of the later styles of the mid-1820s.