How Common Fashion Headgear of Victorian England has Been Conquering Creative Minds
Marco owns a French restaurant in a small Southern Swedish town Tomelilla. He is a Frenchman, former soldier, and father of three children. His appearance could have made him just an ordinary man no one would easily remember, but, in fact, everyone recognizes him owing to his bowler hat. Marco wears his bob hat every single day. He does not take it off when he cooks his delicious French-inspired dishes. He does not take it off when he goes to an individual client with his catering service. He does not take it off when walking the familiar streets. Everyone in the Swedish town can see the Frenchman from a distance, waving at him, exclaiming “Hej hej”! Once Marco said to one of his customers, “You know, if I take my bowler hat off, people will stop recognizing me. I do it rarely, but when I want to be on my own, I do not wear this derby – everything seems to be so quiet around me then!”
Although the Frenchman seems to be the only one who wears a bowler hat in the town, this headgear has not been forgotten at all. In fact, it makes its triumphal returns in the fashion industry more often than other vintage hats. Indeed, it is highly unlikely that the bob hat will make it to your casual wardrobe unless you like to express yourself in an artful way. It used to be a part of everyday fashion in Victorian England, but nowadays, it has nothing in common with the modern street styles… or has it? Perhaps, it just depends on where you wear it – in a small European town or in a fancy European capital… or maybe, in Bolivia? We will get back to it later.
Brief History of the Bowler Hat
Where did the bowler hat appear for the first time? Of course, the answer is more than predictable – it was created in London. The hat-makers Thomas and William Bowler made the hat to complete an order for James Lock & Co. in 1849. British soldier and politician William Coke was the original customer of the-then new-fangled hat design, which had not existed before. He had specific order requirements: the hat had to be tailored to fit more stiffly than the top hat to protect the heads of his Norfolk farm gamekeepers against hitting the low-hanging branches when they were riding their horses. Thus, it was essential for the hat to be shaped closely to the head.
Some tell the story that the client decided to test the durability of the hat in quite a harsh manner. Coke turned the billycock upside down, threw it onto the floor, and started jumping on it. No serious damage happened to the hat. The result pleased Mr. Coke and he paid twelve shillings for the wonderful design. It can be assumed that his gamekeepers were content with their hats too. It explains why the bowlers were becoming swiftly popular among working-class Englishmen. As all ideas are not unique, and when it seems we create something from scratch, there are always others who claim that they are the pioneers of the invention. Hence, as in the case with the hat, there were others who claimed to be its originators, but history remains silent regarding their names. Yet, there is a range of names for the mentioned headgear itself: a blocker, Christie, derby, billycock, bombin, among others.
While the bowler hat was associated with English laborers in the Victorian era, it turned into a fashion item in the Edwardian period. The Prince of Wales, Edward VII, who later became the king, could not help noticing how special and convenient the hat was, so he started wearing it himself. Nowadays, British princes tend to wear bowler hats too. For instance, Prince William was seen wearing it several times. Further, Winston Churchill, known for his hat fetish, also had a special bob hat in his closet – and old photographs do not lie.
Bowler Hat in Literature, Movie Industry, and Arts
If you read murder mystery stories, do you imagine the detectives wearing bowler hats? Sherlock Holmes and Dr. Watson wear bowler hats both in books and in movies. Agatha Christie’s Poirot also wears a billycock quite often. Even if you do not find the character’s garments description in the books, you will see them in movie adaptations – and yes, bowler hats are everywhere when detectives of the 19th and 20th centuries are involved.
It is difficult to imagine Charlie Chaplin without his derby. He wore it every morning on the set of the iconic silent film “The Tramp”. Later, other comedians, such as Oliver Hardy and Stan Laurel, continued wearing this headgear. So, is it a symbol of retro comedy too?
It is a symbol of art, in general. The bowler hat emerged in many quintessential art forms of the twentieth century. One of the famous surrealists, Rene Magritte, was so fascinated with the bob hat that he painted many male characters wearing this kind of garment. Those men were frequently without faces, but in the mentioned hats. Some hero’s face is hidden beyond an apple or a bird, while a bowler hat remains the distinctive item. Magritte also painted lots of “cloned men” wearing classy suits and bowler hats, floating in the air like human drops of symmetrical rain.
Jazz musicians used to wear Christies slanted on the side. That was when a bowler hat became an artful element in music. Look at the back cover of Pink Floyd’s album “Wish You Were Here”, and you will see a faceless sales agent in a bowler hat. Frank Zappa and Michael Jackson were the ones who honored this fashion item too.
