When Did Top Hats Come Out Fashion

Tall, flat-crowned formal hat

ca. 1910 superlative hat past Alfred Bertiel

European royalty ca. 1859

A top hat (also called a high lid, a cylinder hat, or a topper ^[1]) is a tall, flat-crowned chapeau for men traditionally associated with formal wear in Western dress codes, meaning white necktie, forenoon wearing apparel, or frock glaze. Traditionally made of black silk or sometimes grey, the top hat emerged in Western fashion by the end of the 18th century. Although information technology declined by the time of the counterculture of the 1960s, it remains a formal fashion accessory. A collapsible variant of a top hat, developed in the 19th century, is known every bit an opera hat.

Possibly inspired past the Early Modern era capotain, higher crowned night felt hats with wide brims emerged as a country leisurewear fashion along with the Historic period of Revolution around the 1770s. Around the 1780s, the justaucorps was replaced by the previously coincidental frocks and wearing apparel coats. At the same time, the tricorne and bicorne hats were replaced by what became known as the tiptop hat. By the 1790s, the directoire style dress coat with top hat was widely introduced as citywear for the upper and eye classes in all urban areas of the Western world. The justaucorps was replaced in all just the most formal court affairs. Around the turn of the 19th century, although for a few decades beaver hats were popular, black silk became the standard, sometimes varied by grey ones. While the dress coats were replaced by the frock coat from the 1840s as conventional formal daywear, top hats continued to be worn with frock coats as well as with what became known as formal evening article of clothing white tie. Towards the stop of the 19th century, whereas the white tie with black dress coat remained fixed, frock coats were gradually replaced by morn dress, along with top hats.

After Globe War I, the 1920s saw widespread introduction of semi-formal blackness tie and breezy wear suits that were worn with less formal hats such every bit bowler hats, homburgs, boaters and fedoras respectively, in established society. After Earth State of war 2, white necktie, morning dress and apron coats along with their counterpart, the tiptop hat, started to get confined to high gild, politics and international affairs. The terminal United States presidential inaugurations with tiptop hat was the inauguration of John F. Kennedy in 1961. Post-obit the counterculture of the 1960s, its utilise declined further forth with the decay also of daily informal hats by men.

Yet, along with traditional formal habiliment, the top hat continues to be applicable for the nigh formal occasions, including weddings and funerals, in addition to certain audiences, assurance and horse racing events, such every bit the Royal Enclosure at Royal Ascot and the Queen's Stand of Epsom Derby. It likewise remains role of the formal dress of those occupying prominent positions in certain traditional British institutions, such as the Bank of England, certain City stock exchange officials, occasionally at the Law Courts and Lincoln'southward Inn, judges of the Chancery Division and Queen'due south Counsel, boy-choristers of Rex'southward College Choir, dressage horseback riders, and servants' or doormen's livery.

As part of traditional formal vesture, in popular culture the tiptop lid has sometimes been associated with the upper class, and used past satirists and social critics equally a symbol of capitalism or the globe of business organisation, every bit with the Monopoly Homo or Scrooge McDuck. The top lid likewise forms part of the traditional dress of Uncle Sam, a symbol of the United states, mostly striped in ruddy, white and bluish. Furthermore, ever since the famous "Pulling a Rabbit out of a Chapeau" of Louis Comte in 1814, the top hat remains associated with hat tricks and stage magic costumes.

Name [edit]

The top chapeau is also known as a beaver chapeau or silk hat, in reference to its material, every bit well as casually as chimney pot hat or stove piping hat.

History [edit]

Self portrait (c:a 1770) of Peter Falconet (1741–1791). One of the primeval depicted prototypes of what became the top hat. In early prototypes, a sash around the crown was closed by a buckle. This was later dropped, in the same way as shoe buckles for male pumps were replaced by bowties around the turn of the 19th century.

Carle Vernet'southward 1796 painting showing two corrupt French "Incredibles" greeting each other, ane with what appears to exist a top hat.

