You Can Leave Your Hat On

The Vintage Hat Series: Victorian miniature velvet top hat, sequin trimmed

The top hat, also known as a beaver hat, high hat, silk hat, cylinder hat, chimney pot hat or stove pipe hat, and sometimes simply as a ‘topper’, is predominantly a man’s hat. It first appeared atop men’s heads around the end of the eighteenth century and continued to be worn until the middle of the twentieth. Today it is worn chiefly by magicians, bridegrooms, and doormen.

But way back in the nineteenth century, in Victorian times, a London milliner pooh-poohed this blatant sexism and created this saucy little miniature topper. Decorated with sequin trim, it’s patently an evening hat and is best worn on a rakish tilt. It must have been rather racy back then, perhaps something only an actress or demimondaine might have worn.

A Victorian illustration of hat-tippingWhile tipped hats look becoming on a woman, back then ladies generally didn’t tip their hats to passers-by. This gesture of respect belonged almost exclusively to the male domain, and was a non-verbal greeting between friends or acquaintances, made during encounters on the sidewalk, or at social functions, or as a respectful acknowledgement when meeting a lady. One possible explanation of why women did not tip their hats could be that their hats, being far more elaborate, were often anchored firmly to their hairdos with hatpins.

The style of hat-tip could also indicate differences in social class: the subordinate was obliged to make a more elaborate gesture, such as entirely removing his hat while the superior merely touched his – assuming an appropriate lordly and lofty manner.

The origins of hat tipping are thought to be the same as the military salute and hark back to medieval times when knights wore visors. They would raise them to show friendliness. (Unfriendly ones raised their lances.)

Today’s version of the hat tip is the nod, and is restricted only to those who have a head on top. 

Read more about men’s hat etiquette here. 

Fashion Notes

I purchased this Victorian hat online from the UK. I haven’t been able to find any references to indicate how common this kind of hat was in that era. However, women then certainly wore full-size top hats either when horseback riding, in vaudeville, or as a fashion statement. 

Marlene Dietrich wears a top hat in the film Morocco, 1930