Toppers Unite

[irb]

It was fun and a handful of my other buddies wore their tails too... it was like something out of an old movie. I say, anyone living in a part of this green earth that can't seem to find a place to wear their tails, or other formal clothes, just dress up one evening take your better half out for a night on the town! Make your own event if you will... that's how I do things! Get those mothballed evening threads out for a walk!

I certainly agree, and sometimes do just that; but it's a different experience entirely when you're surrounded by people doing likewise and it isn't a schtick. Though I tend to prefer classic styles, I don't dress "vintage". I just like dressing well for events that that would be appropriate for.

We occasionally get a good opera down here in the Phoenix area, but the Phoenix Symphony is certainly a casual affair for the most part. That isn't by itself a bad thing, as I am a proponent of classical music being accessible. Maybe we'll just have to inaugurate our own events? Build it and they will come.

 

[Charlie Huang]

The last looms were smashed up during a family breakup and so no silk plush or toppers can be made. I would like to have someone revive the silk plush trade but it would be too expensive with the amount of research and machinery commissions involved plus there is no market for them.

Yes, top hats use to be everyday wear... 100-200 years ago. Now that we are a 'casually inclined' world, anything formal is pigeonholed into ocassion and needs dictated. By all means you can wear a topper with everyday wear but you run the risk of being pigeonholed as a goth, cosplayer, fancy dress party goer, funeral director, doorman, attention seeker, etc once you leave your humble abode. Of course, it is all subjective in the end and in the ideal world everyone should wear toppers in the street!

Moving on, my morning dress came today and so I wore my topper to judge the whole ensemble.

I feel like Fred Astaire Puttin' on the Ritz!

 

[Lokar]

Unfortunately the underside of the brim is pretty filthy. I don't know if it's common to top hats, but the felt on the underside is different to the top and the crown - It's not "shiny", and has a very different texture (and seems much more resilient).

Overall I'm very happy with it, and it was such a steal! If anybody can offer suggestions on how to clean the felt on the underside, it would be most welcome.

Just quoting myself to see if anybody has any ideas but missed my query!

I'd also like to ask, just out of interest, how one would be able to know whether a top hat was silk or felt. I know that the silk plush has a very long nap, but is a felt hat similar, or is it more like a bowler, but shiny? Is there any accurate way to check? (I'm certain my hat isn't silk, but I'm intrigued).

 

[Charlie Huang]

Silk woud be more black than fur, especially when polished. Fur would have a fuzzy look/texture to it. Plus, once silk is polished, it feels slick like vinyl but fur does not (and it does not have light reflective clarity as silk does.)

Silk:

http://www.silk-top-hats.com/


Fur:

http://www.hornetshats.com/f_hatview.php?link=Top Hats


If you pop into Locks or a hatter that stocks both kinds, you can feel and see the difference yourself. The difference is very noticable.

 

[Charlie Huang]

Cleaning underside: You don't really need to as it will not be seen much but if it is putting you off you can try using water on a damp cloth and carefully dab it on the area; or steam the underside carefully and use a hat brush to brush away the dirt; or go to a hatmaker who will know how to clean it properly.

 

[Macheath]

Of course, it is all subjective in the end and in the ideal world everyone should wear toppers in the street!

Moving on, my morning dress came today and so I wore my topper to judge the whole ensemble.

I feel like Fred Astaire Puttin' on the Ritz!

Nicely done. Now all you need is a walking stick and a sprightly step!

I, too, wish Toppers were more common. However, I think part of the problem is that most people do not know what to wear them with.

For example, I heard/read somewhere that they should not be worn with evening semi-formal. Are toppers reserved for the most formal of attires? Are there any other general guidelines for wearing them?

 

[Charlie Huang]

I have a solid stick umbrella which I will use

Toppers used to be worn with semi-formal before the de-formalisation of dress codes. It is now reserved for the most formal dress as you say in the rules of propriety. Also, if you are doormen, coachmen, servants, etc, they can be worn as part of the livery (often with gold braiding etc to distingush it for a normal topper; one of the traditional devices a nobleman uses to make his servants distinct from him is to dress them in a mish-mash of formalwear like an evening tailcoat worn with a black bowtie, etc.)

Wearing: some say you should wear it with a slight tilt forward and to the side but most photos I've seen people wear them dead straight. Personally, I find dead straight looks more dignified (it makes you look taller) and tilted makes you look like an extra out of Gangs of New York...

"Raise up the straight and set upon the crooked and they will support you; Raise the crooked and set upon the straight and they will not support you." (Analects II:19)

 

[David V]

There is a possible business opportunity of an entrepreneurial engineer.


Is that so? On Jeremy Brett's Sherlock Holmes, Holmes's wears a top hat often, and not only as formal wear. Sometimes he'd be wearing it just to walk down the street, or to track down someone. Sometimes first thing in the morning after pondering a mystery well smoking black shag tobacco in his long Churchwarden cherry wood, pipe. Holmes also wore a black homburg often, and a deerstalker when out in the country.

Watson wore one as well when he wasn't wearing his gray bowler, again not always during "formal" events.