According to fashion historians, the elevation hat may have descended directly from the sugarloaf chapeau;^[2] otherwise it is difficult to institute provenance for its creation.^[3] Gentlemen began to supercede the tricorne with the top hat at the stop of the 18th century; a painting by Charles Vernet of 1796, United nations Incroyable, shows a French dandy (one of the Incroyables et Merveilleuses) with such a hat.^[4] The first silk top hat in England is credited to George Dunnage, a hatter from Middlesex, in 1793.^[5] The invention of the acme hat is often erroneously credited to a haberdasher named John Hetherington.

Within thirty years top hats had become popular with all social classes, with fifty-fifty workmen wearing them. At that time those worn by members of the upper classes were usually made of felted beaver fur; the generic name "stuff hat" was applied to hats made from various not-fur felts. The hats became part of the uniforms worn by policemen and postmen (to requite them the appearance of dominance); since these people spent virtually of their time outdoors, their hats were topped with blackness oilcloth.^[6]

19th century [edit]

Betwixt the latter part of 18th century and the early on part of the 19th century, felted beaver fur was slowly replaced by silk "hatter's costly", though the silk topper met with resistance from those who preferred the beaver hat.

The 1840s and the 1850s saw it reach its nigh farthermost form, with ever-higher crowns and narrow brims. The stovepipe lid was a diverseness with mostly straight sides, while ane with slightly convex sides was called the "chimney pot".^[7] The mode nearly unremarkably referred to every bit the stovepipe was popularized in the Usa past Abraham Lincoln during his presidency; though it is postulated^{[ by whom? ]} that he may never have called it stovepipe himself, simply merely a silk chapeau or a plug chapeau. It is said^{[ past whom? ]} that Lincoln would go on important letters inside the hat.^[8] One of Lincoln's top hats is kept on display at the National Museum of American History in Washington, DC.^[9]

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  In this popular print of the 1848 "Five Days of Milan", the Italian city'southward insurgence against Austrian rule, several combatants are shown wearing top hats.

During the 19th century, the top chapeau developed from a mode into a symbol of urban respectability, and this was assured when Prince Albert started wearing them in 1850; the rising in popularity of the silk costly top chapeau possibly led to a turn down in beaver hats, sharply reducing the size of the beaver trapping industry in North America, though it is likewise postulated^{[ by whom? ]} that the beaver numbers were too reducing at the same time. Whether it directly affected or was coincidental to the decline of the beaver trade is debatable.

James Laver once observed that an assemblage of "toppers" resembled factory chimneys and thus added to the mood of the industrial era. In England, post-Brummel dandies went in for flared crowns and swooping brims. Their counterparts in French republic, known equally the "Incroyables", wore acme hats of such outlandish dimensions that in that location was no room for them in overcrowded cloakrooms until the invention of the collapsible superlative hat.^{[ten] [xi]}

20th century [edit]

Until Earth War I the top lid was maintained as a standard item of formal outdoor wear by upper-class males for both daytime and evening usage. Considerations of convenience and expense meant however that information technology was increasingly superseded by soft hats for ordinary wear. By the end of World War II, it had get a comparative rarity, though it continued to exist worn regularly in sure roles. In United kingdom of great britain and northern ireland these included holders of various positions in the Depository financial institution of England and City stockbroking, and boys at some public schools. All the civilian members of the Japanese delegation that signed the Japanese Instrument of Surrender on 2 September 1945, wore tiptop hats, reflecting common diplomatic practice at the time.^[12]

The top hat persisted in politics and international diplomacy for many years. In the Soviet Union, there was debate as to whether its diplomats should follow the international conventions and wearable a top lid. Instead a diplomatic uniform with peaked cap for formal occasions was adopted. Top hats were part of formal wear for U.South. presidential inaugurations for many years. President Dwight D. Eisenhower spurned the lid for his inauguration, but John F. Kennedy, who was accustomed to formal wearing apparel, brought it back for his in 1961. Ironically, Kennedy delivered his forceful countdown accost hatless, reinforcing the image of vigor he desired to project, and setting the tone for an active administration to follow.

