Fashion
SIMPLY LIVING FRANCE
PAGE 60
Which Came First, The Fedora or The Trilby?
W
hich came first, the fedora or the trilby? By all accounts, the fedora was first. The word fedora comes from the title of Victorien Sardou’s 1882 play called ‘Fédora’, which was written for famed French stage actress Sarah Bernhardt. In 1889, the play was performed in the United States with Bernhardt portraying the heroine Princess Fédora Romanoff. During the play, the influential entertainer wore a centre creased, soft brimmed hat and voila! A hat star was born. In a similar fashion, the trilby hat also boasts literary and theatrical origins. Trilby hats got their name from the stage adaptation of George du Maurier’s 1894 highly popular novel ‘Trilby’ about bohemian Paris. During the London production of the play, the lead actress wore a short-brimmed hat with a sharp rear brim. It wasn’t long after this sartorial statement hit the stage that the ‘trilby hat’ became an increasingly common style in Britain.
The Fedora Hat
While the countless material and style variations add to the ongoing confusion when it comes to the trilby vs fedora debate, the latter are marked by a few key features: a pliable mid-sized brim; an indented crown, typically with a centre crease that is pinched on both sides; and wool-felt material. Material The first traditional fedoras were really about the fabric, which was either a fur-felt or wool-felt. However, today’s fedoras are made from any number of materials including cotton, straw, tweed, hemp, leather, and wool-synthetic blends. Crown Shape Fedoras no longer strictly follow the centre-crease crown style of yesteryear — there are tear-drop crowns, diamond crowns, and telescope crowns, just to name a few. Plus, the pinches can be positioned in a variety of ways to suit anyone’s style. Brim Size Size matters when it comes to brims, and it’s the primary distinction between fedoras and trilbies. Most fedora purists will agree that the hat brim should be 2 inches or slightly bigger with the option to rock the brim snapped up or snapped down in the front, back, or all around. Wide-brim fedoras (3 inches or wider) are especially popular with women and come in a variety of styles, including floppy and raw-edge finishes. Famous Fedoras There are many stars of cinema, music, and beyond who have immortalized the fedora, but perhaps none more than Frank Sinatra. (It’s no wonder fedoras are still sometimes referred to as the ‘Frank Sinatra hat’). Ol’ Blue Eyes epitomized the dashing style and swagger of the mid-century music scene, while Humphrey Bogart immortalized the fedora look in the 1942 Hollywood classic ‘Casablanca’. Years later, the fedora would resurface as a style front-runner thanks to Harrison Ford in Indiana
