Showing posts with label history. Show all posts
Showing posts with label history. Show all posts

The Trilby Hat

Frank Sinatra trilby hat izandrew
Frank Sinatra

A trilby hat (or simply trilby) is a type of hat. Although also used as a synonym for a short-brimmed fedora in the United Kingdom, the trilby is distinguished by a very narrow brim that is sharply turned up in the back and a short crown, which is pinched in the front and indented into a teardrop shape in the center. The hat's name derives from the stage adaptation of George du Maurier's 1894 novel Trilby; a hat of this style was worn in the first London production of the play, and promptly came to be called "a Trilby hat".

Traditionally it was made from rabbit hair felt, but is now sometimes made from other materials, including tweed, straw and wool. The hat reached its zenith of popularity in the 1960s, when it supplanted the wider brimmed fedora; the steadily lowering roofs of previously taller American automobiles made it impractical to wear a hat with a larger brim and tall crown while driving. It faded from popularity in the 1970s when any type of men's headwear became obsolete, and men's fashion instead began focusing on highly maintained hairstyles.

The hat resurged in popularity in the early 2000s, when it was marketed to both men and women in an attempt to capitalize on a retro fashion trend. The hat has remained popular with both sexes into the 2010s, with various manufacturers experimenting with different patterns and emblazoning logos and other designs into the sides of the hat.
The hat has been associated with jazz, ska and soul musicians, as well as members of the indie, rude boy, mod and 2 Tone subcultures.

A notable wearer of the trilby is Frank Sinatra. Sean Connery wore one in the first five James Bond movies, until changing trends necessitated that the suave character stop wearing a hat, lest he be seen as anachronistic or outdated by young filmgoers. The hat was used by Connery's stuntman as a way of disguising his true identity on screen. When not wearing a military cap, Nationalist Chinese leader Chang Kai-shek frequently wore a trilby --according to Jonathan Fenby's biography, Generalissimo Chiang Kai-Shek and the China He Lost.

In the film The Blues Brothers, the lead members of the band, Jake and Elwood, are almost never seen without their black trilby hats and sunglasses. The same applies for Elwood and Mack McTeer in the film's sequel, Blues Brothers 2000.
In the series Dexter, the supporting character Angel Batista, portrayed by David Zayas is usually seen on camera wearing either a trilby or short-brimmed fedora hat.

topman trilby hats izandrew


Arthur daley trilby fedora hat izandrew
Arthur Daley


Mens Light Grey Trilby Hat izandrew


Sean Connery Jamica grey suit trilby hat izandrew

source:Wikipedia




The Pork Pie Hat

brixton drifter porkpie hat


A pork pie hat or porkpie hat is a type of hat made of felt or, less commonly, straw. It is somewhat similar to a trilby or a fedora, but like the boater it has a flat top. The crown is short and has an indentation all the way around, instead of the pinch crown typically seen on fedoras and homburgs. The pork pie hat originated in the mid 19th century. Originally referring to a type of woman’s hat, it gets its name from its resemblance to a pork pie.

The pork pie hat was a staple of the British man-about-town style for many years. Commonly worn by American Civil War soldiers and the US Army (unofficially) through the 1880s. Pork pie hats are often associated with jazz, blues and ska musicians and fans. Charles Mingus wrote an elegy for jazz saxophone great Lester Young called "Goodbye Pork Pie Hat". Many artists have performed this tune, including Jeff Beck, Rahsaan Roland Kirk, Derek Sherinian, and Joni Mitchell. In Jamaica, the hat was popularized by the 1960s rude boy subculture, which traveled to the United Kingdom and influenced the mod and skinhead subcultures (although Jamaican and British pork pie hats are more similar to a very short-brimmed trilby rather than the US style). Jamaican ska artist Laurel Aitken performed the song "Give Me Back My Pork Pie Hat".

izandrew Porkpie hat street style izandrew

Robert Oppenheimer, the physicist known as the father of the atomic bomb frequently wore a pork pie hat. Singer Dean Martin was known to be partial to pork pie hats, and they became a trademark of the silent film comedian Buster Keaton who handmade his own. Architect Frank Lloyd Wright was often seen wearing a pork pie hat with a cape and cane. The hat was prevalent in New Guinea in January 1944, when Australian troops had just defeated a Japanese stronghold at Kankiryo Saddle.