His successor, Lyndon B. Johnson, did not wear a top lid for any part of his inauguration in 1965, and the hat has not been worn since for this purpose.^[13]

In the Great britain, the post of Government Broker in the London Stock Exchange that required the wearing of a pinnacle hat in the streets of the City of London was abolished past the "Big Bang" reforms of Oct 1986.^[fourteen] In the British Business firm of Eatables, a dominion requiring a Member of Parliament who wished to raise a point of lodge during a division, having to speak seated with a height hat on, was abolished in 1998. Spare top hats were kept in the chamber in case they were needed. The Modernisation Select Committee commented that "This particular practice has almost certainly brought the House into greater ridicule than almost any other".^[xv]

Although Eton College has long abandoned the meridian hat equally part of its uniform, acme hats are yet worn past "Monitors" at Harrow School with their Sunday dress uniform.^[16] They are worn past male members of the British Regal Family unit on Country occasions equally an alternative to military uniform, for instance, in the Wagon Procession at the Diamond Jubilee in 2012.^{[ commendation needed ]} Top hats may likewise exist worn at some horse racing meetings, notably The Derby^[17] and Regal Ascot.^[18] Top hats are worn at the Tynwald Day ceremony and a few other formal occasions in the Isle of man.

In George Orwell's Nineteen Eighty 4, the top hat features prominently in the propaganda of the book'due south totalitarian authorities: "These rich men were called capitalists. They were fat, ugly men with wicked faces [...] dressed in a long blackness coat which was called a frock glaze, and a queer, shiny hat shaped similar a stovepipe, which was called a peak hat. This was the compatible of the capitalists, and no one else was allowed to wear it."^[19]

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21st century [edit]

The mod standard summit hat is a hard, black silk chapeau, with fur now often used. The acceptable colors of hats are much as they accept traditionally been, with "white" hats (which are actually grey), a daytime racing color, worn at the less formal occasions demanding a top hat, such as Majestic Ascot, or with a morn suit. In the U.S. meridian hats are worn widely in coaching, a driven horse bailiwick, too as for formal riding to hounds.

The collapsible silk opera chapeau, or crush chapeau, is still worn on occasions, and black in colour if worn with evening wear every bit part of white tie,^[xx] and is however made by a few companies, since the materials, satin or grosgrain silk, are still bachelor. The other alternative hat for eveningwear is the normal hard shell.^[21]

In formal academic dress, the Finnish and Swedish doctoral hat is a variant of the tiptop hat, and remains in use today.

American rock musician Tom Niggling was known for wearing several types of top hats throughout his career and in his music videos such as "Don't Come up Around Here No More". The British-American musician Slash has sported a top chapeau since he was in Guns N' Roses, a expect that has get iconic for him.^[22] Panic! at the Disco'south Brendon Urie is likewise a frequent wearer of top hats. He has been known to vesture them in previous alive performances on their Nothing Rhymes with Circus bout and in the music videos, "The Ballad of Mona Lisa" and "I Write Sins Not Tragedies".

The members of the "Inner Circle" of the Punxsutawney, Pennsylvania Groundhog Club wear meridian hats on Feb 2 of every year when they perform the Groundhog Day ceremonies with Punxsutawney Phil.

Steampunk civilisation also incorporates the top hat into accepted headgear choices, though meridian hats worn in such a context are sometimes fabricated of leather or similar materials and, now and so, fifty-fifty have simulated gears or other adornments secured to them.

