Welcome back to the Gentleman's Gazette. In
today's video, we'll discuss the bowler hat, its long and curious history,
and, of course, how to wear it. [The Gentleman's Gazette theme song plays] One quick note before we begin today, in today's
video, we'll be using quite a bit of specific hat terminology, so be sure that you've watched our
video on that subject before you continue with today's installment. With that said, we'll
start with an introduction. In other words, what is the bowler hat? Because of its long
history from roughly 1849 up to the present day, there are many subtle variations in
bowler hat designs that also depend somewhat on the original maker. But,
generally speaking, the bowler hat, also referred to as a "derby" or
"darby hat" depending on your location, is a stiff hat. It can be
made from polyester, wool felt, or for the best quality possible, fur felt.
And by stiff hat, we, of course, mean that it isn't a crushable variety, which is softer and can
take a bit more punishment. Think of things like fedoras and trilbys that often fall into this
crushable category. Whereas, as we said before, the bowler is more stiff similar to things like
homburgs and top hats. Its distinguishing feature is its round, open, bowl-shaped crown, though,
curiously enough, this isn't where the hat gets its name, but we'll dive into the history
of the hat in a moment. It also usually has a curved brim with a tight d'Orsay curl or pencil
roll at the edge. In turn, the d'Orsay curl is named after the French dandy Alfred d'Orsay born
in 1801, who was known for wearing his hats with tightly curled brims. You can see an artist's
rendering of d'Orsay here, and you may also note that he's probably the inspiration for the
mascot of The New Yorker magazine, Eustace Tilley. Returning to the construction of the hat then,
bowlers are most commonly made from fur felt, which isn't actually woven but rather
matted, which is why you can sometimes see individual fibers from the hat. Some
hats can be furrier than others, but the finish all depends on how the hat
is pressed and sanded during manufacturing. The fur felt was put through a process
called "carroting" as it was dipped into an orange-colored liquid, mercurous nitrate, which
contained mercury. As you may know, mercury is a toxic substance to humans. Inhalation and
direct contact with this chemical is what led many hatters to develop a condition called "erethism,"
which is a disorder of the central nervous system. This is what led to the common phrase "mad
as a hatter" and led to erethism being called "mad hatter's disease" or "the Danbury
shakes," as Danbury once boasted being "the hat manufacturing capital of the world."
With construction details out of the way then, let's now get into the
history of the bowler hat, which, as we mentioned before, started in 1849. The bowler wasn't originally designed
for style but rather for practicality. Our story starts here with the second Earl of
Leicester, Sir Thomas William Coke, who owned a 25,000-acre estate called Holkham Hall, which
is still the seat of the Earl of Leicester today. His gamekeepers would ride around the
grounds of the estate on horseback wearing top hats. But because top
hats are tall and cylindrical, they could easily be knocked off by wind or
tree branches. Meanwhile, his younger brother, Edward Coke, started thinking about ways
that he could design a hat that was smaller, more compact, and aerodynamic, as well as
being sturdier, so the gamekeepers could still have their heads covered but wouldn't
have to worry about wind, tree branches, or encounters with poachers. He took his idea to
the hatter James Lock & Co. on August 25th, 1849, where the chief hat maker at the time, Thomas
Bowler, created the first prototype with his brother William Bowler. And the hat was definitely
a success and effective as it's still used by the Holkham Hall gamekeepers even to this day.
Part of this hat's history is its many names. But, just why does it have so many?
The hat was originally known as the "Coke hat" named after the Earl William
Coke. You can see this as evidenced by this ledger from Lock & Co belonging to
Charlie Chaplin from the years 1912-1922. The gamekeepers who wore the hat at Holkham Hall
gave it the moniker "Billy Coke" after William Coke, which later morphed into "Billycock."
However, these are seldom used names today. So, while we are fans of history,
we wouldn't recommend walking down the street and complimenting
anyone on their Billycock today. [Clip of man doing a spit take] [Back to Preston]
Thomas and William Bowler started making more of these hats for the public
and decided to market them under their own name as "bowler hats," which is why this is
the most common name for them today. Lock & Co, however, does still refer to this
hat style as "the Coke." So, why is the bowler hat then referred to as the "darby" or, more
accurately, "derby" in the United States? In England, the 12th Earl of Derby began a series
of annual horse racing events called the Oaks Stakes named after his estate in the year 1780.
