Cold Weather Clothes: Headwear


Figure 1.--This German boy was painted by Rudolf Gratz who was living and working in Germany from 1820-1893. The boy wears a coat and fur cap.

Boys have worn a variety of specialized headwear for cold weather. Fur caps were especially popular in the 19th century. In the 20th century boys have worn stocking caps a variety of cold-weather caps, often with ear flaps. Ear muffs were also popular, but I'm not sure when they were first intoduced. There are not as many photographic images of coldweather caps, as mothers generally had children take off their coat and caps to have their portarit taken.

Cap Types

Boys have worn a variety of cold-weather headwear.

Fur Caps

Fur caps were especially popular in the 19th century. Fur was expensive, however and not all families could afford fur. Price of course was affected by the type of fur. Fur hats were made in several different style. There were not just many different styles, but also different types of furs.

Stocking Caps

HBC is not sure just when stocking caps first appeared and boys began wearing them. We believe it was the late 19th century, but have not yet been able to confirm this.

Cold-weather Caps

Boys wore a wide range of winter caps. Many of these caps had peaks, made rather like baseball caps. Almost all had ear flaps, often with fur or imatation fur linings. American boys commonly wore flat caps in the early 20th century. Some of these caps had ear flaps. By the 1930s these peaked caps with ear flaps became ncreasingly popular. Some were done in flannel. There were also leather caps in this style. They were worn through the 1950s, but decline in popularity through the 1960s. We begin seeing a kind of helmet cap, also with ear flaps. We notice American boys wearing these caps being worn in the 1950s. I think that they were also worn in Russia. We see these caps being worn mostly in America and Canada. They were much less common in Europe--even northern Europe with hard winters. German boys beginning about the 1930s began wearing a kind of ski cap.

Ear Muffs

Ear muffs were also popular, but I'm not sure when they were first intoduced.

Image Availability

There are not as many photographic images of coldweather caps, as mothers generally had children take off their coat and caps to have their portarit taken.







HBC






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Created: January 3, 1998
Last updated: 11:27 PM 9/14/2004