The Lords hat

[Brad Bowers]

Esquire magazine and Apparel Arts Quarterly answered this question in the '30s. They wrote that the Lords' Hat wasn't named for any individual lord, but for the House of Lords, some of whose aristocratic members favored this type of hat.

Thanks, Marc.

Okay, it still begs the question as to why the name crossed the Atlantic. It wasn't as if we didn't previously have a similar style. Perhaps it grew out of the closer relations between Great Britain and the United States in those years.

Brad

 

[danofarlington]

I'm constantly amazed by the hat styles I personally would not or could not wear, that look good on somebody. The lord's hat on Dinerman is a good look. The most memorable one I recall on TFL was a young guy in the U.K. who had a red plaid stingy brim. It really looked good on him, but on others it would be clownish. So I conclude that there's somebody out there who can wear any hat, and it will look good on him.

 

[bowlerman]

I have an exceptional example of a Lord's hat. Tough to photograph, though, as it exists only in my mind.

Maybe if you tried the timer function on your camera and held a straight face for awhile... Then again there's always custom! That's how my Black Cherry Falcon Park came about after all.

 

[kaosharper1]

I just bought one on ebay. I'm hoping that the 2.5" brim and less formal style will suit me better than a homburg. But I will change the brim so it has that famous "smile."

 

[delectans]

Esquire magazine and Apparel Arts Quarterly answered this question in the '30s. They wrote that the Lords' Hat wasn't named for any individual lord, but for the House of Lords, some of whose aristocratic members favored this type of hat.

This was my understanding as well, specifically the Esquire magazine reference. The 'Lord's Hat' is a description of a general 'style' of unbound, up-curled edge hat worn with front pinches that looked similar to a Homburg. We have no objective evidence that the hats referred to were of a unique, new design rather than a revival of an earlier style of 'upturned brim' hat. Throughout the annals of history, there is a tendency to assign clever and easily remembered names to extant styles, as witness the Homburg, or the Anthony Eden hat.

Okay, it still begs the question as to why the name crossed the Atlantic. It wasn't as if we didn't previously have a similar style. Perhaps it grew out of the closer relations between Great Britain and the United States in those years.

Definitely part of the equation, combined with savvy marketing motivated by a desire to have an upmarket or aristocratic association. How many 'Royal' Stetsons or 'Aristocrat Quality' Mallorys have we all seen and handled? lol

 

[Paul Roerich]

the Anthony Eden hat.l

It's interesting to read the description of the 'Anthony Eden hat' as a "silk-brimmed homburg". I've never seen a homburg with silk lining on the brim itself. Is it lined on the underside of the brim, or on the upper side? Is it dull silk, faille, or satin?

 

[Rabbit]

It's interesting to read the description of the 'Anthony Eden hat' as a "silk-brimmed homburg". I've never seen a homburg with silk lining on the brim itself. Is it lined on the underside of the brim, or on the upper side? Is it dull silk, faille, or satin?

I've never seen one in person, but there were Homburg hats with silk on the entire underside of the brim, often with the same fabric used for the liner of the crown. They were called Tuxedo hats and sometimes also marked as such. I recall at least one such hat being equipped with a silk sweatband as well.
Not sure about the term Anthony Eden hat meaning a "silk-brimmed homburg". Could be just another word for a plain Homburg.

 

[hatophile]

I've never seen one in person, but there were Homburg hats with silk on the entire underside of the brim, often with the same fabric used for the liner of the crown. They were called Tuxedo hats and sometimes also marked as such. I recall at least one such hat being equipped with a silk sweatband as well.
Not sure about the term Anthony Eden hat meaning a "silk-brimmed homburg". Could be just another word for a plain Homburg.

Some one on this forum actually had a tuxedo hat I believe. I'd like to see it again.

 

[Rabbit]

Some one on this forum actually had a tuxedo hat I believe. I'd like to see it again.

Yes, I also saw a couple of them here on the Lounge. There was also one on ebay not too long ago. I thought I had saved the auction images, but I can't find the darn folder.

Edit: Here's one from RLK: A Mallory Tuxedo hat. See here for original post and discussion below.

Fine Silk on entire underside of brim. The cream-colored sweatband is a hair under 2-1/2" wide. United Hatters of North America stamp puts this between 1926 and 1934. Baskin's in Chicago opened in 1926. Looks like a very square almost flat-topped block c.6" high.

An ad found by Brad:

 

[hatophile]

I've never seen one in person, but there were Homburg hats with silk on the entire underside of the brim, often with the same fabric used for the liner of the crown. They were called Tuxedo hats and sometimes also marked as such. I recall at least one such hat being equipped with a silk sweatband as well.
Not sure about the term Anthony Eden hat meaning a "silk-brimmed homburg". Could be just another word for a plain Homburg.

Some one on this forum actually had a tuxedo hat I believe. I'd like to see it again.

 

[Paul Roerich]

Great images! Thanks!