It was later renamed the Derby Stakes and is now known as the Epsom Derby. The word "derby" here
meaning a flat race between three-year-old horses. And by the late 1800s, bowler hats were widespread
and commonly worn at events like this as the wind wouldn't blow them off one's head and elsewhere
into the stands. American race fans were also introduced to hats of this type primarily in the
derby setting so they began to refer to them as "derby hats" but using the American pronunciation
of "derby hats." And while the bowler hat is known today as a prevalent icon of British culture,
it also had a place in the American west. As we mentioned earlier, it was designed to be
worn while on horseback. So, it was actually the most popular hat style for both lawmen and
outlaws in the Wild West. It was actually much more popular than the standard cowboy hat with
which we're familiar today and was only beaten in popularity by Stetson's "Boss of the Plains" hat
in 1865. Meanwhile, in 1850s Britain, the bowler was seen as a primarily working-class hat and was
worn by men like railway workers and miners as a precursor to the modern hard hat. Meanwhile, the
more casual sack suit had come about in the 1840s, and while originally the upper classes would still
wear their top hats with it, this later came to be seen as a fashion faux pas as definitions of
formality became more clearly defined. Thus, the bowler hat would come to be worn more with sack
suits as it was more casual. By the 1870s and 80s, bowler hats were being produced in countless
different styles from multiple different makers, featuring prominently in menswear
catalogs and hatter's magazines. Not all of these hats were heavy
and made for riding as softer, lighter bowlers also came into use for
business suits in town. In the 1890s, the bowler hat became more closely
synonymous with the entertainment industry. It was used by many theatrical and vaudeville
performers, both because of its durability and its working-class associations as
it was something of an everyman's hat. We'll again mention Charlie Chaplin here,
who started wearing a bowler as part of his uniform for his world-famous Little Tramp
character in the 1910s. Through the 1920s, 30s, and 40s, the bowler was also used by many other
performers and comic duos such as Laurel & Hardy and Abbott & Costello. Another example in
entertainment would be the 1960s British TV series The Avengers, where
Patrick Macnee played John Steed often wearing a bowler hat. By
the 1920s, there were several more semi-formal and casual hat
styles coming into fashion, including Homburgs, fedoras, and flat caps.
So, while it was once a working-class hat, by this time, the bowler came to be seen as
more of an upper-class hat for city gentlemen. Bankers and lawyers began wearing bowler
hats with their stroller and lounge suits, and some notable figures like Georges Clemenceau
even began wearing it with full morning dress. In December of 1941, the United States public health
service banned the use of mercury in hat-making, and so, hydrogen peroxide came to be used instead. Hat-makers felt though that this led to a somewhat
inferior product for stiff hats, and, indeed, softer hats were becoming more prevalent.
Soft hat styles were the most popular choices into the World War II Era.
And post-war into the 1950s and 60s, wearing no hat at all became the trend. Indeed, you can take a look at
this Pathé newsreel from 1963, which comments that while the
bowler was once popular worldwide, it wasn't widely seen at that time. [Footage from Pathé News]
The bowler is a hundred years old. It's a hat that has already
seen in many countries today, though. Yet a hundred years ago, when a London
hatter made the first one for a gentleman farmer named William Coke, the bowler
became the fashion all over the world. [Back to Preston]
Curiously, the same newsreel also mentions that while the bowler was still popular for men
at the races, women had begun wearing it as well. [Footage from Pathé News]
And today, the fashion has come back. But, this time, it's
the ladies who are wearing them. Born 100 years ago, the bowler has
been given a new lease of life. [Back to Preston] British men were still
wearing the bowler hat for high-level business deals into the 1970s. But, after
that point, it truly did fall out of fashion. So, these days, bowler hats are exceedingly
rare, though they are still worn by vintage hat enthusiasts and also by hipsters,
of course, in a more casual way. And, more feminine versions of bowler hats,
more similar to a cloche style, can also be seen in women's fashion. Also worth mentioning is the
fact that in Hyde Park, London, on Cavalry Sunday, the second Sunday in May, an annual parade is
held where retired cavalry regiments march in business suits, bowler hats, and tightly rolled
umbrellas. Another unlikely place that you can still see the bowler hat worn today is in
Bolivia, where it's called a "bombin." It's primarily worn as a women's fashion piece here,
and the story goes that in the 1920s, a tradesman had ordered some bowler hats to sell to British
rail workers who were working in Bolivia. But, when the hats arrived, they turned out to be too
small for the Brits, and they were sold locally instead. But, the local Bolivian men weren't
interested, and so, British tradesmen started selling them to the Bolivian women instead.
