Although the character departed from the series after RWBY’s third season, Roman Torchwick’s hat lives on as his accomplice, Neo Politan’s, accessory. Today, I’m going to show you how to re-create this iconic antagonist’s hat with a few simple steps. Combine this with our Roman Torchwick costume guide to get the complete look.

Materials Needed:

• Black bowler or derby hat (this could be anything from a plastic party hat to a high-quality, longterm-wear item)
• Red ribbon or fabric
• Large feather (buy some online, or if wild turkeys frequent your back yard, take one of their discarded feathers)
• Hot glue or fabric glue

Directions

I started out with one of these, a middling-quality costume bowler hat that I purchased online. The brim needed a little finagling out of the box, but it’s serviceable!

Roman’s hat has a decorative band of red. You could always hot-glue a strip of wide, red ribbon and call it a day. Personally, I used some red cotton fabric leftover from another project. If you go that route: cut out a long strip double the desired width, iron the fabric flat, fold the raw edges of the cloth down, and form a rectangular band long enough to wrap around the hat.

Glue it down as subtly as possible, or sew the band for a more “seamless”-looking join (okay, yes, it would technically have a seam if you do it that way, but you get my point), and slide it over for a snug fit.

At this point, you can also tuck the feather under the band. It should stay in place if your band was tight enough, but a little hot-glue won’t hurt matters.

Whether you’re wearing this as part of a Roman Torchwick cosplay or you’re a jilted villain trying to remember their partner-in-crime, this Roman Torchwick bowler hat is now good to go!