Top hat

Traditionally made of black silk or sometimes grey, the top hat emerged in Western fashion by the end of the 18th century.

Perhaps inspired by the early modern era capotain, higher-crowned dark felt hats with wide brims emerged as a country leisurewear fashion along with the Age of Revolution around the 1770s.

By the 1790s, the directoire style dress coat with top hat was widely introduced as citywear for the upper and middle classes in all urban areas of the Western world.

After World War II, white tie, morning dress and frock coats along with their counterpart, the top hat, started to become confined to high society, politics and international diplomacy.

It also remains part of the formal dress of those occupying prominent positions in certain traditional British institutions, such as the Bank of England, certain City stock exchange officials, occasionally at the Law Courts and Lincoln's Inn, judges of the Chancery Division and King's Counsel, boy-choristers of King's College Choir, dressage horseback riders, and servants' or doormen's livery.

As part of traditional formal wear, in popular culture the top hat has sometimes been associated with the upper class, and used by satirists and social critics as a symbol of capitalism or the world of business, as with the Monopoly Man or Scrooge McDuck.

The top hat also forms part of the traditional dress of Uncle Sam, a symbol of the United States, generally striped in red, white and blue.

James Laver once observed that an assemblage of "toppers" resembled factory chimneys and thus added to the mood of the industrial era.

[9][10] Until World War I the top hat was maintained as a standard item of formal outdoor wear by upper-class males for both daytime and evening usage.

President Dwight D. Eisenhower spurned the hat for his inauguration, but John F. Kennedy, who was accustomed to formal dress, brought it back for his in 1961.

Nevertheless, Kennedy delivered his forceful inaugural address hatless, reinforcing the image of vigor he desired to project, and setting the tone for an active administration to follow.

[13] In the British House of Commons, a rule requiring a Member of Parliament who wished to raise a point of order during a division, having to speak seated with a top hat on, was abolished in 1998.

[15] They are worn by male members of the British Royal Family on State occasions as an alternative to military uniform, for instance, in the Carriage Procession at the Diamond Jubilee in 2012.

In George Orwell's Nineteen Eighty Four, the top hat features prominently in the propaganda of the book's totalitarian regime: "These rich men were called capitalists.

In the U.S. top hats are worn widely in coaching, a driven horse discipline, as well as for formal riding to hounds.

American rock musician Tom Petty was known for wearing several types of top hats throughout his career and in his music videos such as "Don't Come Around Here No More."

He has been known to wear them in previous live performances on their Nothing Rhymes with Circus tour and in the music videos, "The Ballad of Mona Lisa" and "I Write Sins Not Tragedies".

[citation needed] A top hat, frequently colored red, white and blue, or with stars and stripes similar to those on the American flag, is part of the regular costume of Uncle Sam, a symbol of the United States.

[23] For satirists and political cartoonists, the top hat was a convenient symbol of the upper class, business and capitalism.

[citation needed] The character Rich Uncle Pennybags in the board game Monopoly wears a top hat.

[29] The construction can vary; reinforced toppers sometimes called "country-weight" included greater layers of goss used to provide a strengthened hat that was traditionally suitable for riding and hunting, though it may not always conform to modern safety standards.

On May 5, 1812, a London hatter, Thomas Francis Dollman, patented a design for "an elastic round hat" supported by ribs and springs.

Then packed up for travelling, "the double ribbon fastened under the band is to be pulled over the top of the crown to keep it in a small compass.

"[30]Some sources have taken this to describe an early folding top hat,[31][32] although it is not explicitly stated whether Dollman's design was specifically for male or female headgear.