A pinnacle hat, frequently colored ruby, white and blue, or with stars and stripes like to those on the American flag, is part of the regular costume of Uncle Sam, a symbol of the United States.^{[ citation needed ]}

For satirists and political cartoonists, the height hat was a user-friendly symbol of the upper class, business and capitalism. A graphic symbol wearing a top hat would be instantly recognized by the viewer as a member of the oligarchy.^{[ commendation needed ]} The graphic symbol Rich Uncle Pennybags in the lath game Monopoly, wears a top chapeau. In addition, a top hat is 1 of the game's tokens, used by players to mark their position as they progress around the board.^{[ citation needed ]}

Freemasonry [edit]

In Freemasonry, every bit practiced in North American lodges, top hats are oftentimes associated with the position of Worshipful Master as he is the only member allowed the privilege of wearing a head covering to signify his leadership within the social club. However, the Master is not obliged to vesture a pinnacle hat, and tin can vesture whatever type of hat he deems appropriate for the occasion. This is considering in that location are varying degrees of formality in different Lodges, from formal article of clothing to everyday wearing apparel. It is as well common for a Worshipful Primary to receive acme-hat-related trinkets and gifts on either the day of his installation or as a going abroad present.^[23] In other countries, especially in sure systems in Germany, top hats are worn past all members of the society.

Judaism [edit]

In some synagogues, the president and honorary officers may wear a elevation hat on Shabbat or the swell festivals. The custom of wearing a superlative chapeau, or tzylinder in the Yiddish language, originated in 19th-century England, replacing the wig and tricorn lid. The custom became widespread in Europe until The Holocaust. In some traditional Sephardi synagogues, members of the congregation may also wear height hats on special occasions.^[24] The custom is said to have started at the Bevis Marks Synagogue in London on a hot day, when the Chazzan was preparing for a service and decided that information technology was too hot to wearable his wig, throwing information technology out of the window in a fit of bad temper. He and then establish that his tricorn hat was too big, as it had been made to fit over the wig, and and then wore his top hat instead.^[25]

Clarification [edit]

A silk top hat is made from hatters' costly, a soft silk weave with a very long, defined nap.^[26] This is rare now, since it is no longer in full general product since the 1950s, and it is thought that there are no looms capable of producing the traditional fabric any more; the last looms in Lyon were destroyed past the last owner, Nicholas Smith, after a violent breakdown with his brother, Bobby Smith.^[27] The standard roofing is at present fur plush or melusine every bit (the London hat merchant) Christys' calls it. A grey apartment fur felt pinnacle hat is the popular alternative.

It is common to see top hats in stiff wool felt and even soft wool though these are non considered on the same level as the silk or fur plush or grey felt varieties. The standard crown shape present is the 'semi-bong crown'; 'full bell crowns' and 'stovepipe' shaped toppers are rarer.

Because of the rarity of vintage silk hats, and the expense of modern top hats, the vintage/antique market place is very lively, with models in wear condition typically hard to notice; cost often varies with size (larger sizes are typically more than expensive) and condition.

Construction [edit]

In the past, top hats were made by blocking a single piece of wool or fur felt and then covering the vanquish with fur costly. Since the invention of silk costly a new method using gossamer was invented and used up to the present day though the older method is more common for toppers made today.

A town-weight silk top hat is made by offset blocking two pieces of gossamer (or goss for short), which is made of a sheet of cheesecloth that has been coated with a shellac and ammonia solution and left to cure for 5 months on a wooden frame, on a wooden top hat block (which is made of several interconnecting pieces like a puzzle so the block tin can be removed from the beat, equally the opening is narrower than tip of the crown) to course the vanquish. Afterwards the shell has rested for a calendar week in the block, the cake is removed and the brim (made of several layers of goss to give information technology strength) is attached to the crown. The shell is coated with a layer of shellac varnish and also left for a further week. The silk costly is then cut to the correct design. The top and side pieces are sewn together; the side piece having an open diagonal seam. It is and so eased over the trounce carefully and then ironed (the rut of the iron melting the shellac for the costly to stick to it). The upper brim is also covered with a piece of silk costly or with silk petersham (a ribbed silk). The underbrim is covered with merino fabric. After the hat has fully rested, the brim is curled and bound with silk grosgrain ribbon, and a hat band (either silk grosgrain with or without a bow, or a blackness wool mourning band without a bow) is installed. Finally, the lining and the leather sweatband are carefully manus-stitched in.^[28]

The construction can vary; reinforced toppers sometimes chosen "country-weight" included greater layers goss used to provide a strengthened hat that was traditionally suitable for riding and hunting, though information technology may not always conform to modern safety standards.

