Here's lookin' at you, Kid: a History of the Fedora

here's looking at you kid hello and welcome back to the hat historian in this video i shall be talking about a hat amongst hats one deeply ingrained in popular imagination the legendary fedora [Music] a soft felt hat with a deeply creased crown and wide brim it is an icon of an era the fedora is worn by hard-boiled detectives of the silver screen and film noir tough guys prohibition-era gangsters and the lawmen that chased them sharp businessmen smooth cooners and of course daring adventurers a symbol of elegant masculinity and a practical shield against the elements it was worn by men of all walks of life from the 1920s to the 1960s and while this association with masculinity took an unfortunate turn in the early 21st century the fedora remains an enduring item of men's fashion it is a little ironic then that it began its existence as a woman's hat the name fedora originates from the popular play fedora written in 1883 by french playwright victorian sadhu it was written specifically for actress sarah bernhardt who was infamous for wearing masculine clothing in a time when that would certainly have turned heads playing the lead role of princess fedorha romazoff fedora being the french pronunciation of fedora a russian variation of theodora she is said to have worn a soft felt hat with a deep crease creating a slightly rebellious masculine look for her character while no accounts survive of what that hat might have looked like it is unlikely to have resembled what we now think of as a fedora it did however strike a chord in many of the female spectators in a time when the women's rights movement was just starting many women saw this kind of hat as an empowering item of wear and it became fashionable amongst women calling for greater freedom because of the popularity of the play soft-felt hats became known as fedora style hats when the play came to america in october of 1883 it was already a sensation its popularity in paris being widely reported upon in anticipation of its premiere at the 14th street theater in new york on october 1st knox hatter a famous new york shop started advertising for new felt hat which they said was based on the european alpine or tyrolean style and which they called the fedora little resembling the modern fedora these hats had a tall creased crown and a rolled brim somewhere more like the hamburg indeed for many years fedora simply referred to a soft felt hat kind of like a smaller brimmed slouch hat in contrast with the stiff top hats bowlers and boaters which i've already talked about prevalent in the era its popularity ensured that very quickly other hatters began advertising fedora style stuffed hats and soon this style could be found all around the united states and europe however for the early part of the 20th century these hats were still considered rather informal and the bowler and top hat still remained supreme for men with the more traditional large highly decorated hats seen as more appropriate for women soft hats were seen as something to be worn for recreation or by farmhands or workmen or in the case of women by more provocative fashion forward or those divided as always by the traditionalist as looser moraled ladies early feminists and those who wanted to channel a more masculine powerful look the fedora remained a fairly unisex hat for most of the beginning of the 20th century even after world war one when softer hats became more popular it wasn't yet seen as a distinctly masculine item it did however see a great growth in popularity young soldiers returning from the trenches wanted a way to create a less uniform look than what they'd experienced in the army and the stiff bowler had did not allow for this they adopted the soft fedora which would be creased to their preference its brim turned however they pleased and could be worn at a rakish angle as a sign of personal identity the new suffragettes and early flappers also embraced these soft hats which began to diverge strongly from their male counterparts as a more practical headwear for the women on the town often wearing sharply sloped or bell-shaped hats it truly gained its place in society and as an essential item of men's wardrobe in the 1920s particularly when the ever fashion setting prince edward the future king edward viii began wearing them in 1924 by then they had evolved into roughly the shape we now know with a tall creased pinch-fronted crown and a snapped brim a practical and stylish hat it fit this new era of travel and transportation soft able to be folded without damage it was easy to carry and cramped new automobiles and packed into suitcases with the new popular classes going out more it did not need to be checked in theaters and dance halls and its weatherproof construction and wide brim made it a great protection against the elements for working men who could not afford public transportation its heyday was during the 1920s and 30s particularly in america where it became associated with a prohibition era all the style conscious gangsters could be seen sporting one and so did the detectives who investigated them who wanted to mark their authority in a time when a man was expected to wear a hat without sacrificing practicality as men who often had to ride in cars or run after suspects similarly in europe the bowler was relegated to the more conservative