American Little Lord Fauntleroy Suit Hats: Broad-brimmed Sailor Hat

Figure 1.--This unidentified boy was photographed by H. E. Rimer, Schuyler, Nebraska. The cabinet card portrait was probably taken about 1890. He is wearing a Fauntleroy velvet suit with an elaborate lace collar. Notice the dark broad-brimmed hat on the floor. Many of these hats were made from straw. We are not sure about this one. Notice that there does not seem to be any streamers. This boy's outfit is particularly notable because of the sash. That was an item that many boys did not wear with their Fauntleroy suits. There is no way to be sure, but it looks like a bright red sash worn with a black velvet suit.

The most common hat, or at least the hat most associated with the Fauntleroy suit, was the broad or wide-brimmed hat. This is normally considered a style of sailor hat. That is the headwear often used in illustrations. It is not as common in the actual potographic record. We do see a number of them, usually worn by younger boys. We see other sailor-style hats worn with Fauntrleroy suits. There were a wide variety of styles. There were two major stylistic elements, the crown and the brim. We note both rounded and flat crowns. We also notice hats with widely varied brim widths. There were other variables, including the hat band, streamers, and chin straps. There were different colors. Many of these hats were straw hats, but I don't think that they all were. We do not notice many other hat styles worn with Fauntleroy suits. Many of the hats we notice were straw hats, but we do notice some other materials. Some of these hats are quite large. Thus in many portraits, the boys are not actually wearing them.

Sailor Style

The most common hat, or at least the hat most associated with the Fauntleroy suit, was the broad or wide-brimmed hat. This is normally considered a style of sailor hat.

Prevalence

That is the headwear often used in illustrations. It is not as common in the actual potographic record. We see boys wearing quite a range of different headwear, both caps and hts, with Fauntleroy suits. We see some of these styles in contemprary catalogs, but moder recreations alnost always show wide brimmed sailor hats. We do, however see a number of them, usually worn by younger boys. We see other sailor-style hats worn with Fauntrleroy suits. There were a wide variety of styles. A reader writes< Did you notice that the hat here looks a lot like the hat in the "Little Lord Fauntleroy" made for TV movie with Alec Guinness and Ricky Schroder? It is a hat that I have not often seen with the outfit." Yes, it does look similar. I remember thinking when I saw the movie that the hat was not approprisate. I think the hat here has a wider brim. I am not sure how common it was. We have noted sone of these has, but the dark colors were ot all that common.

Stylistic Elements

There were two major stylistic elements associated with wide-brimmed hats, the crown and the brim. WE note many vatiations of both. They were enough to give many vaied looks. While only twp basic variables, there were quite a few different ways that both the brim and the crown could be done. We note both rounded and flat crowns. The rounded crowns varfied as to the degree of rounding. Some look almost flat. Others seem a partial seni-circle. Another variable was wear the rounding began. Some hts had an almost vertical rise before the dounding began. We also notice hats with widely varied brim widths. Some of the brims were straight, others were curved to varying degrees. The curving as almost always up, but in the 1910s we see more varied brims. By this time though we no longer see may Fauntleroy suits. The flat crowns varied as to high the sides rose to the crown. While the crown and the brim were the principal stylistic variables, they were not the only one. There were other variables, including the hat band, streamers, and chin straps. Hat bands were dione in colors and various widths. Black or dark colors seem the most common. We note both single and double streamers. Chin straps are more difficult to assess. Most portraits with ide-brimmed hats do not have the boys actually wearing them.

Colors

The broad-brimmed hats boys wore with Little Lord Fauntleroy were done in different colors. Unfortunately, all we can say from the photographic record. At this time all we can say is that we note light and dark colors. Many of these hats were done in straw. Thus we think the light colors are mostly natural straw. The dark hats are probably black, although because of the black-and white photography of the day we have no color information. Surely some, probably most, of the hats were black. Whether they were done in dark colors we are not sure. Black would make sense as so many Fauntleroy suits were black. There were, however, Fauntleroy suits done in colors like dark blue, brown, green, and maroon. Whether there were hats to match, we do not know. We also notice these hats with different colors weave in to form patterns. These hats were done innother material like felt and here we also notice various colors, but like the straw hats we are unsure about colors otherthan light and dark. The light hats aree probably natutral wool colors. We are less sure about the dark hats. We have never noted a discussion of color associated with these hats. Hopefully we will find some information in the mail order catlogs we are archiving.

Material

Many of these broad-brimmed hats worn with Fauntleroy suits were straw hats. We do not notice many other hat styles worn with Fauntleroy suits. Many of the hats we notice were straw hats, but we do notice some other materials, we think primarily felt, but not the hats with the really wide bims. The felt hats, however seem to be the smaller-brimmed riunded gcrown hats and not the broad-brimmed hats. This seema a mtter of practicality and perhaps costs. Straw was cheaper than felt. It was also easier to make the brod brims in straw than felt. Some suits had matching headwear. This was not the case with the broad-brimmed hats. While there is a strong association between the two garments, at least in the modern mind. Straw and velvet can, however, hardly be seen as matching. Although in some cases, mothers did select dark-colored straw to go with velvet suits, usually but not always black. We can see a dark straw wide-brimmed hat here (figure 1). Actual matching jeadwear seems more likely to be tams which might be done in velvet rather than these staw-wide brimmed hats.

Size

Some of these hats are quite large. Thus in many portraits, the boys are not actually wearing them. Mothers considered them, however, an importnt art of the outfit and thus they are often placed somewhere in the frame, usually conspicuously because of the size. Here mother has palced it at the boy's feet (figure 1), but this varied quite a bit in the archives we have collected. The largest hats were the ones done in straw.

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Created: 12:49 AM 4/27/2013
Last updated: 2:20 AM 2/2/2015