Victorian Men’s Hats

Since I’ve been writing my Sherlockian pastiche — An Irregular Detective Mystery Series — I have had to research all sorts of things, from what people ate in different social classes, to how they talked, to railway travel, to what they wore.

And that brings us to hats.

I’m not a formal person. I would be the comfiest in jeans all the time at any function. But adulting is hard, and you know that certain things are appropriate at certain times, and some are not.

In another day, there was an overabundant amount of layers of clothing that both women and men wore, though women, by far, had the most layers, so I wouldn’t want to go back to that era or even the early 20th century when women had to wear dresses all the time. Heck, I recall that it wasn’t until I started high school in 1974 that girls could finally wear pants to school! ¡Viva la revolución!

But. There is something to be said in a little formality of one’s clothing. I’m not fond of the wearing of pajamas and slippers out in the world. That’s taking comfort to an extreme. And that’s my pet peeve, so don’t get your jammy bottoms in a twist over it. “Stop telling us what to do, Jeri.” I’m not making it a law or anything. And if you want to do it, fine. I just won’t be. And yeah, it’s my blog and I’ll cry if I want to.

I used to be pretty sloppy, going for that comfort (almost like wearing jammies in public), but I took a page from my mother-in-law’s book. She told me that dressing up a bit when you went out, even to the grocery store, is not for the observer. It’s for YOU. To make YOU feel better, stand taller, feel worthy of it.

Which brings us to men’s hats in general. These days it’s bound to be baseball caps, despite the fact that 99.9 % of those men wearing them will never pick up a baseball. Perhaps it was when long hair became one’s headgear that men’s hats were phazed out? Oh, there is the occasional rise of different styles returning to fashion like the trilby, and then there was the tiny hat phase (or what I like to call, “hey, your hat is too small for your head” phase). Cowboy hats are always fashionable in some parts of the country, but just about anything else is worn ironically or as costume. Names like Fedora. Bowler. Homburg. You aren’t likely to see those. It was overcoats and hats that soon disappeared when folks moved to California, because an overcoat was for when it rained, and, well…

But let’s talk Victorian hats. And Victorian adverts, for that matter.

For the sporting man, out in the country for shooting parties and what nots. You can land a Wright Flyer on that second one.

 

Here’s some of the wide varieties of hats for men, including the fancy leather hat boxes for traveling when more than one hat is absolutely necessary, or the pocket or crush hat that is soft and shapeless and lets you squish it into your pocket in case of a hat emergency.

 

The hat keeps your head warm. The mustache keeps your mouth warm.

 

There are seasons for certain hat styles. You certainly wouldn’t wear a straw boater in the winter. That would be gauche.

 

 

 

 

And, of course, the sailor hat, popular for far too long.

 

Like vests, hats are an occasion these days. Maybe it’s better that way. With all the electronics we are required to have and the high price of them, maybe care and feeding of a hat is just too expensive, too much to ask. I wouldn’t want to.