{ "id": "ep1gtrhkq8", "slug": "top-hat-ep1gtrhkq8", "title": "Top hat", "updated": "2026-10-25", "topic_path": [ { "id": "culture", "label": "Arts and culture", "api_url": "https://www.edgepedia.org/api/v1/topics/culture" }, { "id": "culture.daily", "label": "Food, customs, and everyday culture", "api_url": "https://www.edgepedia.org/api/v1/topics/culture.daily" }, { "id": "culture.daily.craft", "label": "Clothing, textiles, and domestic crafts", "api_url": "https://www.edgepedia.org/api/v1/topics/culture.daily.craft" }, { "id": "culture.daily.craft.dress_world", "label": "Dress and clothing of the world", "api_url": "https://www.edgepedia.org/api/v1/topics/culture.daily.craft.dress_world" }, { "id": "culture.daily.craft.dress_world.garments_fabrics", "label": "Garments, fabrics, and clothing terminology", "api_url": "https://www.edgepedia.org/api/v1/topics/culture.daily.craft.dress_world.garments_fabrics" }, { "id": "culture.daily.craft.dress_world.garments_fabrics.garment_types", "label": "Garment types and parts", "api_url": "https://www.edgepedia.org/api/v1/topics/culture.daily.craft.dress_world.garments_fabrics.garment_types" }, { "id": "culture.daily.craft.dress_world.garments_fabrics.garment_types.headwear", "label": "Headwear", "api_url": "https://www.edgepedia.org/api/v1/topics/culture.daily.craft.dress_world.garments_fabrics.garment_types.headwear" } ], "geo": [ { "id": "geo.weu.t1000.culture.daily.craft.dress_world.garments_fabrics", "label": "Western Europe · 1000 to 1799: Garments, fabrics, and clothing terminology", "api_url": "https://www.edgepedia.org/api/v1/geo/geo.weu.t1000.culture.daily.craft.dress_world.garments_fabrics", "path": [ { "id": "geo.weu", "label": "Western Europe", "api_url": "https://www.edgepedia.org/api/v1/geo/geo.weu" }, { "id": "geo.weu.t1000", "label": "Western Europe · 1000 to 1799", "api_url": "https://www.edgepedia.org/api/v1/geo/geo.weu.t1000" }, { "id": "geo.weu.t1000.culture", "label": "Arts and culture", "api_url": "https://www.edgepedia.org/api/v1/geo/geo.weu.t1000.culture" }, { "id": "geo.weu.t1000.culture.daily", "label": "Food, customs, and everyday culture", "api_url": "https://www.edgepedia.org/api/v1/geo/geo.weu.t1000.culture.daily" }, { "id": "geo.weu.t1000.culture.daily.craft", "label": "Clothing, textiles, and domestic crafts", "api_url": "https://www.edgepedia.org/api/v1/geo/geo.weu.t1000.culture.daily.craft" }, { "id": "geo.weu.t1000.culture.daily.craft.dress_world", "label": "Dress and clothing of the world", "api_url": "https://www.edgepedia.org/api/v1/geo/geo.weu.t1000.culture.daily.craft.dress_world" }, { "id": "geo.weu.t1000.culture.daily.craft.dress_world.garments_fabrics", "label": "Garments, fabrics, and clothing terminology", "api_url": "https://www.edgepedia.org/api/v1/geo/geo.weu.t1000.culture.daily.craft.dress_world.garments_fabrics" } ] }, { "id": "geo.weu.t1800.culture.daily.craft.dress_world.garments_fabrics", "label": "Western Europe · 1800 to 1945: Garments, fabrics, and clothing terminology", "api_url": "https://www.edgepedia.org/api/v1/geo/geo.weu.t1800.culture.daily.craft.dress_world.garments_fabrics", "path": [ { "id": "geo.weu", "label": "Western Europe", "api_url": "https://www.edgepedia.org/api/v1/geo/geo.weu" }, { "id": "geo.weu.t1800", "label": "Western Europe · 1800 to 1945", "api_url": "https://www.edgepedia.org/api/v1/geo/geo.weu.t1800" }, { "id": "geo.weu.t1800.culture", "label": "Arts and culture", "api_url": "https://www.edgepedia.org/api/v1/geo/geo.weu.t1800.culture" }, { "id": "geo.weu.t1800.culture.daily", "label": "Food, customs, and everyday culture", "api_url": "https://www.edgepedia.org/api/v1/geo/geo.weu.t1800.culture.daily" }, { "id": "geo.weu.t1800.culture.daily.craft", "label": "Clothing, textiles, and domestic crafts", "api_url": "https://www.edgepedia.org/api/v1/geo/geo.weu.t1800.culture.daily.craft" }, { "id": "geo.weu.t1800.culture.daily.craft.dress_world", "label": "Dress and clothing of the world", "api_url": "https://www.edgepedia.org/api/v1/geo/geo.weu.t1800.culture.daily.craft.dress_world" }, { "id": "geo.weu.t1800.culture.daily.craft.dress_world.garments_fabrics", "label": "Garments, fabrics, and clothing terminology", "api_url": "https://www.edgepedia.org/api/v1/geo/geo.weu.t1800.culture.daily.craft.dress_world.garments_fabrics" } ] } ], "excerpt": "Top hat (silk hat, stovepipe, plug, chimney-pot; French haut-de-forme, Spanish chistera): tall cylindrical men's formal hat, dominant 19th-century headwear, beaver then silk plush, now worn mainly at weddings.", "snippet": "Top hat (silk