Rounded-Crown Hats: Country Trends

boys rounded-crown hat
Figure 1.--Here we see an unidentified American boy about 1870 with a srandard riounded-crown hat. They were the most popular type of hat for American boys in the 19th century.

Rounded-crown hats were perhaps the most popular boys' hat style during the 19th century. That was certainly the case in America. We note boys wearing them in several countries, including America, England, France, and Germany. We believe that they were worn in many other countries. We have less information on Europe. The style appears to have originated in England. HBC knows thas these rounded top hats were the primary hat style worn by American boys for much of the 19th century. We see large numbers of photographs with boys weariung these hats. Canandian trends seem similar to American trends. We are less sure about trends in other countries, but believe it was a common style in most European countries. A good example is the Parisian Caplain brothers in the 1860s.

America

Rounded-crown hats were perhaps the most popular boys' hat style during the 19th century. That was certasinly the case in America. We note boys wearing them in several countries, including America. HBC knows thas these rounded top hats were the primary hat style worn by American boys for much of the 19th century. We see large numbers of photographs with boys weariung these hats. Tese hats seem more popular in rural areas thasn the cities.

Canada

Canandian trends seem similar to American trends. A good example is the boys at the Ealing Public Scool in 1888.

England

The style appears to have originated in England.

France

A good example is the Parisian Caplain brothers in the 1860s.

Germany

We note rounded-crown hats in the mid-19th century. The Munster brothers here were photographed in the 1860s. We note Franz Xaver Mayer photographed about 1862. We are not yet sure, however, how common they were. They may have been worn into the late-19th century, but we can not yet confirm this. This was a boy's style, primarily for school-age boy. The basic elements of these hats were a rounded crown and a narrow brim. The arch of the crown varied as did the brim. We call these hats rounded-crown hats, but the arc of the crown in fact varied widely. Some were not as rounded as others. An example of a hat where the crown was sligtly vertical at the side is an unidentified boy in 1864. There were both soft and hard versions, but we have not yet found the soft version in Germany. There were a varirty of styles. They were made in vaious materials, including felt and staw. We tend to associate these hats more with America, but this may be as a result of our relatively small archive of 19th century German images. A reader tells us, "About hats in Germany. The rounded-crown hats here are a style that you don't see anymore. This type in Germany was called Melone. But it had to be made of a textile material, A felt hat is a Filzhut. A straw hat is called a Strohhut. If the hat was part of a Bavarian outfit it was called a Lodenhut. The plural of Hut is Hüte. Hats with a wide brim were Kalabreser (as worn by carpenters)."








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Created: 12:49 AM 7/31/2009
Last updated: 12:49 AM 7/31/2009