Hats! Flaps! Help!

January 28, 2009 9:29 PM

Where's a decent - and most importantly, CHEAP! - place in New York to pick up one of those awesome Russian furry flappy hats?
posted by nicolas léonard sadi carnot to Clothing, Beauty, & Fashion (11 answers total)

It's called a cossack hat, and you can get one for $20 here or more expensively and locally here.

(first link ganked from the "what should I wear to a funeral" thread)
posted by squorch at 9:52 PM on January 28, 2009

Did you mean this style?
posted by null terminated at 10:47 PM on January 28, 2009

Last time I was in New York I bought a hat like that from a very entertaining street trader at W67 and Columbus. Here is the picture of him if that helps.
posted by rongorongo at 1:31 AM on January 29, 2009

We call them "shapkas" in (post)-Soviet Russia.
posted by caminovereda at 1:34 AM on January 29, 2009

There's a downside to these hats--your ears are covered only when the flaps are in the tied down position. Leave the flaps up, and in many cases, only the upper parts of the ears are covered. This doesn't seem to phase Russians, who are frequently photographed with ears exposed, but it's a dilemma in extreme cold: Do you lower the flaps and reduce the coolness factor, or leave them up to preserve the look of the hat?
posted by Gordion Knott at 3:10 AM on January 29, 2009

It's called a cossack hat

Based on "flappy", I don't think the questioner is referring to a cossack hat.

I think the questioner is referring to a ushanka, which looks like this ("flaps up" and "flaps down" of the same hat are included in that image.

The one I linked to above is probably not like what the questioner wants -- it is not "awesome furry" -- but I'm showing it because it's a good comparison of "flaps up" and "flaps down". "Awesome furry" might be an ushanka more like this.

They, or hats very like them in the flappy sense, are also known by several other names. Ummm... pilot hats? Trapper hats? Deerstalkers? Awesome Russian furry flappy hats? Probably other names, too.
posted by Flunkie at 5:55 AM on January 29, 2009 [1 favorite]

I don't live in NY, but I have one of these (similar to the one in Flunkie's first link) and I got it at an army/navy surplus store. I think I paid about $25 for it.
posted by kitty teeth at 6:14 AM on January 29, 2009

hey, there's nothing reduced about the coolness factor of "flaps down"
posted by stupidsexyFlanders at 8:09 AM on January 29, 2009

I think they're pretty popular now, you can probably buy one at any accessories/clothing store or pashmina/hat/scarf stand outside. I bought mine for $10 at a jewelry/accessory store on 14th and 5th ave, I think, on the south side of 14th street, but mine isn't authentic looking, it's more cutesy. I call it my Siberia hat, and I've gotten a lot of compliments on it =)
posted by KateHasQuestions at 8:11 AM on January 29, 2009

My friend Bob Saccamano sells them in Battery Park. Forty Bucks. Giddyup.
posted by Zambrano at 10:39 AM on January 29, 2009

I think you can probably find a random street vendor where you can buy the hat.
posted by carpyful at 9:01 PM on January 29, 2009