The pork pie hat had a resurgence in popularity after Gene Hackman’s character Jimmy "Popeye" Doyle wore one in The French Connection, a film released in 1971.
Bryan Cranston's character Walter White wears a porkpie hat in the AMC series Breaking Bad. White also goes by the alias "Heisenberg" whose persona is associated with the hat.
The animated Hanna-Barbera characters Top Cat, Huckleberry Hound, Hokey Wolf and Yogi Bear are all wearing porkpie hats. Fozzie Bear from The Muppets wears a pork pie hat.

Joaquín Monserrat, known as Pacheco in Puerto Rico as the host of many children's TV shows, is best known for his porkpie hat and bow tie.
The term is also used in reference to brimless hats worn by sailors of the United Kingdom and other nations. This hat is typically round, flat on top and wider at the crown. This type of hat is also known as a "square rig".

Clete Purcel, a recurring character in author James Lee Burke's Dave Robicheaux series, is frequently described as wearing a pork pie hat.

lester young
Laster Young
source:streetetiquette.com,Wikipedia


The Fedora Hat

genuine indiana jones fedora hat izandrew
Indiana Jones

A fedora is a men's felt hat that is creased lengthwise down the crown and pinched in the front on both sides. The creasing does not define the hat, however. Fedoras can also be creased with teardrop crowns, diamond crowns, center dents, and others, and the positioning of pinches can vary if they are found at all. Early on, fedoras were sold open crown, meaning they were uncreased, with the owner creating his/her own crease manually. By the 1950s, hat makers started blocking the various creases into the hats when they were made. This is now the standard. The brim goes all the way around the crown and can be left raw edge, finished with a sewn overwelt or underwelt, bound with grosgrain ribbon, or finished with a self-felted cavanagh edge. Traditionally, fedoras have grosgrain hat bands. A trilby hat is similar to a fedora, but typically has a narrower brim, and the back of the brim is distinctively more sharply upturned as a result.

The term fedora was in use as early as 1891. Originally a women's fashion into the 20th century,the fedora came into use in about 1919 as a men's middle-class clothing accessory. Its popularity soared, and eventually it eclipsed the similar-looking Homburg by the 1920s. Fedoras can be found in nearly any color imaginable, but black, grey, tan, and brown are the most popular.

michael jackson fedora izandrew blogspot com
Michael Jackson
History

The word fedora comes from the title of an 1882 play by Victorien Sardou, Fédora, written for Sarah Bernhardt. The play was first performed in the United States in 1889. Bernhardt played Princess Fédora, the heroine of the play, and she wore a hat similar to what is now considered a fedora. The fedora became a female fashion which lasted into the early part of the 20th century. When the fedora became a male fashion item, it was popular in cities for its stylishness, ability to protect the wearer's head from the wind and weather, and the fact that it could be rolled up when not in use. Since the early part of the 20th century, many Haredi and other Orthodox Jews have worn black fedoras and continue to this day.

The hat is sometimes associated with Prohibition, Great Depression–era gangsters and the detectives who sought to bring them to justice. Popular stars in the 1950s such as Gene Kelly wore fedoras often in their movies, like Singin' in the Rain. In Hollywood movies of the 1940s, characters often wore a fedora, particularly when playing private detectives, gangsters, or other "tough guy" roles. A trench coat was frequently part of the costume, a notable example being Humphrey Bogart's character in Casablanca. The fedora is widely recognized with the characters of The Spirit, Daisuke Jigen, Freddy Krueger, Dick Tracy, Rorschach and especially Indiana Jones. The fedora is also closely associated with film noir characters.

Like the bowler hat, the fedora was popular from the early 1920s to the mid 1960s on the east coast of the United States. In the late 1950s the hat began to lose favor on the west coast of the United States, which is known for its more casual clothing. The late 1950s switch from wider lapels and ties to thin ones resulted in shorter-brimmed hats, diminishing their practicality. This likely played a role in the fedora eventually being deemed a non-essential item. Also playing a part were the shrinking automobiles of the mid-1950s, which often made it difficult to wear a hat while driving. By the early 1970s, the fedora was seen as a dead fashion, typically only worn by older or more traditional men. However the fedora has seen a revival in recent fashion seasons. In the early 1980s, pop stars Daniel Newton and Michael Jackson began using black and white fedoras which became one of their trademarks. Famous Dallas Cowboys head coach, Tom Landry, was also known for wearing one, and the English novelist Terry Pratchett also wears one. The trilby, a hat similar to the fedora but with a narrow brim that is sharply turned up in the back, has become a part of youth fashion in the 2000s due to its retro appeal, and is normally associated with indie rock/bohemian, hipster and ska scenes. Leonard Cohen (whose sartorial merits have won him the 1997 BOM, Best Dressed Montrealer Award) and his band members wore fedoras during the exceptionally successful world-tour of 2008–2010, which saw Leonard Cohen take to the scene after almost a decade of absence.

