January 15th: Top Hats

On 15 January 1797 a man called James Hetherington, a haberdasher, first wore his latest creation, the top hat, in public.

1. His appearance caused such a stir that he was fined £50 for causing a breach of the peace, it being found that he "appeared on the public highway wearing a tall structure of shining lustre and calculated to disturb timid people". The sight of his hat made women faint and children scream. So says the urban myth. There is no evidence that this tale is true. The top hat in England was actually created by George Dunnage, a Middlesex hatter, with no mention of his creation causing a riot.
2. What is known is that the hat was popular in the late 18^th century. Some familiar historical figures are often pictured wearing a top hat – Abraham Lincoln and Isambard Kingdom Brunel among them. Victoria and Albert Museum curator James Laver once commented that a group of men, all wearing top hats, resembled the factory chimneys of the industrial age.
3. In France, men also embraced the top hat and the fashion developed for larger and larger hats with flared crowns and wide brims until cloakrooms at the opera became clogged up with them and in 1812 a man named Antoine Gibus invented a top hat that could collapse for easy storage when it wasn't being worn.
4. By the mid-twentieth century, these hats were falling out of fashion in general although they were still part of the uniforms of some public schools and for some high ranking officials in the City of London. The Government Broker at the London Stock Exchange was required to wear one in the streets of the City of London, right up until the reforms of 1986.
5. When the Japanese delegation arrived to sign their surrender at the end of World War II, the civilian members of the group all showed up in top hats.
6. US presidents traditionally wore them for their inaugurations up until Dwight D Eisenhower, who decided not to wear one. John F Kennedy, however, did, even though he hated wearing hats – it's said he only wore one because Eisenhower didn't. No president since then has worn a top hat for their inauguration. However, Uncle Sam, the personification of the US, is usually depicted wearing a colourful one with stars and stripes on it.
7. It tends to be associated with the upper classes and used in cartoons to symbolise wealth and status. Fictional characters who are upper class or extremely wealthy are often depicted with a top hat. Think Lord Snooty and Rich Uncle Pennybags (the Monopoly Man). Other top hat wearers from the world of literature include the Mad Hatter from Alice in Wonderland, who wears a top hat which he states was not his own, but part of his stock for sale, and the hat is usually pictured with the price tag of ten shillings and sixpence attached. In some illustrations, Sherlock Holmes ditched his iconic deerstalker in favour of a Black top hat when visiting the City of London. Willy Wonka and Mandrake the Magician both wear them. In Fyodor Dostoyevsky's novel Crime and Punishment, the murderer Raskolnikov wears one, but removes it before killing as it would be too conspicuous at the time the novel was set. No prizes for guessing what the favoured head covering for Rev W Awdry's character Sir Topham Hatt would be, either. Sir Topham is better known as the Fat Controller in Thomas the Tank Engine.
8. Top hats are also associated with stage magic. Many magicians perform some variation of the “hat trick” and produce objects out of an apparently empty top hat. Live Rabbits were a popular object of choice and the phrase “to produce a rabbit out of a hat” is a figure of speech for a surprise pulling off of a near impossible feat. How is it done? The hat will have a hidden opening, as will the table the magician puts it on. The table has a secret compartment in which the rabbit or other object is hidden. Alternatively, the magician uses sleight of hand and produces an object hidden up his sleeve. The trick was first performed in France by a celebrated magician called Comte, “the King's Conjuror”.
9. Ceremonial wear often includes the top hat. The Groundhog Day ceremony in Pennsylvania is presided over by men in top hats. They are worn by Worshipful Masters in the Freemasons – the only rank of Freemason allowed to wear them. In some synagogues, high ranking rabbis may wear them at great festivals. It's said that one hot day in London, a cantor was getting ready for a service, and got so hot and bothered in his traditional wig that he threw it out the window in a fit of pique, but found that his tricorn hat, which was made to fit over the wig, was too big, so the only option left to him was to wear his topper.
10. Traditionally a top hat was made from silk, but nowadays they are made from wool. Silk ones are no longer made, and the looms for making the material no longer exist – so vintage top hats are sought after collector's items. Even today, the process of making a top hat is a long one, with the shell of the crown coated in a special solution and left to cure for five months on a frame and left to rest for a further week. The crown and the brim are attached, varnished and left for another week before the plush material is ironed on and the lining stitched in by hand. So if you're having one custom made, allow at least six months!