Figure 1.--Here we see a French brother and sister in 1966. The boy wears a peaked cap with a suit. The children are 8-9 years old.
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Figure 1.--Here we see a French brother and sister in 1966. The boy wears a peaked cap with a suit. The children are 8-9 years old. |
We are not sure how commonly the peaked cap was worn in various countries. While most assiciated with England, the peaked cap was worn in many other counties as well. We see these caps being worn in several different countries as a kind of dress cap. This was the cap worn by American boys from affluent families, normally with a suit and done to match the suit. This was the most common cap style worn with short pants suits, especially the Eton suits worn by younger American boys. English boys also wore it, bur it was more likely to be a school cap than a cap to go with a suit. We havevalso noted Dutch boys wearing these caps. We have noted boys in several other European countries wearing these caps, but less commonly then in Britain and America.
We see these caps being worn in several different countries as a kind of dress cap. We begin to see them in the early 20th century and they were worn through the 1960s. After the 1960s these peaked caps were still worn, but mostly by pre-school boys. This was the cap worn by American boys from affluent families, normally with a suit and done to match the suit. There were social class connotations. Flat caps were more common. These caps were especially popular with affluent families. This was the most common cap style worn with short pants suits, especially the Eton suits worn by younger American boys. We see quite a number of photographs of American boys wearing Eton suits with peaked hats. We see both family snapshots and advertisements, such as an insurance ad in the 1960s. We believe that it was popular in America in part because of its English association. Some private American schools may have used the cap as part of the uniform as in Britain. American Cub Scouts used it as part of the uniform for many years.
We are not sure how commonly the peaked cap was worn in various countries. While most English boys also wore it, bur it was more likely to be a school cap than a cap to go with a suit. Many English boys did not have a suit as such, but wore their school uniform for dress up occassions.
We have noted Frenc boys wearing these caps, but not very commonly. The snapshot here is an example from the 1960s.
Peaked caps do not appear to have been very common in Germany. We do note many images in the photographic recoord of German boys wearing them, perhaps because of the English association of this garment. We do note one German boy wearing whay looks like a peaked cap about 1900. It looks, however, to have a leather peak (bill) rather like a military cap.
We have also noted Dutch boys wearing these caps. Peaked caps were probably more popular among Dutch boys than boys in any other European country. A factor here was the popularity of English clothes and fashion in the Netherlands.
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