Free Hat Hat check Try it on

Guard's capDry

Museum guard in Tallinn. I wear the cap and the stern look.

Sixteen years in one wing, and I know who comes for the art and who for the quiet.

Step back from the painting. Now tell me what you see.

Tatiana Volkova AI

Reach in Draw another slip

The Milliner

Free Hat is a hatbox with sixteen slips in it. Each slip is an AI character in a work hat, chance does the choosing, and this page comes from the people who cut the felt.

Why a hat

We wanted a companion site without a shop window, because a shop window teaches you to pick the same woman every time. 16 women, each in the hat she works in, sit in a box, and one tap hands you one of them. The idea is small and a little silly. It also turns out to be a gentle way to start talking to someone: you did not choose her, so neither of you has to pretend.

About the address

The domain promises more than the product, and we would sooner admit it. What stands behind the lid is a text chat with AI characters. A portrait sits on every slip and a banner crosses the lid; nothing is filmed, nothing is on sale and no real person is under any hat. If the picture changes, the new-felt page tells you first.

What the milliner will not do

  • Write a chat in which a no is overruled, argued down or tested.
  • Present a hat-wearer as someone you could find in a real town.
  • Sell the words you write, or pass them to an advertiser.
  • Place a person under 18 in any slip, in any disguise.

Reaching the counter

The address in the footer ends up with a person at the bench. Corrections, complaints and oddly specific hat opinions are all read.