I was watching the movie “LAST OF THE MOHICANS”-and wondered about those three-cornered hats. When did men stop wearing them? I think they are cool-were a few diehards wearing them in say-1850 or so? Maybe these could be revived-they look neat
If I’m not mistaken (and if I am, I hope I’m soon corrected with accurate info) they are still worn with the ceremonial uniform of the pensioners at the Royal Hospital at Chelsea
What killed tricorns off as common fashion was the emergence of the top hat. Top hats had the cachet of being essentially crash helmets worn by hunters on horseback. Kind of hard to us to realize their original sporty appeal since we’re used to seeing them as stodgy, archaic headwear.
In military fahion, they went out of style in favor of shakos during the long era of the Wars of the French Revolution/Napoleonic Wars. Armies wanted their soldiers to look as tall as possible, starting with the grenadiers who wore tall miters (pointy, brass-fronted caps, usually trimmed with fur in the armies of Catholic countires). The shako was a less expensive version - shellacked felt instead of brass or fur - that still added height.
I doubt that this general question is going to erupt into a great debate, so I’m sending this thread to GQ.
There are claims that the tricorn hat came into fashion when ornate powdered wigs did. Fashionably dressed gentlemen started folding up the brims on their hats in order to show off their wigs. Eventually, the hat makers just started making them that way. Presumably, the fashion then extended even to hats that weren’t being worn with wigs, and died out some time after the wigs were no longer worn.
Were the hats constructed with an eye to providing protection in the event of a spill?
They’re also part of the formal garb of the judges of the Supreme Court of Canada, as shown in this photo of former Justice La Forest. They only wear them at formal occasions, such as the swearing in of a new justice.
? A top hat looks nothing like any type of traditional riding helmet, although a top hat is traditional attire worn while riding.
Traditional riding helmet seen in the painting "Out Foxhunting" by Alfred de Dreaux (1810-1860) – and looking remarkably similar to modern yet traditional foxhunting style helmet – and not far removed from modern safety helmets used today throughout the English riding sport world.
Although Top hats were also worn in fox hunting, they were never considered protective.
Ha! I bet now tomndebb regrets taking this out of GD.
Here’s an interesting little link. It says the good ol’ Tricorn hat wasn’t actually called that until long after its popularity had died out. It goes on to give a period from about 1680 to the end of the 1700’s for its popularity.
Cool question.
Heh. It also corroborates what I said:
cite: Alison Lurie The Language of Clothes (1991)
It does, at that. That means we can’t possibly be wrong.
Right?
I’m curious what the author actually knows about horseback riding tradition. I’m curious why she thinks that anyone, anywhere has ever considered a head covered made of felt “protective.” That strikes me as stupid on its face. Perhaps in the sense of “it keeps your hair out of your eyes” but certainly not in the sense of “it protects your noggin.”
In the current thinking, the role of the top hat is quite the contrary. When worn, it “proves” the calm reliable temperment of your horse, as you are obviously forgoing protective gear. As is shown from historical painting, the riding helmet is at least as traditional as the top hat in foxhunting.
Bit of trivia: When a navigator at sea plotted a ship’s position on a map, he would typically use three angles of reference. The three lines drawn on the map seldom intersected perfectly due to small errors, but you could be confident that the ship was somewhere within “the cocked hat”.