hat, stovepipe, plug, chimney-pot; French haut-de-forme, Spanish chistera): tall cylindrical men's formal hat, dominant 19th-century headwear, beaver then silk plush, now worn mainly at weddings.", "node": "culture.daily.craft.dress_world.garments_fabrics.garment_types.headwear", "markdown": "# Top hat\n\nThe top hat is a man's tall, cylindrical hat with a stiff brim, usually slightly curved at the sides, worn especially on formal occasions[1](https://vocab.getty.edu/page/aat/300046113). It is known by many other names, including stovepipe hat, plug hat, chimney-pot hat, and high hat[2](https://fashionarchives.org/exhibitions/digital-exhibitions/pennsylvania-top-hats-style-and-commerce-of-the-19th-century/) • [3](https://data.fitzmuseum.cam.ac.uk/id/terminology/term-77485). In French it is the *haut-de-forme*, historically worn with the redingote, the jaquette, or the habit[4](https://www.btb.termiumplus.gc.ca/tpv2alpha/alpha-eng.html?i=&index=ent&lang=eng&srchtxt=TOP+HAT); the Spanish Museo del Traje records it as the *chistera*[5](https://www.cultura.gob.es/mtraje/en/visita/visita-virtual/romanticismo/el-traje-sociedad/chistera.html). Collapsible hats of the same shape are cataloged as a separate category, opera hats[1](https://vocab.getty.edu/page/aat/300046113).\n\n| Key fact | Detail |\n|---|---|\n| Definition | Tall, cylindrical hat with a stiff brim usually slightly curved on the sides, worn by men especially on formal occasions[1](https://vocab.getty.edu/page/aat/300046113) |\n| First appearance | Very end of the eighteenth century; dominant form of men's headwear for the next hundred years[6](https://collections.vam.ac.uk/item/O15690/top-hat-christys/) |\n| Daily wear span | 1806 to the beginning of the twentieth century, per John Peacock[2](https://fashionarchives.org/exhibitions/digital-exhibitions/pennsylvania-top-hats-style-and-commerce-of-the-19th-century/) |\n| Period price | A genuine beaver top hat cost 40 shillings when a hatter might earn two shillings and tuppence a day[7](https://theconversation.com/the-story-of-the-top-hat-26215) |\n| Signature material | Silk plush replaced beaver fur as the preferred material by the 1850s[6](https://collections.vam.ac.uk/item/O15690/top-hat-christys/) |\n| First collapsible patent | 1812, by the London hatter Thomas Francis Dollman[8](https://www.nationalarchives.gov.uk/explore-the-collection/explore-by-time-period/victorians/top-hats/) |\n| Status today | Worn only on special occasions, for example at some weddings[9](https://www.collinsdictionary.com/dictionary/english/top-hat) |\n\n## History and origins\n\nThe top hat first appeared at the very end of the eighteenth century and, through continuous modification of the style, remained the dominant form of men's headwear for the next hundred years[6](https://collections.vam.ac.uk/item/O15690/top-hat-christys/). The UK National Archives describes it as a tall hat with a small brim and a flat top that became a symbol of respectability for the 19th-century middle classes and the most popular style of headwear for men[8](https://www.nationalarchives.gov.uk/explore-the-collection/explore-by-time-period/victorians/top-hats/).\n\n**The Hetherington story.** The earliest top hat is often attributed to the English milliner John Hetherington, on the strength of a story in the *St James' Gazette* in January 1797 in which his first public outing in the hat supposedly caused a riot and led to a charge for wearing \"a tall structure having a shining lustre and calculated to frighten timid people\". The source reporting this account flags it as possibly apocryphal[7](https://theconversation.com/the-story-of-the-top-hat-26215). What is documented without dispute is the hat's spread: according to the costume historian John Peacock, it entered daily wear in 1806 and stayed there until the beginning of the twentieth century, when it was definitively relegated to formal and evening wear[2](https://fashionarchives.org/exhibitions/digital-exhibitions/pennsylvania-top-hats-style-and-commerce-of-the-19th-century/).\n\n## Materials, cost, and social meaning\n\n**Beaver and its hierarchy.** In the early nineteenth century the material signaled cost and rank. The most expensive hats were made of pure beaver felt, which took a dark brown or black color after treatment and polishing; cheaper versions used other furs with a beaver top layer, and straw served in warm climates at low cost[2](https://fashionarchives.org/exhibitions/digital-exhibitions/pennsylvania-top-hats-style-and-commerce-of-the-19th-century/). A genuine beaver top hat cost 40 shillings at a time when a hatter might earn only two shillings and tuppence a day, so the beaver hat stood for upper-class wealth[7](https://theconversation.com/the-story-of-the-top-hat-26215).