 | As the title suggests, I’m interested in the various hats worn by different groups – namely the names of them as I only know the hat industry terms. My understanding of how sectarian dress developed is that it was inspired by general fashions of a time and place and developed on its own path such that the modern article of a certain hat worn by a member of a religious group won’t match the original it’s based on. I’d like to know two things: 1) What are the different names of the hats listed below? If you can post a link to some resource that has authority on this I’d be grateful. Essentially a taller bowler with a slightly squared top. Winston Churchill wore this type of hat commonly and they were made most frequently in the UK and continental Europe. The name used here is almost certainly not what was used everywhere. Note the brim, it has what is known as a d’Orsay curl. This type of brim has no edge curl at the front and back and the ribbon is sewn close to the edge; at the sides there is a curl and the ribbon “binding” covers the top of the curl. This is how many 19th and 20th century hats were originally made – it’s more difficult to do and it takes a lot of practice to do well. Most modern hatters make their hats with a less refined brim edge which has a modern look, like the pencil curl which to my knowledge comes from Western hats. Materials: Fine fur felt, rolled extra tight and thin and stiffened well. These are in the family of “hard hats” and are rarely made from the light and thin felt. Modern hats use extra thick material that’s hotter and less comfortable. Bowler Hat This is the shorter, rounder sibling of the Cambridge hat. This was by far the most common of the two, worn as the day wear hat of professionals in the late 19th century. There were many spins on the correct etiquette of hat wearing, but one common trend was to wear a bowler during the day and reserve a silk hat (top hat) for the evening. Both go well with frock coats. Materials: Fine fur felt such as rabbit, rolled thin and tight and stiffened well. These hats were originally thin, lightweight, and stiff. They are one of the “hard hats” or “stiff hats” Silk Hat / Top Hat This is the only real “top hat” on this list. The terms “top hat”, “high hat”, and “topper” are used more casually, even historically by those not well-acquainted with these hats. There are a lot of misconceptions about these hats as well: everyone says they’re made from beaver fur, they were not. Beaver was used to make top hats, but mostly before the 1830s. The cost of beaver and increasing difficulty in getting it (the beaver was all but wiped-out in Europe and had to be imported from Canada, which meant shipping in the age of sail) led to the world’s first faux fur: silk hatter’s plush. This material was actually better than beaver in every way. The shine was far more pure and intense, the color a truer black, and the hats were lighter because the fine silk cloth was drawn over a stiff but light frame of shellac-stiffened cloth. These hats are actually the lightest on this list, despite being the largest. These hats were also the most expensive, according to original sources even some members of the English House of Commons would buy used toppers from vendors outside parliament and wear them inside to meet the dress code. Senior members of that house as well as Lords would comment on the disheveled nature of these used hats. This was a formal non-sectarian hat worn at weddings, in evenings by prominent politicians and businessmen, at social functions, and by some religious figures when not in their role-specific attire – this goes for practically all religious groups active in Europe in the mid-nineteenth century. These hats could cost as much as a month’s wage or more for the average working person and are still, to this day, one of the most expensive non-custom hats on the market. They cannot be manufactured new anymore as the silk hatter’s plush was only made by a few expert tradesmen in France. WWII led to the downfall of plush production with only one or two small-scale makers continuing until the 1960s, now the knowledge of how to make this material has been taken to the grave. Ergo, if you want one you must buy an original. They are rare and mostly in smaller sizes, but if you find one that fits with some damage there are people who can restore these hats. It is worth it as an investment, these hats have a perpetual demand thanks to the annual horse race Royal Ascot. Note how the top edge is crisp and not rounded. This crispness was prized and the finest hats had extra crisp edges formed with a “tipping block.” The sides also flare out tastefully and the brim has a saddle-shape to show the most plush at the front and back; an ever so slightly more exaggerated form of the d’Orsay brim seen on the other hats on this list. Materials: shellac-soaked calico and cheese cloth dried on stretcher frames to make a hard, thin, and heat-formable board. A hat frame is constructed on wooden blocks and the silk covering is drawn over and ironed smooth to the shell. The silk is then polished by high heat with special, now nearly unobtainable irons. The underside of the hat brim is faced with fine suiting merino wool then the brim is curled with the d’Orsay curl. The hats were then bound with silk grosgrain and the sweatband, a wider variety made from fine leather such as calfskin, was sewn in by hand. The liners were often on their own as complex as most other