From bowlers to fedoras, when and why?

[shortbow]

Here's a question I have been trying to find the answer to by looking at tons of old pics, but have been unable to come up with anything definitive, if such is possible.

In the Eastern towns and cities, pics of gentlemen on the streets show almost everybody wearing bowlers, with a few porkpies and skimmers thrown in here and there, the sporting types and kids in panel caps

By the mid-twenties, almost all the felt hats you see are fedoras.

What I cannot seem to get, is when exactly this change started/completed and what impelled the switch.

Anybody have info on this?

Tia.

 

[Flitcraft]

Good question...

I'd also like to know where homburgs fit in. Just wayched a biography show about Will Rogers and it seemed thee were quite a few gents sporting homburgs- but I couldn't tell if they might have been some sort of center creased version of a fedora. BTW, most of these hats definitely had that "worn" look about them- doesn't sem that most Golden Era men were too careful with their hats- some of these definitely had a very beatup look about them.

 

[Brad Bowers]

You'll find a myriad of notions on this, but one I subscribe to is "Casualization."

The move away from more formal clothing in menswear, in general seems to coincide with this change in hat styles. There was a resurgent interest in soft felt hats -- fedoras, essentially -- starting in the first decade of the twentieth century. As the trend moved toward more casual suits, so, too, did men look for more casual hats to wear with them.

Funny, really, because today, a brimmed hat is often seen as formal, regardless of its style.

Brad

 

[Flitcraft]

Good points, Mr. Bowers!

 

[shortbow]

Flit, thanks for rememberizing me, lots of homburgs in the early period of the switch.

 

[dhermann1]

World War I must have had a lot to do with it, too. I have one picture of my grandfather (see my avatar) with a mustache and a homburg, that's dated 1919. All other subsequent shots are fedoras. Also, I recently saw a picture on Shorpy.com (if you haven't checked it out, DO SO!) of New York's Fifth Ave and 42nd Street in 1913. 80% of the men are in bowlers. So there must have been a pretty sudden shift away from them.

 

[Brad Bowers]

World War I must have had a lot to do with it, too.

Derbies probably reminded them too much of their hard helmets they wore.

Brad

 

[Flitcraft]

Maybe Post War=More Casual?...

Pre- Great War= suspenders, pocketwatches, Post- War= belts, wristwatches???

 

[gtdean48]

Country come to town...

I think some of it happened due to rural folks coming into the city for work as America shifted from agricultural to industrial, which could be the cause of the casualization mentioned above as well...

 

[Bob Smalser]

There's no reason to speculate. Head over to Amazon's used books to find a wealth of inexpensive reproductions of Sears catalogs....1897, 1902, 1909, 1927 etc.

For example by 1902 there were at least 10 fedoras and westerns offered for every bowler.....and "fedora" included what we now call a homburg. The trend began early.

 

[Lefty]

A shellac shortage during WWI drove the prices of stiff felts way up. The corresponding change in style helped push derbies to the side. This is when the soft homburg gained popularity.

 

[MattJH]

BTW, most of these hats definitely had that "worn" look about them- doesn't sem that most Golden Era men were too careful with their hats- some of these definitely had a very beatup look about them.

I like that look. It's because they were so plentiful and easy to obtain, kind of like how we treat our sneakers or baseball caps today. They're everywhere and easily replaceable. No need to coddle them.

 

[jpbales]

One thing that popped into my head was automobiles. The derby was designed to be a hard hat, almost a helmet, for riding horses right? What sense did it make to wear a riding helmet as an everyday hat when cars were becoming more and more popular over riding horses. I can't imagine a top hat fit very well in a car either.
However, I would speculate that "casualization" was probably the biggest driver of people to fedoras as well. Society began becoming less "social" and more "intellectual" and therefore less concerned about style and more concerned about practical things.

 

[shortbow]

Great stuff, gentlemen, thanks. I too suspect from what I have seen that the War was a dividing line, the photographic record indicates a pretty abrupt before and after prevalence of one type of hat over the other. It is interesting that the boater and the panel cap do not seem similarly affected. Something which might tend to lend greater credence to Lefty's observation about shellac.

Over lunch I was thinking about this stuff, and it occurred to me that the origin of what we call a pinch, or diamond or c bash might be located in the fact that as the brims became wider and softer, just grabbing the hat by the crown would be the easiest way to get if off. Is for me anyhow.

And yep, Shorpy is an invaluable resource, I am addicted.

 

[Lefty]

Hat Talk and The Handmade Felt Hat have answered more of my questions about hats than all of the information on the Lounge combined.

 

[randooch]

A shellac shortage during WWI drove the prices of stiff felts way up. The corresponding change in style helped push derbies to the side. This is when the soft homburg gained popularity.

Really! Where was the shellac being used? Metals, sure, but SHELLAC??

 

[Marc Chevalier]

Other contributors:

-- Cowboys

-- Theodore Roosevelt

.

 

[shortbow]

Shellac in WW1 - munitions, sealant, aircraft, gunstocks, just to name a few.

 

[Pat_H]

World War I must have had a lot to do with it, too. I have one picture of my grandfather (see my avatar) with a mustache and a homburg, that's dated 1919. All other subsequent shots are fedoras. Also, I recently saw a picture on Shorpy.com (if you haven't checked it out, DO SO!) of New York's Fifth Ave and 42nd Street in 1913. 80% of the men are in bowlers. So there must have been a pretty sudden shift away from them.

On a thread about Fedora history that's up on the forum somewhere a very knowledgeable fellow claimed that stiffer hats went out of favor during WWI because some constituent used as a stiffener was in short supply. Whatever it was, that person stated, was imported from Brazil, and was made from beetles somehow. Anyhow, without the stiffener, softer hats, like Fedoras, came into favor.

Also, I suppose, it might be worth noting that Fedoras are pretty versatile, and can be sued for about anything (as your very fine avatar photo shows!)

 

[steppenwolph]

On a thread about Fedora history that's up on the forum somewhere a very knowledgeable fellow claimed that stiffer hats went out of favor during WWI because some constituent used as a stiffener was in short supply. Whatever it was, that person stated, was imported from Brazil, and was made from beetles somehow. Anyhow, without the stiffener, softer hats, like Fedoras, came into favor.

That's got to be the shellac mentioned in previous posts. Made from the 'lac bug,' found in warmer climes.