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The flat topped hat appeared in the 1860s. There were several different styles. It was essential a sailor hat with a flattened crown. The brims could vary widely. Younger boys might wear wide brims. Oldr boys juddged too old for the classic sailor hat with the wide brim would wear a more narrow brim. The classic boater was another flat-top hat. The width of the brim appears to have been the key factor. The wider brimmed hat were worn by the younger children. Older boys wore the more narrow brim hats. The wide beims were worn by pre-school and younger primary children. These flat top hats with more narrow bfrims were commonly worn by boys from about 8 to 12 or 14 years of age. The flat top hats were commonly worn until the turn of the century. They were mostly made from straw. They were worn with different outfts, fepending on the age of the bow, often reflected with the width of the brim. Boys with wide brims might wear Fauntleroy suits. Boys with more narrow brims mostly worn with the more mature looking suits boys wore after emerging from Fauntleroy and sailor suits. Boaters were popular with a wide age range.
HBC believes that flat topped hat appeared in the 1860s, but that is just an ininitial assessment at this point. The flat top hats were commonly worn until the turn of the century.
There were several different styles of flat-topor flat-crown hats. The flat top hat is essentially a sailor hat with a flattened crown. Here the heighth of the crown could vary. Also the brims could vary widely. Smaller boys might wear a wide brim while older boys a more narrow brim. The boater was another type of flat-top hat. The origins of the boater as the name suggests was a sailor style.
Flat crowns were a relative matters. Some hats like boaters were notable for having absolutely flat crowns. Other hats might have dimples down and up, slight depressions up or down in the center. Once the dimpleup reached a certain size the hat becomes a rounded-crown hat.
The width of the brim appears to have been the key factor in assessing age suitabiity, but there were wide variations from family to family. The wider brimmed hat were worn by the younger children. This included both pre-school and early school-age children. Flat top hats with narrow brims were worn by boys juddged too old for the classic sailor hat with the clasic wide brim. The width of the brim appears to have been the key factor. The wider brimmed hat were worn by the younger children. Older boys wore the more narrow brim hats. These flat top hats were commonly worn by boys from about 6 to 12 or 14 years of age. A good example is an American boy, Charles Banthrop, about 1890.
Flat top hats were mostly made from straw.
Boys were mostly worn flat top hats with the more mature looking suits boys wore after emerging from Fauntleroy and sailor suits. They probably were the hats from which boaters evolved. Often the boys might wear large floppy bow and wide white collars with their suits along with these flat top hats. After a couple years they might wear the same suit, but without the bow and flat-topped cap.
Hats were much more commonly worn in the 19th century than is the case today. The hat was an important part of people's outfits. Most boys in the late 19th century were photographed indoors at photograpic studios. They rately wore their hats for these portraits. Often, however, they would hold their hats or the hats were placed so as o be visible in the portrait.
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