fields of banking and law as we have covered in another video replaced by the fedora in everyday life becoming slightly shorter in the 1930s to further accommodate the increasingly common automobile it can be seen in almost every period film a sign of the fashionable man of the interwar years further reinforcing its fashionable image as much then as now movie stars strongly influenced popular fashion it was these movie stars that ensured the fedora's continued popularity as men wanted to resemble say humphrey bogart many films were made in the late 1930s that were set during prohibition and thus the stars continued to wear the fedora which therefore remained in fashion this popularity continued throughout the years of the second world war and shortly after however the fedora did not remain static its shape became smaller with a narrower brim such a hat can be seen on famous crooner frank sinatra who adopted it as his style however its decline was inevitable much like after the previous world war young soldiers starting out in life wanted to mark themselves apart from previous generations a more casual style began to emerge and going hatless became more acceptable cars began to spread to more and more people as the new middle class expanded and thus workers no longer needed the protection from the rain that hats provided making it in their minds a less useful accessory by the 1960s hats in general had mostly vanished the fedora amongst them but that does not mean that it has gone completely extinct disdain throughout the 1960s and 70s and its hippie and mod counter cultural movements the fedora returned gently in the early 1980s and its nostalgia twins one famous duo that wore black fedoras as part of their musical axe outfit are the blues brothers and then in the 1980s a film character came about that firmly made the brown fedora the hat of the adventurer and occasional archaeologist indiana jones jones wearing a fedora isn't illogical in and of itself as the movies are set in the 1930s a time when the fedora was a normal item of a menswear but directors lucas and spielberg wanted to give him a silhouette that could be instantly recognizable and by giving him a distinctive high crown fedora they succeeded cementing the hat into the minds of a whole new generation of people ever since the 80s the fedora has been a way for men to mark themselves apart a handy faction accessory that added a little zest to their look one famous wearer of the period was michael jackson several more recent celebrities can often be seen wearing one both men and women such as britney spears johnny depp or bruno mars in the 1910s the fedora type hat was appropriated by a movement of disenfranchised men who turned their bitterness into a disturbing set of social rules that led to the hat being associated with sexism entitlement and a condescending sense of intellectual superiority often describing themselves as nice guys their behavior particularly to women usually tends to prove otherwise and their outfits often consisting of a fedora type hat and t-shirt has recently given the hat a bad name which i find unfortunate so if you'll allow me a moment let me defend this fine hat from the image these people are giving it firstly the hat these men are wearing usually isn't a fedora but a cheap trilby a similar hat but often much smaller brimmed and with patterning on it sometime without the top crease secondly well personal style has no firm rules and is up to the wearer the fedora is traditionally a semi-formal article of clothing to be worn with a suit or blazer nazi punching archaeologists notwithstanding and if you want to best capture its traditional flair it is best to combine it with that outfit i usually wear my own fedoras only when wearing a jacket and tie furthermore as with an ill-fitting sweater a fedora that is not fitted to the physique of the wearer will look sloppy that is why despite trying to emulate the dashingly masculine look of the 1930s movie stars and portray themselves as classy the pickup artist type of fedora wearer often just looks like someone who's somewhat unkempt and weird i shall end there before my defense of this hat i love becomes a tirade but the fedora can also be seen in media today in a better light as a way to show a character that is dashingly retro or just slightly more style conscious as with the character neil caffrey of white collar who once described his hat as his humble assault on conformity several retro shows notably the show mad men have also brought back some of that old formal style in people's minds and when worn correctly the fedora can be a great accessory to complement the suit not only that but it still offers the protection from the sun or rain that seems to be lacking in modern business wear in and out of fashion for half a century sometimes celebrated sometimes divided the fedora is one of the most iconic hats in existence and thanks to both its practicality and its versatility not to mention its history refuses to disappear for good so i once again hope that you found this all interesting and will join me again soon with another hat until then i tip my hat to you

Channel: HatHistorian

Views: 51,178

Keywords: Fedora, film noir, Hat Historian, hathistorian, hat history, Indiana Jones, Jean-Charles Foyer

Id: xe-I949G1_w

Length: 10min 53sec (653 seconds)

Published: Sun May 01 2022