Opera chapeau [edit]

On May 5, 1812, a London hatter called Thomas Francis Dollman patented a design for "an rubberband round hat" supported by ribs and springs. His patent was described as:

An elastic round hat, which "may be made of beaver, silk, or other materials." "The pinnacle of the crown and about one-half an inch from the peak" as well as "the skirt and about an inch, the crown from the bottom" are stiffened in the ordinary way. The residuum of the hat "is left entirely without stiffening," and is kept in shape by ribs of any suitable material "fastened horizontally to the inside of the crown," and by an elastic steel leap from three to four inches long and nearly one-half an inch wide "sewed on each side of the crown in the within in an upright position." And so packed up for travelling, "the double ribbon fastened under the band is to exist pulled over the peak of the crown to keep it in a small compass."^[29]

Some sources accept taken this to draw an early on folding summit lid,^{[xxx] [31]} although information technology is non explicitly stated whether Dollman's design was specifically for male or female headgear. Dollman'southward patent expired in 1825.^[32] In France, effectually 1840, Antoine Gibus'south design for a spring-loaded collapsible top-hat proved so pop that hats fabricated to it became known as gibus.^{[10] [33]} They were also often chosen opera hats, attributable to the common exercise of storing them in their flattened state under i's seat at the opera. The characteristic snapping sound heard upon opening a gibus suggested a tertiary name, the chapeau claque, "claque" being the French word for "slap".^[34]

Gallery [edit]

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  Peak hats in the 1840s. Swedish Fashion plate from 1847

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  Hat box

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  A customer wearing a top hat in Paul Hoeniger's depiction of Berlin's Café Josty, 1890

Run into besides [edit]

• Cap
• Gat (hat)
• List of headgear
• Shako, a tall, cylindrical military cap

References [edit]

