# Why a buckle on a hat? **URL:** \ **Category:** Factual Questions\ **Created:** [January 2, 2013, 1:13am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-a-buckle-on-a-hat/645788 "2013-01-02T01:13:27Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![Northern\_Piper](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/northern_piper/32/5304_2.png) [@Northern\_Piper](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Northern_Piper)\ **Post date:** [January 2, 2013, 1:13am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-a-buckle-on-a-hat/645788/1 "2013-01-02T01:13:27Z")
It’s a US Thanksgiving meme - pilgrims wearing tophats with a buckle on them. Why a buckle on a hat? ---
**Author:** ![Kent\_Clark](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/kent_clark/32/105_2.png) [@Kent\_Clark](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Kent_Clark)\ **Post date:** [January 2, 2013, 1:18am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-a-buckle-on-a-hat/645788/2 "2013-01-02T01:18:41Z")
Simple. You made the hat from a one-size-fits-all pattern. The buckle is for a “belt” which you use to adjust the crown to the head size. ---
**Author:** ![panache45](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/panache45/32/64_2.png) [@panache45](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/panache45)\ **Post date:** [January 2, 2013, 2:20am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-a-buckle-on-a-hat/645788/3 "2013-01-02T02:20:45Z")
And you thought baseball caps were the first adjustable headwear? And apparently their shoes were adjustable too. ---
**Author:** ![silenus](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/silenus/32/166_2.png) [@silenus](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/silenus)\ **Post date:** [January 2, 2013, 2:23am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-a-buckle-on-a-hat/645788/4 "2013-01-02T02:23:01Z")
“…which was the fashion at the time.” ---
**Author:** ![Nunzio\_Tavulari](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/n/b9bd4f/32.png) [@Nunzio\_Tavulari](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Nunzio_Tavulari)\ **Post date:** [January 2, 2013, 3:19am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-a-buckle-on-a-hat/645788/5 "2013-01-02T03:19:54Z")
I would not be surprised to find that buckle hats existed only in the mind of an illustrator. That some guy was doing an ad for cranberry sauce and thought an unbuckled hat looked too much like a top hat. Everyone would laugh if you wore a top hat to dinner with godless savages…so some embellishment was needed and an adjustable crown seemed believable. I think the buckle shoes were the invention of Thom McCann. I distinctly remember back in my middle school years having a pair of desert boots with a prominent buckle front & center. And an onion on my belt… ---
**Author:** ![robert\_columbia](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/e79b87/32.png) [@robert\_columbia](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/robert_columbia)\ **Post date:** [January 2, 2013, 3:28am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-a-buckle-on-a-hat/645788/6 "2013-01-02T03:28:38Z")
> [@Nunzio\_Tavulari](#): > > …I distinctly remember back in my middle school years having a pair of desert boots with a prominent buckle front & center. And an onion on my belt… Which was the style at the time. ---
**Author:** ![Guinastasia](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/guinastasia/32/5751_2.png) [@Guinastasia](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Guinastasia)\ **Post date:** [January 2, 2013, 4:22am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-a-buckle-on-a-hat/645788/7 "2013-01-02T04:22:40Z")
Why a flower on a hat? Why a ribbon on a hat? Simple, for decoration’s sake. ---
**Author:** ![Elmer\_J.Fudd](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/elmer_j.fudd/32/1211_2.png) [@Elmer\_J.Fudd](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Elmer_J.Fudd)\ **Post date:** [January 2, 2013, 4:52am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-a-buckle-on-a-hat/645788/8 "2013-01-02T04:52:37Z")
The pilgrims never wore buckles on their hats or shoes (laces were more likely, especially for colonists with no need for impractical decoration.) Buckled hats was a London fashion popular in England during the Restoration era 50 years after the founding of Plymouth Rock. In other words, the fashion familiar to the first artists asked to illustrate stories about the English settlement of the New World. ---
**Author:** ![Nava](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/n/da6949/32.png) [@Nava](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Nava)\ **Post date:** [January 2, 2013, 4:57am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-a-buckle-on-a-hat/645788/9 "2013-01-02T04:57:49Z")
While I certainly have no problem believing that buckled hats were all the fashion 50 years post-facto (just look at all those “historic” paintings where people are wearing the fashions of the painter’s time), there is no such thing as a human with no need for impractical decoration… humans just love to decorate. ---
**Author:** ![Aquadementia](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/aquadementia/32/555_2.png) [@Aquadementia](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Aquadementia)\ **Post date:** [January 2, 2013, 5:13am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-a-buckle-on-a-hat/645788/10 "2013-01-02T05:13:59Z")
Not that I expect this helps, but I think leprechauns are often shown with buckled hats. Buckles and feathers and other doodads in your hat seems like a good way to throw how fancy you are in the face of the Amish. Perhaps it started out as a sentimental keepsake. Babies first belt. ---
