What's the deal with Guinan's hat?

Question

Guinan dons two hats, if I recall correctly (pictured below). My question is: are these hats something special to El Aurians, something special to 24th century bartenders, or something else? I don't recall ever seeing anyone else wearing either type of hat in TNG (and I've seen it all now!). I've noticed that both hats completely conceal the top of her head, but I don't know if that's significant.

One of Guinan's hats - a rectangular mortarboard, sorta

Another of Guinan's hats - this one's a hexagonal mortarboard covered in a knitted stocking

Look at the top picture. It is clearly a homage to the saucer section. — Reinstate Monica - Goodbye SE, May 22 '14 at 10:28
I think several of these answers are valid, I also suspect that aside from practical issues with the hats, the costume designer drew on South African Zulu head dresses called Isicholo. — Morgan, Jul 19 '16 at 05:34
https://i.stack.imgur.com/DBGbL.jpg Looks like a variation on the tignon the Spanish government made African women wear in the New Orleans colony back in the late 18th century. — Bill, Mar 31 '23 at 12:57
@ReinstateMonica-GoodbyeSE: Well, yeah, Guinan's job is to be a saucer. She gets people sauced. — ThePopMachine, Mar 31 '23 at 16:37

score 39 · Answer 1 · edited May 22 '14 at 16:25

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Whoopi Goldberg had/has dreadlocks (quite some quantity) so the hat was to cover them up. Presumably El-Aurian women don't have dreadlocks.

Durinda Rice Wood, Senior TNG Costume Designer has given a convincing "out of universe" reason for Guinan's choice of hats...

*As for Whoopi Goldberg's character Guinan, Rice Wood also explained that she wanted her to look different without her typical dreadlock look and that's the reason Guinan is wearing large hats.

edited May 22 '14 at 16:25

Valorum

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answered May 22 '14 at 13:52

Jaydee

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Considering her dreadlocks are clearly visible at the back of her neck in all appearances as Guinan (save for the Time's Arrow two-parter), I doubt that's the reasoning. – Brian S May 22 '14 at 14:09
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I should have mentioned that this is given as a reason in one of the special features on the TNG DVD's (or it could be one of the movies). – Jaydee May 22 '14 at 14:19
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Here is a link to Memory Alpha, where this is given as a reason by the Costume designer http://en.memory-alpha.org/wiki/Durinda_Rice_Wood – Jaydee May 22 '14 at 14:23
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That reason is sort of thrown out in Generations though, as she is seen without her hat in her quarters, with her deadlocks on full display. – Xantec May 22 '14 at 14:41
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I'm just passing on the reason given by the costume designer. See my comment above. – Jaydee May 22 '14 at 14:42
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Sounds like they wanted Guinan to look different from Whoopi, not that El-Aurians can't/don't have dreadlocks – Brian S May 22 '14 at 15:16
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Good out of universe answer, @Jaydee. – Valorum May 22 '14 at 16:26

score 27 · Accepted Answer · edited May 22 '14 at 14:34

27

We have seen a few other El-Aurians, most prominently Soran:

Soran doesn't wear a hat

Also, we have seen another male El-Aurian: Martus Mazur.

Martus Mazur without hat

Also from Generations, when we meet the lovely Mr. Soran, we also see a lot of Guinan's people in one of their space stations. Female El-Aurians sometimes wear hats:

Unnamed El-Aurian with hat

And sometimes do not:

Unnamed El-Aurian without hat

And the hat of the first one is quite different from Guinan's. Since Guinan seems to wear civilian clothing (not a starfleet uniform), it stands to reason the hats are just her personal taste.

edited May 22 '14 at 14:34

Xantec

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answered May 22 '14 at 11:07

bitmask

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With regard to the OP's "something special to 24th century bartenders," a picture of Quark on DS9 (and Nog in the alternate universe DS9) would be good. – Brian S May 22 '14 at 14:07
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The unnamed El-Aurians were actually seen on Enterprise B, not a space station. – Xantec May 22 '14 at 14:11
@Xantec: They were seen on the Enterprise B, yes. But they came from the space station that was hit by the Nexus IIRC. – bitmask May 22 '14 at 16:36
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They were actually two El-Aurian refugee ships. – Xantec May 22 '14 at 16:51
["Female El-Aurians sometimes wear hats and sometimes do not so it stands to reason the hats are just her personal taste."] -1 – Mazura Jul 19 '16 at 05:45

score 9 · Answer 3 · answered May 22 '14 at 14:45

Guinan's hats durign the TV series are most likely her own style, since as you pointed out we never see anyone else wearing ones like them.

However, when we first see Guinan in the movie Generations she is wearing a hat very similar to the ones donned by most of the other hat-wearing El-Aurians seen on the Enterprise B (as shown in bitmask's answer).

Guinan in Generations

Why she, or any of the other El-Aurians, wore hats was likely just as a stylish means to keep her hair out of the way, especially while working in Ten Forward. You probably wouldn't be too pleased if your bartender's hair fell in your synthehol or ice cream sundae.

Hair would probably make that body synthetic alcohol taste better! — ThePopMachine, Oct 17 '15 at 05:40

Kyle Jones · Answer 4 · 2014-08-26T22:08:51.017

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If you ignore the colors and texture of Guinan's costume it becomes obvious that what she is wearing is a slightly updated nun's cornette and habit.

nun guinan

Given her ever-placid demeanor and role as confidante to several characters her costume is a visual cue to the audience that cannot be accidental.

edited Aug 26 '14 at 22:08

answered May 22 '14 at 18:31

Kyle Jones

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Ehm, you mean a subliminal clue that the audience should go watch Sister Act? – Mr Lister May 22 '14 at 18:47
:) Curiously enough, the Sister Act films were well after Guinan first appeared on TNG. Otherwise, I doubt Goldberg would have donned the habit again as Guinan. – Kyle Jones May 22 '14 at 18:56
I always thought that kind of hat was called a wimple... – Brian Minton Jan 05 '15 at 18:59
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@BrianMinton I think the wimple is the unstarched piece underneath that covers the hair. The stiff piece on top of that is the cornette. – Kyle Jones Jan 05 '15 at 19:21
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"That cannot be accidental"? That's a little strong for what is at best a theory. – ThePopMachine Oct 17 '15 at 05:39
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The only thing that's obvious is that this is complete conjecture. – Mazura Jul 19 '16 at 05:57

score 6 · Answer 5 · edited Oct 16 '15 at 16:56

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Not sure if Star Trek Online is considered canon on the Stack Exchange, but Nelan on Earth Spacedock is another El-Aurian bartender and he wears practically the same costume, hat and all. He's also a male, meaning that the outfit is most likely unisex. Maybe it's some kind of "bartender uniform" in El-Aurian culture?

edited Oct 16 '15 at 16:56

Jason Baker

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answered Oct 16 '15 at 16:29

Dzvfars Fdszvfvf

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What's the deal with Guinan's hat?

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