I've seen a 'tuxedo hat' that's a black lightweight felt fedora (definitely not a homburg), but with black faille silk lining on the brim's entire underside. This tuxedo fedora is from the late 1920s, and was made for the U.S. market by Mossant.

 

[Rabbit]

Your description sounded vaguely familiar to me, so I did an external search based on those keywords. I think this is the hat you're referring to (from the Cavanagh Club thread). It also happens to be the one with the grosgrain sweatband I mentioned earlier.

Well, I didn't have time until Thursday.:eusa_doh:

This is a Tuxedo Hat made for Cavanagh by Mossant, and probably sold at the Cavanagh shop on Park Avenue. Cavanagh offered the same style of hat in their 1931 catalog. No idea why they imported this one.

The ribbon is most definitely Cavanagh, as are the hat's dimensions: 5 1/2" crown, 2 1/4" brim.

The interesting thing about this hat is the entire underside of the brim, the sweatband, and the liner is grosgrain, like the lapel facing of a tuxedo jacket.

Here's the catalog hat:

No idea when this hat was made. There is a Mossant label under the liner, but the sweat is stitched to the liner, so there is no way for me to get a photo of it. Looks old to me, but then, I've never seen a Mossant label.

The felt is very soft, little shellac in it, if any at all. With the grosgrain sweatband, this hat is crushable, so perhaps it was meant to be a Traveler's Tuxedo Hat.

Much thanks to Carter for this fantastic Cavanagh!:eusa_clap

I'll have another very interesting Cavanagh to share when it arrives in a few days.

Brad

 

[Oldsarge]

Well, I am reconsidering my lack of interest in the lords' hat. The wife and I are going to have a very full theater and concert season for a change and a hat more formal than my Moon Grey Stylemaster would probably be a good idea for evening wear. However, a tuxedo hat is just a bit much. Might well work in New York or Chicago, though.

 

[tealseal]

I've been thinking of one too, since I really like my pinched homburg. Can anyone address whether it's a "lords hat", "lord's hat", or "lord's hat"? I think that clarification is important.

 

[randooch]

OldSarge, maybe a bowler would work well?

Tealseal, your options #2 and #3 match. All the same, I think if you're searching eBay or something, any permutation would be helpful, as many sellers are in the dark about punctuation. I'd say "lord's hat," indicating singular possessive, only because the plural possessive "lords' hat" is less likely to be used, even though it makes better grammatical sense.

 

[tealseal]

Tealseal, your options #2 and #3 match. All the same, I think if you're searching eBay or something, any permutation would be helpful, as many sellers are in the dark about punctuation. I'd say "lord's hat," indicating singular possessive, only because the plural possessive "lords' hat" is less likely to be used, even though it makes better grammatical sense.

See, this is why I should proofread. I meant for one of them to be "lords' hat". It's not for eBay reasons, but more for a curiosity as to determining the etymology of the hat's name. If it's "lord's hat" then perhaps it could be originally attributed to a particular Lord of the House. However, if it's a "lords' hat" then it's possible that that name became attributed to the hat by association with a particular class of people who wore that particular style.

I've been thinking about this a lot...probably too much. Thank you to the Lounge for humouring me!

 

[Rabbit]

A couple of pages back in this thread...

Esquire magazine and Apparel Arts Quarterly answered this question in the '30s. They wrote that the Lords' Hat wasn't named for any individual lord, but for the House of Lords, some of whose aristocratic members favored this type of hat.

 

[Oldsarge]

Aha! I surmised as much, even without going back to look. It's just good grammatical sense.

 

[bumphrey hogart]

Just found this thread, interesting! just been given a brown lock homburg for my b'day but felt it was a bit too formal for what I normally wear. I have a black homburg for semi-formal occasions, but mostly wear brown hats as I live in a rural area,have dogs and spend most of my time in
tweed.
I just couldn't see an occasion where I would be sufficiently formally dressed,in a colour suitable for a brown homburg! To be
honest homburgs and brown are kind of contradictory anyway. So I decided to take the tape off the brim and make a 'lords' hat', put it into
google for any hint and came up with this thread.
I then thought I'd show you this whisky ad from 1936 that's hung in my hall, looks remarkably like a 'lords' to me and worn with tweed for
shooting.

 

[hatsRme]

I've seen a 'tuxedo hat' that's a black lightweight felt fedora (definitely not a homburg), but with black faille silk lining on the brim's entire underside. This tuxedo fedora is from the late 1920s, and was made for the U.S. market by Mossant.

lIn my quest for an appropriate hat for my daughter's approaching wedding, I also found this Willoughby in the collection of W.T. Huston. Definitely more of a fedora than homburg... Art Fawcett is already masterminding his version.

Willoughby, Tuxedo II, Black – 1950s(?, earlier?) — A tuxedo hat is an alternative to a top hat when in formal wear. The interesting thing about a tuxedo hat is that the underbrim is covered in a layer of black silk. Very elegant. This one is of felt that is soft as a baby’s butt, too!