**Author:** ![Mean\_Mr.Mustard](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/mean_mr.mustard/32/3865_2.png) [@Mean\_Mr.Mustard](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Mean_Mr.Mustard)\ **Post date:** [January 2, 2013, 2:18pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-a-buckle-on-a-hat/645788/11 "2013-01-02T14:18:02Z")
My favorite “Win Ben Stein’s Money” category: The Pilgrim Ate So Much For Thanksgiving He Had To Unbuckle His Hat. mmm ---
**Author:** ![tanstaafl](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/ba8739/32.png) [@tanstaafl](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/tanstaafl)\ **Post date:** [January 2, 2013, 11:35pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-a-buckle-on-a-hat/645788/12 "2013-01-02T23:35:21Z")
Why did the Pilgrims have buckles on their hats? This explains everything… ((College Humor video, NSFW. Link is broken so make the obvious fix.)) [http://www.youtube.com/](http://www.youtube.com/) watch?v=eLkzqLHxJeQ ---
**Author:** ![Smartypants1](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/4491bb/32.png) [@Smartypants1](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Smartypants1)\ **Post date:** [September 16, 2017, 2:32pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-a-buckle-on-a-hat/645788/13 "2017-09-16T14:32:51Z")
The Pilgrims men wore buckles on their hats because the ‘equipment’ is usually below the belt!:rolleyes: ---
**Author:** ![Darren\_Garrison](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/darren_garrison/32/92_2.png) [@Darren\_Garrison](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Darren_Garrison)\ **Post date:** [September 16, 2017, 2:37pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-a-buckle-on-a-hat/645788/14 "2017-09-16T14:37:13Z")
> [@Smartypants1](#): > > The Pilgrims men wore buckles on their hats because the ‘equipment’ is usually below the belt!:rolleyes: So you are saying that the pilgrams were dickheads? ---
**Author:** ![Bijou\_Drains](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/bijou_drains/32/2814_2.png) [@Bijou\_Drains](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Bijou_Drains)\ **Post date:** [September 16, 2017, 3:43pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-a-buckle-on-a-hat/645788/15 "2017-09-16T15:43:35Z")
now a lot of boots have buckles just for show especially for women’s boots. ---
**Author:** ![Beckdawrek](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/beckdawrek/32/3647_2.png) [@Beckdawrek](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Beckdawrek)\ **Post date:** [September 16, 2017, 6:47pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-a-buckle-on-a-hat/645788/16 "2017-09-16T18:47:54Z")
I can’t believe pitifully illprepared pilgrims ( puritans)had time or substance to have decorative objects at all…and I’m pretty sure the native americans didn’t have metal buckles to give them …maybe it was fashionable before they left…i don’t know ---
**Author:** ![Mean\_Mr.Mustard](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/mean_mr.mustard/32/3865_2.png) [@Mean\_Mr.Mustard](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Mean_Mr.Mustard)\ **Post date:** [September 17, 2017, 12:11am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-a-buckle-on-a-hat/645788/17 "2017-09-17T00:11:58Z")
> [@Smartypants1](#): > > The Pilgrims men wore buckles on their hats because the ‘equipment’ is usually below the belt!:rolleyes: Note that it took **Smartypants1** nearly five years to come up with that zinger. mmm ---
**Author:** ![Acsenray](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/acsenray/32/4519_2.png) [@Acsenray](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Acsenray)\ **Post date:** [September 17, 2017, 12:24am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-a-buckle-on-a-hat/645788/18 "2017-09-17T00:24:07Z")
The Pilgrim hats are not top hats. Top hats have a cylindrical crown and a narrow brim and became popular in the late 19th century I believe. The Pilgrims wore hats with conical crowns and wide brims called capotains. But yes as others have said, the buckles were fashionable a few decades later in London. Dammit. Didn’t notice zombie nature of thread. ---
**Author:** ![Ludovic](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/7ab992/32.png) [@Ludovic](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Ludovic)\ **Post date:** [September 17, 2017, 1:20am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-a-buckle-on-a-hat/645788/19 "2017-09-17T01:20:29Z")
This thread was fashionable a few decades later in London. ---
**Author:** ![blondebear](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/blondebear/32/1022_2.png) [@blondebear](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/blondebear)\ **Post date:** [September 17, 2017, 1:33am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-a-buckle-on-a-hat/645788/20 "2017-09-17T01:33:32Z")
> [@Darren\_Garrison](#): > > So you are saying that the pilgrams were dickheads? [This guy](https://www.guitarinteractivemagazine.com/media/1666/ritchie_blackmore.jpg?mode=pad&quality=70&width=758&height=505&bgcolor=ffffff&rnd=131029556930000000) wore a hat with a buckle…some people have considered him a dickhead. 😃 [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-a-buckle-on-a-hat/645788.md?page=2)