What Is a Hatinator? (The Hat You Wear Like a Fascinator)

From the Merve Bayindir atelier in London: the definition, the difference from a hat and a fascinator, the rule that matters at Royal Ascot, and five pieces that show the range.

A hatinator is a headpiece that looks like a hat but is worn like a fascinator. It has a hat-sized base, usually a saucer or disc and sometimes a full brim, but instead of sitting down over the head and fitting its circumference, it is held in place by a headband, a comb or an elastic. The word is a blend of hat and fascinator, and the object is exactly that: the presence of a hat with the ease of a fascinator. What a hatinator is not is an official category. It is a retail and fashion word, which is why it causes confusion, particularly at Royal Ascot.

Hat, hatinator or fascinator: the difference

A hat

A hat has a crown that sits down over the head and fits its circumference, which is why it comes in sizes. Whether it has a wide brim, a small brim or none at all, it stays on because it fits. If you are buying one, our guide to measuring your hat size explains how.

A fascinator

A fascinator is a decorative headpiece attached to a band, a comb or a clip. It is smaller, and it sits on the head rather than around it, without extending over the sides. It can be anything from a single flower to a sculpted form. Our guide to what a fascinator is covers the shapes in detail.

A hatinator

A hatinator sits between the two. The base is hat-scale, broad enough to read as a hat from across a room, but there is no crown that fits the head. It is fixed on a band or comb, usually tilted over one brow, so the curve of the saucer or brim frames the face. The practical result is a hat's silhouette without a hat's sizing, which is why hatinators are so widely worn at weddings and race meetings.

Where the word came from

The word is young, and its origin is not quite what most pages claim. It was already in print in racing fashion coverage by 2009, first in Australia rather than in Britain, and it came into wide use in both countries over the next few years as racing and wedding fashion took it up. Most major dictionaries still do not list it. It is often described as a British coinage; the evidence does not support that, even though Britain has adopted it thoroughly.

Milliners tend not to use it among themselves. In the workroom the same object is called a headpiece, a saucer, a disc or a percher, depending on its shape. The retail word exists because customers needed a way to ask for a hat they could wear like a fascinator, and it does that job well.

Hatinator is a retail word, not a millinery one, and the one place its meaning is tested, the Royal Enclosure, never uses it.

Hatinators and the Royal Enclosure

This is where the definition stops being academic. In the Royal Enclosure at Royal Ascot, hats should be worn, and a headpiece is acceptable as an alternative only if it has a solid base of four inches, about ten centimetres, or more in diameter. Fascinators are not permitted. The rules speak of hats, headpieces and fascinators; the word hatinator does not appear.

So the question is never whether something is called a hatinator. It is whether the solid base measures ten centimetres. Measure the base, the structured foundation, not the trim: feathers, loops or flowers extending past a smaller base do not count towards it. Most hatinators clear the test comfortably, which is precisely their appeal, but a small piece sold under the same name may not. In the Queen Anne and Village Enclosures, a hat, headpiece or fascinator are all correct. Our Royal Enclosure dress code guide and our guide to what to wear to Royal Ascot cover the rest.

How a hatinator is made and worn

The base

Most of our hatinators start with sinamay, woven from abaca fibre, blocked damp over a wooden form and dried hard so the saucer or brim holds its curve with no wire at the edge. The surface is then built up by hand, with silk flowers, 3D embroidery, crinoline or pressed botanicals, and the whole piece is mounted on a wire headband, usually with an elastic behind the head, and sometimes a comb as well, so a large silhouette sits securely on a small point of contact.

How to wear it

Tilted, so the curve of the saucer or brim shows and frames the face. Most hatinators are designed to sit over one brow, conventionally the right, and the pieces below say which way they are meant to go. Keep the hair smooth underneath, a low chignon is the classic choice, and let the base do the work. Our note on which side to wear a headpiece goes through the conventions.

Five hatinators that show the range

From a classic tilted saucer to a full brim, each hand-made in our London atelier. Prices include UK VAT.

