The Classic Hat

The Classic Hat At one time, men wouldn’t leave their homes without wearing hats. While their use has declined drastically since the 1970s, recent years have seen an upswing in popularity. If you want to get on board with this trend, you can’t go wrong with any of these five timeless hat styles.

Bowler

The bowler is a formal hat that was designed in 1849. Thomas and William Bowler created it, and its purpose was to protect the heads of horseback-riding gamekeepers. That’s why the close-fitting design has a low crown. It has a short brim and is also known as a derby hat. The first person to own one was Edward Coke, a famous British politician, and legionnaire.

Fedora

The fedora was named after a play in which the hero wore a soft-brimmed hat with a crease in the middle. This hat has a more full brim than the trilby and pinched sides that create the ridge mentioned above. It promptly gained favor with the population after Prince Edward wore a fedora in 1924.

Since this was the rise of prohibition, gangsters in the U.S. adopted the fedora. This hat offers flexibility because you can bend the brim up or down. That’s why it also became popular among the public.

Panama

Original Panama hats weren’t made in the country of the same name but produced in Ecuador.

They’re called Panama hats because Panama was the shipping origin. Initially, these were made for sailors and to protect Panama Canal workers from the sun. An original version is usually light in color because it’s made from carludovica palmata plant leaves. Its shape is similar to a fedora, but the back resembles the trilby.

Pork Pie

The pork pie hat has a narrow to medium-wide brim that is spherical. It has a flat top without any indentations. English and American women wore this type of hat during the era of the American Civil War. The pork pie was also worn a lot by silent movie actors. Robert De Niro and Gene Hackman highlighted this hat in favorite 1970s movies. In the late 1970s and 1980s, people of British ska culture favored the pork pie as well.

Trilby

The trilby is often mistaken for a fedora because of some similarities. However, the trilby has a narrow brim with angles that turn up slightly in the rear. Trilby is an Italian baby name, but the name of the hat is due to a novel that dates back to 1894. This hat was fashionable in the 1960s because its subdued height made it practical to wear in cars.

COMBATANT GENTLEMEN, Dress Smarter.