The Top Hat

If the bowler connoted a more democratic future, the top hat, most certainly represented, in the words of hat historian Colin McDowell, “. . . the power of political conservatism and the rule of the status quo.” The top hat traces its origins to the tall sugar loaf hats of the late Middle Ages and Renaissance. After an 18th Century hiatus where the tricorne and bicorn (also known as the cocked hat) supplanted the high hat as the fashion of the day, the high hat, in its new iterations, most notable the stove pipe shape that we now know as the top hat, returned to rule the day in the very late 1700s. It’s reputation was firmly established when, in 1890, the St. James Gazette wrote, “When we are told, ’He’s a fellow who wears a top hat and a frock coat,’ we know sufficiently well what sort of fellow he is.” When Edgar Degas paints his series of Portraits at the Stock Exchange, he is certainly commenting on this stuffy, out of touch, segment of society. Of course, Freudian psychologists had their own interpretations on these hats and those who wore them regarding them as obvious phallic symbols. As funny and impractical as top hats may seem to our modern ideas on fashion, they have stood the test of time. True, after the advent of the automobile at the beginning of the 20th Century, and the top hat’s impractical fit (literally and figuratively) in the Modern Age, the top hat’s popularity did wane. Never the less, this hat is a survivor. High school seniors seek them out at prom time. Undertakers and Christmas carolers still wear top hats as an integral segment of their dress. The hat comes out at weddings and at big days at the races. The collapsible opera hat, also know as the Gibus, named after its inventor Frenchman Antoine Gibus, is still sufficiently popular that a New York manufacturer has a successful business today with this style hat as its sole output. And Uncle Sam, symbol of democratic America, for some reason still prefers a top hat--perhaps with all its elitist connotations, the top hat was still a move in the right direction from the crown.

Fred Belinsky
www.VillageHatShop.com
www.JaxonHats.com

Comments

[Johnny Howard]

The use of the black top (caroller) hat by undertakers all but completely vanished by the end of the first decade of the 20th century though they are sometimes used in New Orleans. Today, some funeral directors who offer the option of a horse drawn hearse in the funerals they direct will require the coachmen to wear these hats as well as matching attire of the period (funeral directors usually have too much going on than to act as hacks in the funerals they direct). In the larger cities, the black bowler or derby and black frock coat (a mid-thigh length suit coat)came into widespread use while the wider brim black fedora was favored in the west and midwest. By the late 1920's most funeral directors wore black homburgs (basically a bowler with a dimple running the length of the top). Some refer to these as "Godfather Hats" due to its use by actor Al Pacino who played "Michael" in Francis Ford Coppola's epic production, Godfather I. The homburg was initially popularized by King Edward VII of England amongst bankers, diplomats and statesmen as well as funeral directors. The popularity of wearing dress hats steadily declined since the late 1950's. Homburgs; largely, went out of use by funeral directors in the late 1960's when the industry discarded the much-stereotyped image of 20 shades of black associated with it. Manufacturers of hearses and limousines also followed suit and offered their vehicles in practically any color as the shift to "...a celebration of life" as opposed to "...a ceremony of death" became more common across the United States. If a funeral director wears anything on his head today it would likely be a black ivy or 8-quarter cap. Call me "old fashioned" but I still wear a black homburg along with hickory stripe trousers, a double-breasted black wool blazer and gray cotton gloves when directing all funerals. I think it identifies me as The funeral director by; what I perceive anyway, as the uniform of my profession. I'd rather be approached by someone with a question than to see them running around to every man who happens to be wearing a suit at a wake or funeral. With the proliferation of baseball caps over the last two decades, I think that I'm probably the only guy in town who still wears a dress hat.

[Procopia]

Good for people to know.

[Kim M. Bennett]

I would like to know how much would a orginal Gilbus Top Hat made in 1837 that is still in good condition today be worth.