\n\n**The silk-plush era.** Beaver fur was eventually displaced by silk plush, which gives the hat its rich luster. The [Victoria and Albert Museum](https://www.edgepedia.org/victoria-and-albert-museum) dates the replacement to the 1850s for its objects[6](https://collections.vam.ac.uk/item/O15690/top-hat-christys/), while [The Conversation](https://www.edgepedia.org/the-conversation) places the disappearance of beaver pelt by the 1830s as the silk top hat appeared[7](https://theconversation.com/the-story-of-the-top-hat-26215); the two accounts differ by roughly two decades. The shift to silk had two social effects: it produced a glossier surface than polished felt, and it made the hat affordable to the middle and lower classes[2](https://fashionarchives.org/exhibitions/digital-exhibitions/pennsylvania-top-hats-style-and-commerce-of-the-19th-century/). The Spanish national collection describes the construction of such hats as long black silk velvet imitating castor, that is, beaver skin[5](https://www.cultura.gob.es/mtraje/en/visita/visita-virtual/romanticismo/el-traje-sociedad/chistera.html).\n\n**A hat of authority.** In the mid-nineteenth century the glossy silk plush top hat, sometimes called a chimney pot or stovepipe, was the most popular style of men's hat. It was equated with authority and success, and it was worn not only by the aristocracy, bankers, reputable businessmen, and politicians but also by ambitious lower-class men and by uniformed workers such as stationmasters and male servants[10](https://asufidmmuseum.asu.edu/learn/articles/silk-plush-top-hat-c-1855-60). For the hat described by the Spanish national collection, use was limited to the upper classes because of its high production cost; from the late nineteenth century until about the 1930s it served as formal daytime attire or as an accessory for evening wear[5](https://www.cultura.gob.es/mtraje/en/visita/visita-virtual/romanticismo/el-traje-sociedad/chistera.html).\n\n**Etiquette and upkeep.** The silk top hat became an essential component of the gentleman's wardrobe in the mid-19th century, and wearing it carried a prescribed code: raising or tipping the hat, or touching the brim, to acknowledge social peers or superiors[11](https://www.metmuseum.org/art/collection/search/156249). Hats made of silk plush required frequent brushing so that the hat and the gentleman looked polished at all times[11](https://www.metmuseum.org/art/collection/search/156249).\n\n## Forms and variants\n\n**The stovepipe.** Early top hats were tall and wide-brimmed, which earned them nicknames like stovepipe and chimney; over time the brim shrank and the height decreased, with mid-century variation in taper, brim width, and crown height[2](https://fashionarchives.org/exhibitions/digital-exhibitions/pennsylvania-top-hats-style-and-commerce-of-the-19th-century/). The Victoria and Albert Museum describes the 1850s form, with almost-vertical sides and a fairly broad brim, as fairly typical of the decade and notes that the type was known as the \"stovepipe\", the form most commonly associated with [Abraham Lincoln](https://www.edgepedia.org/abraham-lincoln)[6](https://collections.vam.ac.uk/item/O15690/top-hat-christys/).\n\n**Collapsible opera hats.** As top hats grew tremendously tall, up to 12 inches high, hat checkers had to be introduced at theaters and operas because theatergoers could no longer see the performance through the thicket of toppers[7](https://theconversation.com/the-story-of-the-top-hat-26215). Collapsible top hats, or opera hats, were inspired by opera and theatergoers needing to store their hats under seats during performances, and they enjoyed a surge of popularity in the 1840s[8](https://www.nationalarchives.gov.uk/explore-the-collection/explore-by-time-period/victorians/top-hats/). Structurally, the opera hat was a top hat with an unstiffened body and flexible ribs connected to springs, allowing it to collapse flat and making it easier to handle[2](https://fashionarchives.org/exhibitions/digital-exhibitions/pennsylvania-top-hats-style-and-commerce-of-the-19th-century/).