hats in their construction, being made from paper formed over a special block and sewn into a bucket shape, then a fine silk tulle was used to line the inside wall of this bucket and the inner flat face was faced with a silk moire or satin onto which the maker’s mark was stamped via block printing. Homburg Early 20th century Homburg with more squared crown and d’Orsay curl Winston Churchill with pencil curled Homburg and flatter brim The Homburg went through a lot of development, originally being a German hat with a quite tapered crown and high, pointed crease (see first photo of Edward VII). These early hats had an exaggerated brim shape and round curl which is not a true d’Orsay curl. These hats were initially casual hats for the extremely wealthy but they evolved as they became more common in metropolitan society. The middle photo of a Homburg shows an early 20th century variety with a more squared crown and a d’Orsay curl. The brim is much like that of a Bowler or Cambridge hat but commonly is slightly wider. Most Homburgs I’ve seen had “pencil curled” edges as sported by Mr. Churchill in the last photo. The black Homburg was commonly worn with “black tie” or tuxedo. The Tuxedo is the less formal alternative to “white tie” or evening dress – tailcoat and top hat. The Tuxedo was worn in Victorian times when there would be no women present at a formal event such as a dinner and the Homburg became the hat commonly worn with this form of dress, as a topper was not seen as fitting for the stepped-down variety by some. Black Homburgs were also worn with “lounge suits” or business suits, which were less formal than the frock coat which was becoming old-fashioned in the early 19th century. In the last photo, Churchill sports a lighter Homburg with a dark hat band paired with a pinstripe suit, this is an example of more casual dress in the early to mid 19th century for someone of high station. Most modern Homburgs get the brim wrong, with the brim being flat and the edge being rolled vertically. This is far easier to bind with a machine and can be done with synthetic (i.e. polyester) ribbon, whereas the more complex curves of the true Homburg, even the one worn by Churchill, requires a silk or viscose ribbon. A true pencil curl should still taper inward somewhat, and the roll can vary from the sides to the front to add subtle complexity. Materials: Fine fur felt, commonly a longer nap (plushy instead of scruffy) that is brushed from left to right to give uniformity and moderate gloss. These hats are not stiff, only receiving the same stiffening as an early Fedora or other “soft felt” although the brim could have some more stiffener put into it as the discretion of the hatter. The pencil-curled variety may have a softer brim which is held in shape by the structural brim. Silk or viscose ribbon was used with a fine rib. Fedora The fedora is a well-loved but oft misunderstood hat. Originally this was a women’s hat worn by a character in a play by the same name of the hat. The style caught on and became a men’s hat, becoming ubiquitous by the 1930s. This hat supplanted the bowler and Homburg in more casual dress and is associated with the golden age of Hollywood, early air travel, certain adventuring archaeologists, and of course some Jewish communities. The Fedora has a wider brim than it’s “stingy brim” brother, the Trilby. The brim of a Fedora is actually formed on a curved “flange” which is a wooden hat block that looks a bit like a toilet seat. The hole in the middle is where the crown of the hat goes and the rim starts perpendicular to this crown hole then curves outward toward the edge. The entire brim of a fedora starts out “turned up” and is flipped down either by the hatter or the owner after purchase, giving the hat the ability to be worn in various ways. Most commonly, the front was turned down to shade the eyes from the sun, although in the early days it was common to see these hats worn with the front and back flipped up when there was no need for shade to increase one’s field of view. The back could be turned down with the front up in the case of wind to one’s back or rain, and in the case of the adventuring archaeologist both the front and back were down as his hat was supposed to be well-worn in rough conditions and primarily a source of shade and weather protection. Hatters would often find business in re-blocking these hats to put stiffness back into the crown and brim and to repair any warps or dents from manipulation in normal wear. This industry is still alive and well, albeit largely diminished. Note that the brim edge of this hat is not curled and it is bound with a thinner ribbon in a 50/50 over-under configuration. Many hats were nor bound with ribbon on the edge and this is up to one’s personal preference and the price of the hat – binding adding more labor and materials and being considered a sign of a finer hat. Materials: Soft fur felt in a wide range of materials and qualities. Rabbit fur was probably most common historically, although there’s various grades with belly fur being softer than a blend or the fur from the back. Beaver fur, which became cheaper by the end of the 19th century, was used in finer fedoras as well as Homburgs. Wool felt was used for the cheapest hats and does not make for a good hat. Nutria fur was also commonly used, the nutria having been brought to the United States for fur farming in during the First World War. submitted by /u/Bombs-Away-LeMay |
Source: Reditt
