Sailor Hats: Types


Figure 1.--Here we see an European boy with a flat-top sailor hat that had a rather large brim. Normally they had smaller brims. Note that it had a white stramer, but did not seem to hang down over the brim. We thought the children might be German. The portrait itself is unidentified. The paunted background does not look like the German seacoat which tends to be flat. Perhaps it isca river or lake scene. We would guess the portrait was taken in the early 1900s.

Sailor hats were made in a wide variety of styles thus we note a range of sailor hat types. The original sailor hat with the wide brim was worn from the mid-19th Century through the early 20th Century. Many other styles appeared for boys. The classic style as originally worn by the Prince of Wales and by boys through the 1910s was the best known and usually thought of when discussing sailor hats. It had an elastic chin strap, wide brim, rounded crown, and streamer. The streamer was usually solid blue or black, but could be stripped. As the sailor suit became increasingly popular in the 1870s, this style of sailor hat, epecially those with very wide brims were increasingly worn by younger boys. Older boys who wore sailor suits would wear hats with more narrow brims. These narrow brimmed hats were popular from the 1870s-90s, but after the turn of the century, older boys wrearing sailor caps would mostly wear caps. The narrow brom hats usually had no chin strap and a hat band, but no streamer. Older boys who wore sailor suits would wear hats with more narrow brims. These narrow brimmed hats were popular from the 1870s-90s, but after the turn of the century, older boys wrearing sailor caps would mostly wear caps. The narrow brim hats usually had no chin strap and a hat band, but no streamer. Flat crowned sailor hats appeared in the 1870s and were worn by both younger and older boys, the width of the brim being the primary characterstic differentiating styles for younger and older boys. Often the flat top hats, even those with large brims would not have streamers. The Breton sailor hat is a French style worn by children amd women. It has a brim which turns up evenly all around. We note a down-turned brim style that was popular in the 1910s.

Royal Navy Style

The Princeof Wales wore the sailor hat worn by Royal Navy enlisted personnel in the the 1840s. It had a slightly rounded crown and a noderatley sized brim. Er still note English boys wearing this style in the 1880s. A good example is Carl Roos.

Classic Style

Broad brimmed sailor hats were modeled on the straw hats actually worn by British sailors in the 18th century and first appeared at that time. They did not become widely worn at this time because the fashion of distinctive clothes for childrn was just beginning to develop. Sailor suits and the required sailor hats became to be worn by boys beginning in the mid-19th century. The motivating force was, of course, Queen Victoria and Prince Albert who began dressing the young princes in sailor suits. The institution of monarchy was under attack throughout Europe. The choice of the sailor suit was an astute political move. It associated the monarchy in the person of the young princes with the prestige pf the British Navy. The fashion was gradually adopted by British mothers and soon by parents throughout Europe and America. The sailor suit was begoming extremely popular by the 1870s and through the early 1900s was probably the single most important boys' fashion. Headgear was a required part of any dress outfit in the 19th and early 20th century. Sailor hats were not just worn with sailor suits. A wide-brimmed sailor hat was generally considered the proper accesory to a boy's party suit, such as a Little Lord Fauntleroy suit. A boy might wear a sailor cap or other type of cap, but when dressed up for formal occasins, a wide-brimmed sailor cap was usually considered to be the most appropriate. Many mothers so liked the sailor suit style that they would outfit sailor outfits before breeching. Many stues of sailor dresses or middy blouses to be worn with kilts/skirts were available. Boys in dresses would almost always wear eith broad-brimmed sailor hats or the British-American style of flat-topped caps with very wide tops. The historical straw-hat style is still occasionally worn by small boys serving as ring bearers at formal weddings. A variety of classic styles are used for the suits. Only a few costumes include hats, but when hats are included they are usually broad-brimmed sailor caps. The straw sailor hat was first popular for children. This echos a relatively common theme where new styles were first successfully introduced for children. Many fashion trends were first tried on children before adults wore them. The straw hat eventually became a favorite with fashionable adults after the turn of the Century. Older boys by the later part of the 19th Century and early 20th Century were also wearing small-brimmed straw hats with knee pants tweed suits.

Narrow Brim

Older boys who wore sailor suits would wear hats with more narrow brims. These narrow brimmed hats were popular from the 1870s-90s, but after the turn of the century, older boys wrearing sailor caps would mostly wear caps. The narrow brom hats usually had no chin strap and a hat band, but no streamer.

Flat Crown

Flat crowned sailor hats appeared in the 1870s and were worn by both younger and older boys, the width of the brim being the primary characterstic differentiating styles for younger and older boys. Often the flat top hats, even those with large brims would not have streamers. Here we see an European boy with a flat-top (crown) sailor hat that had a rather large brim. Normally they had smaller brims (figure 1). Normally these hats had short stremers or perhaps no streamer at all. Flat top sailor hats are of course related to boaters. We assume that boaters evolved from flat-top sailor hats.

Breton Sailor

The Breton sailor hat is a French style worn by children amd women. It has a brim which turns up evenly all around.

Turned Brim

We notice boys wearing various styles of wide-brimmed sailor hats with turned brims. We see the brims turned in various ways. Some are turned up and others turned down. A good example is 4-year old New York boy Martin Murphy. The brim of his sailor hat is turned down. We also see the brims done in a rather sporty way with one side turned up and the other side normal or turned down. These turned-brim hats were only popular for a short period. We see them mostly in the 1910s. They were worn with different outfits, including sailor tunics and sailor suits. We nore them bioth in America and Europe.








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Created: 4:52 AM 2/1/2006
Last updated: 11:57 PM 7/15/2011