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A flat cap is a rounded cap with a small stiff brim in front, originating in Northern England. The hat is also known in Ireland as a paddy cap; in Scotland as a bunnet; in Wales as a Dai cap; and in the United States as an English cap or Irish cap. Various other terms exist (scally cap, cabbie cap, driver cap, golf cap, longshoreman cap, ivy cap, train engineer cap, sixpence, etc.) Flat caps are usually made of tweed, plain wool, or cotton, while some are made using leather, linen, or corduroy. The inside of the cap is commonly lined for comfort and warmth.
History
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The style can be traced back to the 16th century in Northern England, when it was more likely to be called a "bonnet". This term was replaced by "cap" before about 1700, except in Scotland, where it continues to be referred to as a bunnet in Scots.
A 1571 Act of the English Parliament was enacted to stimulate domestic wool consumption and general trade. It decreed that on Sundays and holidays, all males over 6 years of age, except for the nobility and "persons of degree", were to wear woolen caps or pay a fine of three farthings per day (equivalent to £1.41 in 2023). The Act was not repealed until 1597, though by then the flat cap had become firmly entrenched as a recognised mark of a non-noble person, such as a burgher, a tradesman, or an apprentice. The style may have been the same as the Tudor bonnet still used in some styles of academic dress.
In the 19th and early 20th centuries, when men predominantly wore some form of headgear, flat caps were commonly worn throughout Great Britain and Ireland. Versions in finer cloth were also considered to be suitable casual countryside wear for upper-class Englishmen. Flat caps were worn by fashionable young men in the 1920s. Boys of all classes in the United Kingdom wore caps during this period; a peaked school cap of prescribed colour and design, of more rounded shape than men's flat caps, was part of the normal school uniform.
The flat cap made its way to southern Italy in the late 1800s, likely brought by British servicemen. In Turkey, the flat cap became the main headgear for men after it became a replacement for the fez, which was banned by Mustafa Kemal Atatürk in 1925.
In the early part of the 20th century it was worn by working class men in Spain and it became part of the traditional attire and folklore of Madrid where it is called parpusa [es], gorra madrileña, or "Madrid Cap".
British popular culture
In British popular culture, the flat cap (or "flat hat") is typically associated with Yorkshire, and more broadly, working-class men. The flat cap can also be taken to denote the upper class when affecting casualness. "A toff can be a bit of a chap as well without, as it were, losing face." In the late 20th and early 21st centuries, British public figures including David Beckham, Nigel Mansell, Guy Ritchie, Richard Blackwood, and Charles III wore the flat cap.
In Northern England, notable wearers include: Fred Dibnah, from Bolton; comic strip anti-hero Andy Capp, from Hartlepool, and AC/DC vocalist Brian Johnson, of Newcastle, customarily wears a flat cap frequently on and off stage.
In Peaky Blinders, a BBC television show about a former Birmingham-based gang, characters are seen wearing Baker Boy Caps, a similar style often confused for flat caps. It was thought, and adapted, that the gang had sewed-in razor blades on the peak of their flat caps for use as a weapon to blind their enemies.
Usage in the East End of London is illustrated by Jim Branning of the television soap opera EastEnders and Del Boy Trotter of Only Fools and Horses. Taxicab and bus drivers are often depicted wearing a flat cap, as comedically portrayed by Gareth Hale and Norman Pace's (Hale and Pace) "London cabbies" television sketches.
Current popularity
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The style has remained popular among groups of people in the United Kingdom, Ireland, and North America. The cap is sometimes associated with older men, significantly in South Korea, but has been popular (along with the newsboy cap) among some segments of younger people, for example, in cities such as Chicago, Boston, New York, and Scranton with large Irish-American populations. It has appeared in the hip hop subculture, sometimes worn back-to-front or cocked to the side. It is also very common among men and women in San Francisco, California. In Turkey, it is highly popular amongst men, mostly working-class.
The English rugby league team Featherstone Rovers supporters' nickname is "the Flat Cappers", because supporters in years gone by attended matches wearing them as did most other teams' supporters.
The black leather flat cap is often combined with a patched-up sport coat or leather jacket and dark clothes (sometimes combined with a bee-striped convict's shirt) in popular culture to depict a burglar, mugger, or robber, occasionally with a domino mask. The comic book character the Goon is based on this archetype of the flat-capped street tough from vintage cartoons and comics.
American golfer Bryson DeChambeau wears a flat cap during his rounds on the PGA Tour in honor of the late Payne Stewart and Ben Hogan. The look has rejuvenated popularity with the style amongst younger golfers.
The Canadian team in the 1998 Winter Olympics wore red flat caps designed by Roots in the opening ceremony parade of nations. The US team in the 2008 Summer Olympics also wore white flat caps designed by Polo Ralph Lauren during the parade of nations.
See also
References
- "Scally Origins | Boston Scally Co. | Caps & Hoodies". Boston Scally. Retrieved 2024-07-21.
- 7 Gotta-Have Golf Hats for Tee Time. Retrieved June 10, 2023
- "Factories, Farms and Financial Success - A history of the Flat Cap". Sir Gordon Bennett. Retrieved 2023-03-25.
- "Bonnet". Oxford English Dictionary (Online ed.). Oxford University Press. (Subscription or participating institution membership required.)
- Mairi Robinson, ed. (1985). The Concise Scots Dictionary. Aberdeen University Press. p. 53. ISBN 0-08-028491-4.
- O'Grady, Sean (27 March 2010). "Minor British Institutions: The flat cap". The Independent. Retrieved 2017-07-24.
- "English school uniform garments: headwear". Historical Boys' Clothing. 9 October 2017.
- Mather, Geoffrey. "Capped for England" BBC Radio 4, 2001.
- Porter, Richard (4 November 2016). "If you want to get ahead, get a flat cap". The Daily Telegraph.
- Katie Wales (2006). Northern English: a cultural and social history. p. 26. Cambridge University Press ISBN 9781139457057
- Anthony Bozza (2009). Why AC/DC Matters. p.54. HarperCollins, Retrieved 30 November 2011 ISBN 9780061804601
- Griffiths, Eleanor (2019-07-19). "Where does the name Peaky Blinders come from?". RadioTimes. Immediate Media Company Limited. Retrieved 2019-11-17.
The TV series suggests that the gang are called "Peaky Blinders" because they use the razors in their hats to blind their enemies, either by slicing the blade across their victims' eyes or by slashing up their faces so much that they are blinded by blood.
- Photos from 1998 Nagano Olympics Opening Ceremony from Canadian Olympic Committee official website.
- Plante, Chandler (14 July 2021), Team USA's Most Iconic Olympic Outfits Throughout the Years Are Pure Gold, popsugar.co.uk
External links
- Cap fits for new generation". Express & Star, July 2007.
- American boys' flat caps Historical Boys Clothing
- Ivy vs. Newsboy Caps Flat Cap Information Resource
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