Do flat caps make you look like a brainless servant?

[APP Adrian]

I don't mean to be offensive to anyone, but I just found an interesting YouTube comment about flat caps. Is this true to any extent? I'm asking this out of curiosity =).


"Flat caps were designed for the proletariat. That's why they had a low forehead - to make you look like a brainless servant.
I don't know why a (free) man in his right mind would want to have a flat cap on his head."

 

[Dinerman]

nope.

 

[APP Adrian]

Yeah, it was a dumb YouTube comment.

https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=ucUtW1QvPsA

 

[The Good]

Dumb YouTube comment is right, and obviously, the answer to that is no. Flat caps also have the advantage of not being as heavily criticized as fedoras. I wouldn't worry about rude remarks while wearing either variety of hat, though.

 

[GHT]

In the UK, the term 'flatcap,' is a derogatory expression, aimed at older car drivers, whose road sense is not as good as it should be. Whether they are wearing a flatcap or not, they get labelled with the term. Strange really, flatcaps are popular with the males of our Royal Family, they are often seen wearing them. And if you go to vintage events, one of the most common headgear worn, is The Baker Boy flatcap.

 

[-30-]

"That's why they had a low forehead - to make you look like a brainless servant."

When I was in business and beyond, the last thing that I wanted to do was work with a "brainless servant";
the wearing of "jewelry" and with this item of branding, bringing this to the fore;
then again, it possibly being their "target".


Regards,
J T

 

[Hat Dandy]

I like the look but my other half hates them. Hates. I don't get to wear them as result. Regardless, I think they look fine and not class oriented.

 

[HudsonHawk]

I generally make it a habit to not get my advice...fashion, political, culinary, legal, financial etc...from YouTube comments.

 

[job]

With most people dressing very casually (pajamas at Walmart) I think a flat cap looks rather smart.

 

[Fastuni]

Have a look at old photos and ads.
Flatcaps were worn (mainly) for sports and casual occasions by all classes from the aristocracy down.
As part of their daily work clothes it was of course prevalent among the working classes (and there is truely no shame to that).

Today you have even wealthy idlers and Hipster-Yuppies donning ragged old workwear for the "proletarian chic".

"Brainless" is the definition of those who write (or uncritically follow) such unqualified online comments and Youtube is the gutter of the internet when it comes to comments on any subject.

 

[Socially Distorted]

In the UK, the term 'flatcap,' is a derogatory expression, aimed at older car drivers, whose road sense is not as good as it should be. Whether they are wearing a flatcap or not, they get labelled with the term. Strange really, flatcaps are popular with the males of our Royal Family, they are often seen wearing them. And if you go to vintage events, one of the most common headgear worn, is The Baker Boy flatcap.

I'm British and I've never heard that term used in reference to drivers! I'm from Yorkshire where traditional single panel flat caps are common and are actaly very stereotypical. Certainly a working class item traditionaly for day to day and of course shooting wear for the upper classes.

 

[Atticus Finch]

I had never thought about it, but...yes...I'm afraid there's some chance that flatcaps make me appear brainless.



AF

 

[Hal]

Have a look at old photos and ads. Flatcaps were worn (mainly) for sports and casual occasions by all classes from the aristocracy down. As part of their daily work clothes it was of course prevalent among the working classes (and there is truly no shame to that).

I'm British and I've never heard that term used in reference to drivers! I'm from Yorkshire where traditional single panel flat caps are common and are actually very stereotypical. Certainly a working class item traditionally for day to day and of course shooting wear for the upper classes.

Fastuni and Socially Distorted are both right; the flat cap has been commonly worn by both the working and the upper classes. I think that GHT is writing from a London rather than from a UK-wide perspective.
What is interesting today is how the flat cap has been adopted by a good many younger men who are probably from all echelons of British society (I can't speak for other countries); somehow the transition from bareheaded to cap seems easier than that from cap to trilby/fedora.

 

[skid lid]

I think they're the hat for vigorous activities in a pre-ball cap era. So, children playing, men engaged in physical work, and men engaged in active leisure pursuits like hunting, golf, etc. My impression has always been that they were, like knickers, often associated with boys clothing rather than grown men; unless of course those men were engaged in aforesaid physical or leisure activity.

 

[Bushman]

Not at all, I think. In fact, they remind me of my grandfather, who wore one all the time.

 

[Edward]

Servants in the big houses would have been uniformed after a fashion.... Not sure if any of them would have worn a cap as part of that (maybe the gardener). There was a form of hat back in the 1300s or so that..... somebody (my memory fail me) wanted to make all peasants wear (it was basically the body of a fedora, but completely unshaped, still in its cone form) so that their station would be immediately apparent, but nothing much since...

I generally make it a habit to not get my advice...fashion, political, culinary, legal, financial etc...from YouTube comments.

Quite.

I'm British and I've never heard that term used in reference to drivers! I'm from Yorkshire where traditional single panel flat caps are common and are actaly very stereotypical. Certainly a working class item traditionaly for day to day and of course shooting wear for the upper classes.

Yes, it seems to have a very specific purpose for the Upper Classes, as distinct from the working classes. Of course, a large part of this will have been down to the fact that back in the day many of the labouring classes would have been unable to afford the finest of furfelt hats, or, at least, they certainly couldn't afford to buy different hats for different occasions, and would have had to make do with what they could get on a limited budget, and which would do them for everything. Wool caps are cheaper, less easily damaged, less prone to blow off in the wind, and such.

I think they're the hat for vigorous activities in a pre-ball cap era. So, children playing, men engaged in physical work, and men engaged in active leisure pursuits like hunting, golf, etc. My impression has always been that they were, like knickers, often associated with boys clothing rather than grown men; unless of course those men were engaged in aforesaid physical or leisure activity.

Yes. I find I end up wearing my caps a lot more during Winter when high winds or a lrge coat collar make a fedora impratical.

 

[The Wiser Hatter]

As one gets older one gets to the point where you could give a F*ck what other people think. an if they something stupid to me I say something offensive to them. About sticking something where the sun doesn't shine.

 

[Feraud]

I generally make it a habit to not get my advice...fashion, political, culinary, legal, financial etc...from YouTube comments.

Exactly!!

 

[APP Adrian]

I had never thought about it, but...yes...I'm afraid there's some chance that flatcaps make me appear brainless.



AF

Baseball caps make you look like "brainless servant." Much more than a flatcap.

 

[HoosierDaddy]

I had never thought about it, but...yes...I'm afraid there's some chance that flatcaps make me appear brainless.



AF

Nice try on blaming the cap,AF....