Since then, the Quechua and Aymara women of Bolivia have worn small bowler hats that are
pinned to their hair. With all this said then, who should wear a bowler hat today? Of course, as we
covered, the bowler hat started as a working-class hat but also had its own associations with
the upper classes over time. In today's world, we're less concerned with class distinctions, of
course, so our simple answer is: if you like the look of a bowler hat and like how it looks on you,
then you should go ahead and experiment with it. This presents another question, however, of how
you should style your bowler hat. There are two main ways to do it, of course: the classic way
and the casual way. For a more classic look, you should pair your bowler hat with a business suit,
lounge suit, or stroller suit and wear it more in formal and business settings. You can also pair
a bowler hat with classic overcoat styles, about which you can learn more here. And while some,
like Winston Churchill, did choose to pair their formal morning dress with a bowler, and this can
still be done as an alternative today, it's more common to wear a top hat with full morning dress
and a Homburg with a stroller suit or Stresemann. The bowler is designed to be worn
straight across the top of your head and not toward the back of your head, though you can
tilt it slightly to one side or the other. The front and back of the hat should be obvious, but
the round crown isn't going to give you any hints. So, in order to find some guides, wear the
bow on the outside of the hat to the left and make sure that the smaller bow on the inside
sweatband is at the back. On the opposite end of the spectrum, though, the options are pretty
limitless when it comes to modern fashions. We just wouldn't recommend wearing jumpsuits in
"A Clockwork Orange" style. With all this said, given that we are advocates of classic men's
style, we would suggest that you try to wear a bowler hat more in its traditional contexts,
but, again, feel free to wear it as you wish. Unfortunately, for hat enthusiasts, though, most
bowlers that are made today are often made cheaply and will use polyester blends or, sometimes,
even 100% polyester felts in their construction. The felt-making process is entirely mechanized
today, utilizing needles on rollers and presses, which mangle and mat the fibers together.
Still, as at least one upside, they aren't using poisonous mercury anymore. Hats today
begin life as felt sheets or hoods that are then steamed and pulled over a ready-made
bowler hat-shaped mold, which is then heated, pressed into shape and has a string
tied around it to secure the brim. The lining, ribbon, and bow are then all glued
on. But, these hats aren't hand-blocked or shaped, so every single one will come out the same,
and they don't come in specific hat sizes but, instead, just use small, medium, and large. So, the result is a cheap, mass-produced-looking
hat, which is something that you should avoid. Another type of bowler we'd recommend avoiding
is anything that comes in a bright color. As we've mentioned several times, bowlers were
originally designed as a practical working hat, and even when they became more
associated with the upper classes, they were still worn mostly in formal colors. Shades of black, gray, and brown to be worn with
corresponding outfits. We'd also recommend that, again, unless you're going for a hipster look,
you avoid putting any feathers in your hatband. Feathers in men's hats date back as far as
the 16th century, but they largely died out by around the 17th century, with the exception of
military fashions. By the time of the bowler hats introduction, feathers weren't very popular unless going
for a distinctly costumey or theatrical look. So, we'd recommend that you avoid
them. As we also mentioned earlier, bowler hat styles have been worn by women
since at least the 1960s. And, indeed, the most common hats you're going to find,
especially when searching online for bowler hats, are women's styles. But, if you know what to look
for, you can avoid them. Women's styles typically sport much shorter brims that are often snapped
up all the way around or down all the way around and feature feminine accents like flowers,
lace, or large ribbons. These are, again, more in line with cloche styles. They're also
usually softer in construction as opposed to the men's styles, which, again, are hard
and shaped. Speaking of shapes, however, the question also remains of what style of bowler
hat might be best for your particular face shape. As we said before, there are hundreds of