1. ^ Webster's Two New Higher Lexicon . Houghton Mifflin Reference Books. 1995. p. 848. ISBN0-395-96214-5.
2. ^ Sewell, Charlotte (1983). Clothes in History. Wayland. Ltd.
3. ^ Kilgour, Ruth Edwards (1954). A Pageant of Hats Ancient and Modern.
4. ^ "Le Centenaire du Chapeau". La Way Pratique (6): 66–7. half-dozen February 1897. (referenced in Tigersprung: Style in Modernity by Ulrich Lehmann)
5. ^ "The First Silk Top Hat" (PDF). Ascot Top Hats Ltd News Release. 16 June 2009. Archived (PDF) from the original on viii March 2012. Retrieved xx August 2009. (referenced in Ascot Top Hats)
6. ^ Paterson, Michael; Peter Ackroyd (2007). Voices from Dickens' London. David & Charles. p. 45. ISBN978-0-7153-2723-4.
7. ^ Hoffmann, Frank W.; William G. Bailey (1994-07-07). Fashion & merchandising fads . Haworth Press. p. 260. ISBNane-56023-031-2.
8. ^ Benjamin P. Thomas (26 September 2008). Abraham Lincoln: A Biography. SIU Press. pp. 39–. ISBN978-0-8093-2887-1. Archived from the original on 28 Feb 2017. Retrieved 26 September 2016.
9. ^ "Abraham Lincoln's top hat". Civilwar.si.edu. Archived from the original on 2013-07-30. Retrieved 2014-03-03 .
10. ^ ^{a b} ""Gibus" Opera Lid". McCord Museum. Archived from the original on 2013-xi-03. Retrieved 2013-07-06 .
11. ^ Cunnington, C Willett and Phyllis (1959). Handbook of English Costume in the Nineteenth Century. Faber. p. 93.
12. ^ "Reports of Full general MacArthur; MacArthur in Japan: The Occupation: Military Phase: Volume 1 Supplement: Chapter 2: Plate 12: MacArthur Takes the Surrender, two September 1945". history.army.mil. Archived from the original on 24 September 2015. Retrieved 2014-08-xv .
13. ^ Inaugural traditions Archived 2011-02-09 at the Wayback Machine Accessed June 17, 2011
14. ^ "1 September 2007 - Obituary: Sir Nigel Althaus (the last Government Broker)". The Independent. 2007-09-01. Archived from the original on 15 Feb 2015. Retrieved 2014-03-03 .
15. ^ "Some Traditions and Customs of the House" (PDF). www.parliament.uk. House of Commons Information Function. July 2010. Archived (PDF) from the original on 2010-06-12. (p. viii)
16. ^ Harrow Schoolhouse (Uniform)
17. ^ "The Racing Mail service - Epsom Derby Dress Code". Derby.racingpost.com. Archived from the original on 2014-03-03. Retrieved 2014-03-03 .
18. ^ "Royal Ascot: Racegoers Guide Apparel Code ". Ascot.co.uk. Archived from the original on 2013-03-19. Retrieved 2014-03-03 .
19. ^ George Orwell, 19 Eighty Four, Part 1, Affiliate vii
20. ^ Croonborg, Frederick (1907). The Blue Book of Men's Tailoring. New York and Chicago: Croonborg Sartorial Co. ISBN0-442-21763-iii.
21. ^ Apparel Arts. "Peak Hat Etiquette". Archived from the original on 2012-02-27.
22. ^ "SLASH: 'An Intimate Portrait' Book Due In October". blabbermouth.net. Aug 28, 2012. Archived from the original on August 29, 2012. Retrieved Oct 25, 2012. Over the past twenty-5 years, Slash's cool stage presence, gloriously unkempt pilus, iconic top hat, and soulful guitar virtuosity has been the epitome of contemporary hard rock.
23. ^ "masonic-lodge-of-instruction.com". masonic-society-of-didactics.com. Archived from the original on 2012-05-29. Retrieved 2012-06-06 .
24. ^ Apple tree, Raymond; Cracking Synagogue (Sydney, N. S. W. ). (2008). Raymond Apple, The Bully Synagogue: A History of Sydney's Large Shule, University of New South Wales Press 2008, ISBN 978-086840-927-6 (p.144). ISBN9780868409276 . Retrieved 2014-03-03 .
25. ^ "Top hats in shule – Inquire the Rabbi". OzTorah. 2013-11-21. Archived from the original on 2014-03-03. Retrieved 2014-03-03 .
26. ^ Oxford English Dictionary (1989). 2nd. Ed.
27. ^ Storey, Nicholas, History of Men's Fashion. pp. 138, 139
28. ^ Harmsworth's Universal Encyclopaedia (1920), Chapeau, p. 3049
29. ^ Patents for inventions. Abridgments of specifications. Patent Office. 1874. an elastic round hat.
30. ^ de Bono, Edward (1974). Eureka! An illustrated history of inventions from the wheel to the figurer: a London Lord's day times encyclopedia. London: Holt, Rinehart and Winston. p. 88. ISBN9780030126413.
31. ^ Sichel, Marion (1978). The Regency. London: Batsford. pp. 24–25. ISBN9780713403428.
32. ^ Herbert, Luke (1827). The Register of Arts, and Periodical of Patent Inventions, Volume 4. p. 64. Archived from the original on 2017-02-28. Retrieved 2016-09-26 .
33. ^ "Lid Glossary (Grand)". Villagehatshop.com. Archived from the original on 2009-12-02. Retrieved 2009-10-25 .
34. ^ "History of Hats". Lock Hatters. Archived from the original on 2015-09-07. Retrieved 2013-07-06 .

Farther reading [edit]

• Steinberg, Neil, Hatless Jack: The President, the Fedora and the Death of the Hat, 2005, Granta Books

External links [edit]

Wikimedia Commons has media related to Tiptop hats.

• britishpathe.com, vintage footage of how silk acme hats are made by Patey.
• Guide to Buying a Top Lid by Charles Rupert Tsua

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