Figure 1.-- We have found large number of American boys wearing fedoras when ressed up in suits during the 1940s and 50s. Notice the car. We can't quite make it out, but woyld guess the late-40s or early-50s. This is the boy's new Easter suit (notice the blooming trees). At the time, I had a bike like that, but no headlight and never had a fedora.

The term fedora began to be used in the 1890s, although few boys wore them at the time. We note some boys in the first half of the 20th century. These portraits look a little strange to us as boys in the first half of the 20th century tended to wear juvenile styles that set them off from adults while the fedora was seen as an adult-style. A good example is an unidentified family in the 1910s. We are not entirely sure these would have been called a fedora, but it is very similar. We see more fedors after World war I in the 1920s. Some Americans in the 1920s and 30s saw the homberg as gangter hat--the Godfather hat. These hats tend to have an especially wide brim with the brim more sharply turned up at the sides. This may be more of a Hollywood style than an actual gangster hat. Our initial assessment is that these hats were most commonly worn by boys in the 1940s and 50s. This needs to be confirmed. We see many examples in the photographic record. The fedors continue to be worn with suits.

Created: 2:55 PM 7/28/2017
Last updated: 2:55 PM 7/28/2017