Boys' Hats: Sun Hats


Figure 1.-- These unidentified American children had their portrait taken while vacationing in Wales during the 1920s. Only wealthy merican families made trips to Europe in the 1920s. So the children must have come from an affluent family. Notice the floppy sun hats. they could have been purchased in Britain, but we suspect that the children's clothes are American.

We do not fully understand the history of the sun hat at this time. We believe it is a basically a 20th century hat. Of course any brimmed hat could be a sun hat. A wide-brimmed sailor hat would provide protection from the sun, but they were not very practical for play. Sun hats became popular as outings to beaches became more popular at the turn-of-the 20th century. We know now that protection is important for children who enjoy outdoor activities. At the time not a lot was known aboout the harmful affects of solar radiation. It seems more of a fashion convention to avoid tanning. Sun hats declined in popularity as hats became less popular and tanning began to be seen more positively. There were many different styles, but a kind of floppy style is generally seen as the basic sun hat. There were many different styles. Some could have been worn by both boys and girlss. Others were more gender specific. We are not sure about different country conventions. We have an American sun hat page They seem to have been especially popular in Britain. There are several examples archived on HBC. One such example are two English children in 1916.






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Created: 5:00 PM 5/15/2009
Last updated: 1:33 AM 7/15/2010