BLUE HAZE SAUCER HAT

£1,350

The textbook hatinator: a circle-style soft blue saucer in sinamay and silk, extended by a fine crinoline veil that falls across the face, its top worked with 3D embroidery, silk flowers and pearls. Worn tilted to the right, and fitted with a wire headband and elastic for a secure hold. It has the silhouette of a hat and none of the sizing.

AZURE CANOPY HAT

£1,450

A light azure saucer with a high, sculpted angle, built on an asymmetric silk sateen and sinamay base, with a cascade of hand-made blue silk flowers on the upper left inner side. The whole piece is fitted on a mini saucer secured with a wire headband, an elastic and a comb, which is the hatinator principle in its clearest form: a large, dramatic silhouette carried on a small, secure mount.

EDEN'S KEEPSAKE HAT

£1,100

A blush pink saucer on a circular woven sinamay base, worn tilted to the right, its edges set with naturally pressed and dried flowers, finished in pink crinoline with a sheer overlay that frames the face and shades it from the sun. A summer hatinator for outdoor weddings and garden parties.

AURORA BLOSSOM SAUCER HAT

£1,250

A grey sinamay saucer on a small structured base mounted on a slender headband, which gives the silhouette its taller reach. Blush petals, resin and crystal blooms and trimmed feathers cascade across the inside curve, and the asymmetric saucer leaves room on the inside left for the flowers to show. Worn tilted to the right.

NOCTEL WIDE BRIM HAT

£2,900

The far end of the category: a black and ivory wide-brim sinamay piece whose crown flows into an expansive brim, with dramatic black floral detailing beneath it. It sits in our hatinators collection and is built to hold its own in the Royal Enclosure. It shows how far the word stretches, from a tilted saucer to something that reads, at twenty paces, as a full picture hat.

At a glance

Which kind of hatinator to choose

• For a wedding, a tilted saucer gives presence without a brim running round the head, so it does not get in the way when you are embraced.

• For the Royal Enclosure, measure the base. Ten centimetres of solid base is the test, whatever the piece is called.

• For a petite frame, a smaller saucer carries better than a full brim. The taller you are, the more scale you can take.

• For a long day outdoors, a piece with a headband and an elastic, or a comb as well, is the most secure.

How our hatinators are made

Every hatinator in our collection is designed and hand-made in our London atelier. The saucer or brim is blocked in sinamay over a wooden form and dried so it holds its curve, then trimmed by hand with flowers, feathers or embroidery, and mounted on a band, comb or elastic chosen for its size and weight. Merve Bayindir is a member of the British Fashion Council, with pieces selected for the Royal Ascot Style Guide. Every order arrives in a custom box, with worldwide DHL Express shipping included.

Frequently asked questions

What is the difference between a hatinator and a fascinator?

Size and silhouette. A hatinator has a hat-sized base, usually a saucer or disc, that reads as a hat from a distance. A fascinator is smaller and does not extend over the sides of the head. Both attach with a band, comb or elastic.

Is a hatinator a hat?

Not strictly. It looks like one, but it has no crown that fits the head and it does not come in sizes. It is held on by a band, comb or elastic, as a fascinator is.

Can you wear a hatinator in the Royal Enclosure?

Yes, if its solid base is at least four inches, about ten centimetres, in diameter. The rules speak of hats and headpieces, not hatinators, and fascinators are not permitted, so the measurement is what counts.

Is hatinator a real word?

It is in wide use and was in print by 2009, but most major dictionaries still do not list it. It is a blend of hat and fascinator, and milliners more often say headpiece, saucer or disc.

Which side should a hatinator be worn on?

Conventionally the right, tilted over the brow, but it is a convention rather than a rule. Many hatinators are designed to sit on a particular side, so follow the piece.

Find your hatinator

Our full hatinators collection runs from tilted saucers to wide brims, all hand-made in our London atelier. For the smaller end of the scale, browse our fascinators; for a hat that sits on the head, our hats; and for the saucer shape on its own, our saucer hats. If Royal Ascot is the occasion, our Royal Ascot hats are grouped for the dress code. When the date is close, our ready to ship pieces dispatch the next working day. A hatinator is the answer to wanting a hat without needing a hat size, and that is exactly why the word caught on.