United States Flat Caps: Accompanying Clothes


Figure 1.--Here we see two brothers wearing flat caps. The younger brother wears a sailor tunic and the older brother wears a suit. Flat caps were not commonly worn with tunic suits. This looks to be a pre-school age boy wearing a tunic suit.

The flat cap in America was a flexible garment as boys could wear them with both formal and casual outfits. We see boys commonly wearing flat caps with both suits qs well as more casual outfits likes shirts and blouses and pants--often knee pants or knickers. This mean we see boys dressing up for church and school with flat caps abd suits. We also see boys wearing them for casual outdoor activities like baseball. A factor affecting what clothes were worn with flat caps were chronological fashion trends. Boys commonly wore blouses uin the 1900s and 10s, but after Workld War I in the 1920s, shorts begin to become more popular. Knee pants were still common in the 1900s, but kickers became more popular in the 1910s. We see knickers going out of style in the late 1930s, but so were flat caps. They were worn with other outfits such as the tunic suits that younger boys wore, but this was less common than suits or shirts and pants. This is probably because the flat cap was more common with older boys than younger pre-school boys.

Tunic Suits

We see a few boys wearing flat caps with tunic suits. Thus was not very common, but we see a few examples. Flat caps were worn with other outfits such as the tunic suits that younger boys wore, but this was less common than suits or shirts and pants. This is probably because the flat cap was more common with older boys than younger pre-school boys. Here we see a younger brother wearing a flat cap with a tunic suit (figure 1). We suspectv having an oldr brither wearing a flat cap may have been a factor.

Suits

We see American boys commonly wearing flat caps with a wide variety variety of suits. This was very cimmon, in part because at the time when the flat cap became particularly popular it was still very common for boys to wear suits even when not dressing up for special occassions. A few boys wore flat caps with Fauntleroy suits, mostly at the turn-of-the 20th century. we also see a few boys wearing flat capswithb sailorc suits. This was usually not the saolor suits with the traditional detailing. We see many more American boys wearing flat caps with their knicker suits. Thus was an iconic look it was so common, rather like English boys wearing school caps and French boys wearing berets. Norfolk jackets were especially popular in thec 1910s. We see boys also wearing standard single- and double-breasted suits with flat caps as well. This was especially common in the 1910s and 20s. It was an icomic look. Many boys dressed up in suits and flat caps for church and school with flat caps. It was especially common in the 1910s. During the 20s we begin to see fewer boys wearing suits to scgool, although the flat cap continued to be very popular.

Sweaters

As wearing suits to school began to decline in popularity during the 1920s we begin to see more boys wearing sweaters. And most continued to wear flat caps.

Shirts

We also see boys wearing flat caps with shirts and blouses. This means that they were wirn even during the summer in pleasant weather. We also see boys wearing them for casual outdoor activities like baseball. A factor affecting what clothes were worn with flat caps were chronological fashion trends. Boys commonly wore blouses in the 1900s and 10s, but after World War I in the 1920s, shirts begin to become more popular. >br>

Coats

We see American boys wearing flat caps ith all kinds of hackets and coats. This includec both informal jackets and formal overcoats. A good example is the Bennett boys in the 1910s.

Pants

Flats caps were strongly associated with knockers, but we also see them being worn with long pants. We also notice them wirn with knee panys during the 1900s. This reflects both fashion chsnhes during the early 20th century and age conventions. Flat caps were less common with short pants. Knee pants were still common in the 1900s, but kickers became more popular in the 1910s. We see knickers going out of style in the late 1930s, but so were flat caps.







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Created: 9:44 PM 2/23/2008
Last updated: 6:27 PM 3/19/2012