United States Suit Components: Headwear--Chronology


Figure 1.--This family postcard back snapshot shows three boys wearing knicker suits and long stickings. Seated on the ground is their faithfull pooch that looks like an English Spaniel. The . AZO stampbox fates the kimages to the late-1910s or 20s. The clothes suggest it was taken about 1920 (late -10s or early-20s). All three wear flat caps, standard headwear at the time. Note the button cconnection for the peak.

We see a range of heaswear (both caps and hats) worn with suits over time. For the most part we notice a wide range of different types and styles. We have little information on the 18th century, but the tri-corner hat was a standard, at least for relatively prosperous families. We know much more about the 19th and 20th centuries, primarily because of the development of photograpjy. With the invention of photography (1839), we can begin to follow headwear trends in detail. The convention of wearing headwear was very pronounced in the 19th century. It would have been noticed if a gentleman appeared in public without appropriate headwear. Headwear was an essential part of proper dress. Headwear was seen as an important part of any formal outfit. There was quite a range of headwear worn with suits in the 19th century. This was still common in the early-20th century, although we no longer see hats like we did in the 19th century. Boys mostly wore caps with suits in the early-20th century. Two styles became particularly important in America--the peaked cap abd the flat cap. For some reason we see a number of boys wearing fedora hats in the 1950s. but became much less common in the second half of the century. After the turn of the century we see fewer boys wearing both headwear and suit. We do see matching peaked cap worn with an Eton or other styled suit during the mid-20th century.







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Created: 8:44 PM 1/13/2015
Last updated: 8:44 PM 1/13/2015