different individual bowler hat styles, each with different crown widths and heights and
with different brim lengths, shapes, and rolls. Although, they all do follow the same general
form of a hat with a rolled brim and a round crown with the exception of the Cambridge bowler, which
was favored by Winston Churchill and worn by Jude Law in the Guy Ritchie Sherlock Holmes
films, which has a more squared crown. So, if you're wondering about what type
would best suit your face shape, you can find our video on that subject here. While we're mainly discussing softer hat styles
there, most of the general advice can still apply to bowlers. And, indeed, if you haven't done so
yet, you should check out our full hat playlist here. So, we've already discussed what not to
look for if you want to avoid a cheap bowler. But, the question remains, where to find a good quality
one? If you want to keep cost low and quality high, one option to consider is finding a vintage
bowler hat, as I've done here. However, you should be sure to inspect images online closely if
that's the route you're going. As there can often be imperfections. Indeed, we found this out
the hard way when buying bowlers for this video. Therefore, buying vintage and trying on in-person
is probably your best route also because, again, bowlers are more stiff hat styles.
So, if it doesn't fit well, it will have the potential to give you headaches.
As far as specific retailers are concerned, there are a number that we can list here,
starting, unsurprisingly, with Lock & Co. Their Town Coke hat, which will set you back about
385 British pounds, is a very high-quality hat, again, from the original makers, and
it comes with a complimentary hatbox. This is probably the closest you could hope to
get to the true antique bowler experience when buying new. They also offer an extra firm version
for horseback riding, as well as a softer variety, and, perhaps most impressively, the
Cambridge bowler we mentioned earlier. Another classic hat brand Christy's has been in
business since 1773, and for 199 British pounds, you can get their classic fur felt bowler.
They also offer a version with a hunting pad should that be desirable to you, and for £109,
you can get a wool felt style, which is a bit lower in quality. You could also try
retailers like the Village Hat Shop, who offer bowlers in various styles and
colors at prices as low as $36 or so. When buying vintage, it always pays, of course, to
support your local second-hand and thrift stores, but you can also find vintage bowlers online
from websites like eBay, Amazon, and Etsy. One final point we'll mention here today is how
to properly care for your bowler hat. Because a bowler is a stiff hat style, it is a bit
harder to clean and maintain. Before each wear of a bowler hat, you should remember to
brush it off with a hat brush as even the smallest amount of dust on the hat that comes
into contact with moisture, like raindrops, can have the potential to leave a stain on the
hat's surface. In today's video, I am, of course, wearing a bowler hat. It's a vintage fur felt
model, and, as such, I decided to dress it up to a good degree and wear a stroller suit. As befits
this dress code, which you can learn more about in our morning dress guide here, I'm wearing a black
jacket, which does happen to have two buttons and notched lapels, though a more formal style
would have a single button and peaked lapels. And I'm also wearing gray trousers that have
a very subtle pattern. My vintage waistcoat is double-breasted and in a light blue, almost
teal-ish color and further accented by contrasting buttons. My shirt is
plain white and features French cuffs, into which I've inserted our platinum
plated sterling silver eagle claw cufflinks with black onyx as the stone, again befitting
the formal look. Also from Fort Belvedere today are my Prince of Wales check tie in black and
white and my Veronica persica boutonniere in light blue to complement the waistcoat.
My pocket square is in plain white linen, and my shoes are in a formal style given
that they are cap-toed black Oxfords. Finally, today, I'll mention my socks which
are in a relatively new design to the Fort Belvedere shop. We're calling these two-tone
solid socks as they look solid from a distance but, upon closer inspection, they
are actually made up of two colors. In the case of the socks I'm wearing today, they
are black and white. Though we do, of course, have several other colorways available. So,
you can find these new two-tone solid socks, as well as a wide array of other menswear
accessories, in the Fort Belvedere shop here. [The Gentleman's Gazette theme song plays]
