Figure 1.--This American boy wears a homberg. The portrait format and the suit suggest it was taken in the 1990s, probably about 1905. This is an oval portrait, vertical format with a large greenish-grey frame, which along with the albumen print help to date it. All we know for sure is that the portrait was taken by Stegel Cooper of Chicago. The boy looks about 12-13 years old. He wears a dark suit with knee pants with dark stockings and dark high-top shoes. The homberg was not a common hat for boys, but we do see a number of boys as young as the boy here wearing them with suits. He is wearing a knee pants suit. It was much more common at the time for boys to wear caps, even with suits.

The homberg is a formal, stiff felt dress hat, only slightly less formal than a top hat. The homberg can be done in fur. The basic feature of the homburg is a crease running down the full length of the crown--the center or gutter crown. Other features are a 'kettle curl" and bound edge trim. The homberg is similar to fedora, but has lower sides. The homberg varied, both the crown and brim. The crowns varied in height. The brims varied in size and some were sharply curled and bownd. The slightly turned up brim all the way around (kettle curl) is a another feature that can distunguish the homberg from the fedora. There commonly was a leather sweat band. The homberg is similar to the fedora, but lacks the pinces commonly associated with the fedora. The homberg originated in Germany. The style was popularized in the late-19th Century when the Prince of Wales (future Edward VII) brought the hat back to England after a visit from Bad Homburg in Hessen (Germany). The homberg can be done in various colors, especially black, grey, and brown. It was a popular style in the early-20th century. It was an adult style, but we notice some boys wearing them. 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. This is not a style we very often see boys wearing. We do notice a few examples of boys wearing hombergs, mostly upper-class boys.

Construction

The homberg is a formal, stiff felt dress hat. The basic feature of the homburg is a crease running down the full length of the crown--the center or gutter crown. Other features are a 'kettle curl" and bound edge trim. The homberg is similar to fedora, but has lower sides. There commonly was a leather sweat band. The homberg is similar to the fedora, but lacks the pinces commonly associated with the fedora.

Origins

The homberg originated in Germany. The style was popularized in the late-19th Century when the Prince of Wales (future Edward VII) brought the hat back to England after one of his visits to Bad Homburg, a popular spa in Germany in Hessen (Germany). This of couese is why the hat became known as the homburg. The Kaiser wore it as a hunting hat Ling Edwars wore it as aegular hat.

Colors

The homberg can be done in various colors, especially black, grey, and brown.

Chronology

The homberg was a popular style in the early-20th century. It was an adult style, but we notice some boys wearing them. This is not a style we very often see boys wearing. We do notice a few examples of boys wearing hombergs. The style itseld did not appear outside of Germany until the late-19th century. There was a very narrow window during which boys wore hombergs. We are still working out the chronologuy, but at this time our prelininary assessment is the 1880s-1910s. Until this the hats boys wore were mostly rounded-crown hars and sailir hats. Most of the images of hombergs we have found seem to be from the 1890s and 1900s. Quite a few of the images come from the turn-of-the 20 century and the 1900s. The boy here is a good example from the time period that the homberg was most popular for boys (figure 1). This is a little difficult to be precise about because most of the images we have found are undated photographs for which we have had to estimate the dates. We do not see American boys wearing hombergs after World War I. Hats in general declined in popularity for boys.

Ages

The homberg was an adult hat style. We see some boys, however, wearing hombergs at the turn-of-the century. They look to be boys in their early-teens as well as older teens, We would guess that boys might beginning earing hombergs about 13 years of age, perhaps some boys as young as 12-years of age. Here we in mot instance are just estimating the ages. We do not see younger boys wearing hombergs, at least we have not found examles in the photgraphic record. In many cases boys were allowed to wear this adult headwear before other more mature styles such as long pants suits, although we do not see some of the more juvenile items such as Fautleroy collars or really large floppy bows. This all varied from family to family.

Social Class

We see some boys wearing hombergs. Often they are very well dressed boys, suggesting that the homberg was primarily a style popular for upper-class boys. Workingpclass boys nore commonly wore caps.

Styles

The homberg varied, both the crown and brim. The crowns varied in height. The brims varied in size and some were sharply curled and bownd. The slightly turned up brim all the way around (kettle curl) is a another feature that can distunguish the homberg from the similar fedora.

Conventions

The homberg is somewhat formal than a top hat, but more formal than the fedora which it resembles. Boys are shown wearing elgant suits with hombergs. The formality can be seen by the fact that the portraits often show the boys wearing gloves with hombergs.

Fabric

The homberg was primarily a felt hat, but it could be done in fur for winterwear.

Created: 7:23 PM 3/9/2008
Last updated: 4:33 AM 3/31/2017