Besides the classic detective stories, the bob hat is symbolically present in “A Clockwork Orange”, Stanley Kubrick’s interpretation of the dystopian black comedy novel by Anthony Burgess. Some critics say this very hat embodies illegal affairs and crime in the movie. A surreal sketch comedy series “Monty Python’s Flying Circus” ironizes the hierarchy of classes, and bowler hats appear there again. Liza Minnelli wears it in the movie “Cabaret”, Orlando Bloom looks handsomely mysterious in a bob hat in the fantasy TV series “Carnival Row”. The Riddler, a mastermind of the Gotham city and a supervillain of the DC Comics, is depicted in the bowler hat (and he surely has this typical detective vibe, only in a more ominous portrayal). Last but not least, there is a Twitter comment on James Delaney’s appearance, Tom Hardy’s character in “Taboo”, “Tom Hardy makes bowler hats scary as hell…”
Women who Wear Bob Hats
When reading about all these men in hats, a 21st-century individual would likely ask the question, “When women started wearing bowler hats?” It can be assumed that the moment the hat became both “for princes and for philistines”, it also turned into a suitable headgear for women. There are old photographs of women on horseback, wearing long dresses and bowler hats. Coco Chanel was one of them. Now you can find a variety of feminine derby hats’ styles and you can wear them as part of your outfit: whether you want to put on a dress, a blouse and a skirt, a cardigan and skinny jeans, a more formal suit, or a classy overcoat. Even if it creates a contrast with your casual outfit, it does not look as eccentric as in combination with the authentic dresses of Bolivian women.
Indeed, it is easy to imagine bowler hats in modern Europe, where nostalgia harmoniously co-exists with contemporary creations. Yet, Europeans rarely wear bob hats with folklore clothes. Unlike them, Sothern American Cholitas, wear their flamboyant multi-layered dresses along with fancy derbies on their heads.
So, the story goes like this: when the Bowler brothers saw how popular their hats were becoming, they began manufacturing them in great quantities, trying to do a profit whenever there was such a chance. One of their business plans was to sell the bowlers to English railway personnel stationed in Bolivia back then.
Unfortunately, the hatters were probably in a great hurry, so they made their headgears smaller than needed for British heads, and the workers refused to wear them. Bolivian men also only laughed when they saw the small hats, which could only stay on top of their heads. The entrepreneurs did not want to lose their money, so they were thinking about the ones who would “easily buy into the fashion trend”. As discriminating as it may sound, the next “fashion victims” were supposed to be women. The hat-makers made up a story that all European women, who follow the latest fashion trends, wore these peculiar “smaller-than-usual” hats. Somehow this story appeared to be convincing, or clairvoyant Cholitas predicted that bowler hats would turn into the national iconic image of Bolivia.
If you visit this Latin American country now, you will still see many women proudly wearing their colorful dresses and bowler hats. What is more compelling, the original derby hats can cost thousands of dollars, so even not everyone can afford to flaunt them! Isn’t it a royal item? It is, for sure! Besides, there are funny superstitions related to the way a Cholita wears a bowler hat: if the hat is straight on top of her head, it indicates the woman is married; if the billycock is placed on the side of the head, it implies that the woman is either single or widowed. There is also a hilarious joke Bolivians tend to make: if the hat is on the back of the woman’s head, then it means her relationship is complicated.
Bowler Hats in Modern Fashion
A bowler hat has traveled throughout history, being both a conventional style and an eccentric item. The most peculiar thing about it is that its appearance has not changed much. What is more, its unchangeability makes it a fashion statement connected both to the past centuries and the maintenance of traditions in the highly futuristic world. The example of only one hat proves how diverse our world is, as well as reminds us of the old saying “everything that is new is something well forgotten from the old times”. In the case with the bowler hat, it has never been in oblivion since its creation.
The bowler hat or derby reappears in arts, fiction, cinema, and theatre; it adorns the front covers of fashion magazines, such as Vogue; it gains expressionist interpretation at catwalks, it attires celebrities’ heads on red carpets. Recently, a contemporary actress Zendaya, who became famous for the leading roles in the TV show “Euphoria” and such movies as “The Greatest Showman” and “Dune”, wore an Emporio Armani bowler, which was eccentrically oversized.
If you take a closer look at the hats’ fashion trends of 2022-2023, you will see bowlers among them. So, can we start calling the classy English detective hat a must-have fashion item even nowadays? Luckily, you do not have to be rich to buy your perfect bowler, as popular mass market stores often copy the ideas of haute couture. It means that if Armani has it, then Zara will soon have it too. You can also look for more traditional high quality hat brands, such as Trimmed & Crowned. They state to combine conventional ideas with contemporary styles as well as miscellaneous colors.
Bowler hat can become your favorite headdress if you like retro styles or if you simply want to stand out like the Frenchman in the Swedish town.