They would have been dress in daytime formal wear. Many gentleman in the Victorian and Edwardian age dressed formally during the day. There needn't have been a specific formal event to attend. Brett wore day-time formal clothes in his Holmes portrayal.

 

[Forgotten Man]

Is that so? On Jeremy Brett's Sherlock Holmes, Holmes's wears a top hat often, and not only as formal wear. Sometimes he'd be wearing it just to walk down the street, or to track down someone. Sometimes first thing in the morning after pondering a mystery well smoking black shag tobacco in his long Churchwarden cherry wood, pipe. Holmes also wore a black homburg often, and a deerstalker when out in the country.

Watson wore one as well when he wasn't wearing his gray bowler, again not always during "formal" events.

Like I said, in the 19th Century, you'd see lots of Top Hats being worn daily. I was saying that the traditional black silk or beaver top hat should only be worn today with formal, dinner or evening attire.

Again, I was misquoted. Would be nice if some would read all of what I write.

 

[Forgotten Man]

Moving on, my morning dress came today and so I wore my topper to judge the whole ensemble.

I feel like Fred Astaire Puttin' on the Ritz!

Say, you look like Fred in the morning suit as he did in "Swing Time" from 1936. In the start of the film, he wears a morning suit because he was to be married to miss Dale Tremont. The guys tell him he has last year's trousers because of no cuffs on the pants... they talk him into taking the pants off and they send them to the tailors... they bet he doesn't get married and well, they win and then he hops a gondola car to NY. and only has his morning suit on for most of the first part of the picture.

To maximize your clean 30s morning suit image, I would suggest investing in some nice wire rimed eye glasses of the period... you can find them on ebay or most antique shops for very little. Have your prescription put in them and you'll have a swell set to wear with your vintage threads!

PS: I WANT THAT WAISTCOAT!!! That is AMAZING! That's all I need to finish my morning suit!

 

[Charlie Huang]

I am not going to wear that waistcoat (as I'm having one in buff linen specially made) or the cashmere stripes (which need a great deal of tailoring anyway) to Royal Ascot, nor am I trying to revert to 1930s style!

The waistcoat is mouthwatering. Details:

 

[avedwards]

How much does an average top hat add to your height?

I'm wondering because my friend is taller than me when she wears heels which I find embarassing as I thought that I was tall at 6'1". So I thought that I should retaliate and increase my height by wearing a hight crowned hat, and a topper seemed the most obvious choice.

So purely out of interest, how much can you add to your height when you wear a topper while still looking sensible?

 

[Charlie Huang]

Depends. How high is she when heeled?

Depending on the crown height, a topper can add 3-5 more inches to your height.

 

[avedwards]

She's probably about 6'2" when heeled so only just taller than me. I would probably be a slight bit taller otherwise. Not much needed, but a bit more would help.

 

[avedwards]

I wear mine quite often. here are some pics of me wearing it. I feel very confident when I wear my top hat. That's why I never have any problems on the street. It does however draw a lot of attention here in San Diego. Hopefully in London it would be easier to fit in with crowd. I was actually on a date where I purposely dressed down and my date asked If I wanted to got out to eat and to please wear my top hat. The top hat bestows that inward tranquility that Emerson spoke of. Then again at times I can be a bit of a dandy.

I only noticed this post now, after going through this thread out of admiration for the hats which I can appreciate but probably never manage to wear (as I will probably never be able to find one with my luck and even if I did, I'll never manage to pull it off).

I never knew a top hat could be so casual yet tasteful until I saw this. If the collapsible turn of the century top hat I have been promised to inherit (once it's found in my aunt's cellar) fits me I may try wearing it. Since I now have a vintage date, would you object to me copying your look?

As for them being more common in London, that nearly made me laugh. While a fedora doesn't stick out really due to London being so multicultural, I think a topper would; at least I've never seen one there. But should you ever go to London, tell me in advance so I can get a topper myself and we can organise a "top hat parade" as a lounge event.

 

[Charlie Huang]

Then any crown height topper will do.

You could wear a topper in London, but make sure you wear morning dress with it. People in the street will think you're off to the Palace for an investiture or something and let you pass without hinderence. Ocassion is key for the English.

Toppers use to be common in London when stockbrokers still wore them but not anymore since the 1980s! And you don't want to be a singled out as a stockbroker in this day and age, do you? lol

 

[avedwards]

Apparently there was a plan to have debt collectors start wearing top hats and tailcoats to embarass debtors. Personally having someone in a topper come to my door wouldn't embarass me at all, I would just say it was someone sent from the Queen to invite me to dinner.

 

[Topper]

My what in interesting thread

 

[Charlie Huang]

Apparently there was a plan to have debt collectors start wearing top hats and tailcoats to embarass debtors. Personally having someone in a topper come to my door wouldn't embarass me at all, I would just say it was someone sent from the Queen to invite me to dinner.

Ha! I think it would insult the debtors rather than than embarass them... And it would be great if the debtor wore a better morning dress rig than the debt collector with a higher topper more shiny.

 

[avedwards]

And it would be great if the debtor wore a better morning dress rig than the debt collector with a higher topper more shiny.

Because the debtor got in debt buying the high shiny topper?