izandrew fedora hat izandrew 1
Johnny Depp and Russel Brand

In popular culture

Humphrey Bogart popularised the fedora to the point that a type of fedora was named for him.
In the Nightmare on Elm Street film series, the main antagonist, Freddy Krueger, wears a fedora hat.
In the film The Adjustment Bureau, the members of the Bureau wear fedora hats as means of slipping between dimensions.
In the television series Caprica, set 58 years before the events of Battlestar Galactica, fedoras are widely worn by members of Colonial society.
In the manga Reborn! the character Reborn wears a fedora hat.
Michael Jackson was known for his famous black fedora, which he often wore during interviews, concerts and other appearances.
In the television series White Collar, Neal Caffrey almost always wears one. He refers to it as his "assault to the commonplace".


Perry the Platypus phineas izandrew
Perry the Platypus


In the cartoon, Phineas and Ferb, Perry the Platypus is famous for his brown fedora when he turns into his secret agent self, Agent P.
In the TV show and in the 2011 film, The Green Hornet wears a dark green fedora.
Indiana Jones wears this in all of the Indiana Jones franchise.

source:Wikipedia



The Boater Hat

 boater hat street style izandre blogspot izandre

A boater (also basher, skimmer, cady, katie, somer, or sennit hat) is a kind of hat associated with sailing and boating.
It is normally made of sennit straw and has a stiff or soft flat crown and brim, typically with a ribbon around the crown, which is often in colours representing a school, rowing crew or similar institution. Boaters were popular as summer headgear in the late 19th century and early 20th century, and were supposedly worn by FBI agents as a sort of unofficial uniform in the pre-war years. Nowadays they are rarely seen except at sailing or rowing events, period theatrical and musical performances (e.g. barbershop music) or as part of old-fashioned school uniform, such as at Harrow School.

boater hat street style izandre blogspot izandre

Inexpensive foam or plastic skimmers are sometimes seen at political rallies in the United States.
In Australia, New Zealand and South Africa the boater is still a common part of the school uniform in many boys schools, such as Shore School, Brisbane Boys' College, Knox Grammar School, Maritzburg College, South African College School, St John's College (Johannesburg, South Africa), Wynberg Boys' High School and numerous Christian Brothers Schools (CBC).

The boater may also be seen worn by the 'carreiros' of Madeira, the drivers of the traditional wicker toboggans carrying visitors from the parish church at Monte (Funchal) down towards Funchal centre.

Being made of straw, the boater was and is generally regarded as a warm-weather hat. In the days when men all wore hats when out of doors, "Straw Hat Day", the day when men switched from wearing their winter hats to their summer hats, was seen as a sign of the beginning of summer. The exact date of Straw Hat Day might vary slightly from place to place. For example, in Philadelphia, it was May 15; at the University of Pennsylvania, it was the second Saturday in May.

The boater is a fairly formal hat, equivalent in formality to the Homburg, and so is correctly worn either in its original setting with a blazer, or in the same situations as a Homburg, such as a smart lounge suit, or with black tie. John Jacob Astor IV was known for wearing such hats.


boater hat street style izandre blogspot izandre


Boater hat in Motion Pictures
As the Motion Picture Industry surged, the hat was often seen on the likes of Gene Kelly or Fred Astaire which further increased its popularity among the American public. In films like “Inherit the Wind” or “The Music Man” with Robert Preston, the Boater Hat became a character unto itself. It even garnered its own movie title, the classic comedy, “The Italian Straw Hat”.

Boater hat, widespread fashion appeal
By the 1930’s, the yachting crowd accounted for more than half of the straw hats sales, but by the 1950’s it had gained such widespread fashion appeal, it was no longer exclusive to boaters. It was prominently featured in the 2003 Movie, Seabiscuit, the famous, depression era racehorse.

Boater hat, Straw dress hats
Boater straws are still considered a prime choice for dressy straw hats, worn with evening and formal wear and even the occasional afternoon functions.

source:Wikipedia,GQ




Video: Louis Vuitton “100 Legendary Trunks” Book


Louis Vuitton gives us a first look at their upcoming book, showcasing their history of trunks.
“This exceptional book showcases the most beautiful creations of the House through more than eight hundred photographs. Many incredible pieces are featured here, along with the equally incredible stories of their creation. Available from October 2010.”
Enjoy!