\n\nTwo inventors are credited for the collapsible design, and the sources do not agree. The UK National Archives records that the first collapsible hat using a spring mechanism was patented in 1812 by the London hatter Thomas Francis Dollman, and also notes James Bickerton Jr, inventor of an \"elastic dress and opera hat\" who claimed his design could flatten without the aid of a spring[8](https://www.nationalarchives.gov.uk/explore-the-collection/explore-by-time-period/victorians/top-hats/). The Conversation instead credits the Frenchman Antoine Gibus with the invention of the collapsible spring-loaded silk opera hat, known as the Gibus[7](https://theconversation.com/the-story-of-the-top-hat-26215).\n\n## The top hat and the bowler\n\nThe top hat's principal nineteenth-century rival was the bowler, also called the derby hat, which has a low, rounded crown and an upturned brim[10](https://asufidmmuseum.asu.edu/learn/articles/silk-plush-top-hat-c-1855-60). The two hats mark opposite ends of the formality scale: the top hat's tall cylindrical crown and stiff, side-curved brim belonged to formal occasions[1](https://vocab.getty.edu/page/aat/300046113), while the bowler's low rounded shape became accepted for everyday wear[7](https://theconversation.com/the-story-of-the-top-hat-26215). Chronologically, the top hat held daily dominance from 1806 into the twentieth century[2](https://fashionarchives.org/exhibitions/digital-exhibitions/pennsylvania-top-hats-style-and-commerce-of-the-19th-century/), and the bowler overtook it at the end of the nineteenth century[10](https://asufidmmuseum.asu.edu/learn/articles/silk-plush-top-hat-c-1855-60).\n\n## Decline and contemporary use\n\nBy the end of the nineteenth century the top hat was losing ground to the bowler, and by the end of World War I it was worn only for formal or ceremonial situations[10](https://asufidmmuseum.asu.edu/learn/articles/silk-plush-top-hat-c-1855-60). Today top hats are rarely worn except at formal weddings; at the 2011 royal wedding of Kate Middleton and Prince William, the footballer [David Beckham](https://www.edgepedia.org/david-beckham) was photographed holding his top hat as he entered [Westminster Abbey](https://www.edgepedia.org/westminster-abbey)[10](https://asufidmmuseum.asu.edu/learn/articles/silk-plush-top-hat-c-1855-60). Collins records the same narrowing: top hats are now worn only on special occasions, for example at some weddings[9](https://www.collinsdictionary.com/dictionary/english/top-hat).\n\n**The trade today.** The Conversation described top-hat making as a dying craft and reported that only a handful of hatters were still practicing it[7](https://theconversation.com/the-story-of-the-top-hat-26215). One indication of how esteemed the trade once was is Christy's, which rose to prominence during the 1850s as a maker of fine hats once it had manufactured top hats for [Albert, the Prince Consort](https://www.edgepedia.org/prince-albert-of-saxe-coburg-and-gotha)[6](https://collections.vam.ac.uk/item/O15690/top-hat-christys/).\n\n## By the numbers\n\nDocumented figures for the hat's dimensions and cost, drawn from museum records and dress history:\n\n- A ca. 1856 English black silk top hat by Christy's in the Victoria and Albert Museum measures 32.4 cm in length and 17.1 cm in height[6](https://collections.vam.ac.uk/item/O15690/top-hat-christys/).\n- A typical silk plush top hat of the 1850s, in the ASU FIDM Museum's dating, stood about 8 inches (roughly 20 cm) tall, with straight sides and a moderately curved brim[10](https://asufidmmuseum.asu.edu/learn/articles/silk-plush-top-hat-c-1855-60). The two museum figures describe different objects and methods, a single surviving hat versus a typical height for the decade, and both fall within the mid-nineteenth-century range.\n- Theatrical extremes reached up to 12 inches high, tall enough that hat checkers were introduced at theaters and operas[7](https://theconversation.com/the-story-of-the-top-hat-26215).\n- A genuine beaver top hat cost 40 shillings against a hatter's daily wage of two shillings and tuppence[7](https://theconversation.com/the-story-of-the-top-hat-26215).\n- The first spring-mechanism collapsible top hat was patented in 1812[8](https://www.nationalarchives.gov.uk/explore-the-collection/explore-by-time-period/victorians/top-hats/).\n\n## References\n\n1. [Top hat, Art & Architecture Thesaurus, Getty Research](https://vocab.getty.edu/page/aat/300046113)\n2. [Pennsylvania Top Hats: Style and Commerce of the 19th Century, Fashion Archives & Museum](https://fashionarchives.org/exhibitions/digital-exhibitions/pennsylvania-top-hats-style-and-commerce-of-the-19th-century/)\n3. [Top hats, terminology record, The Fitzwilliam Museum](https://data.fitzmuseum.cam.ac.uk/id/terminology/term-77485)\n4. [TOP HAT, TERMIUM Plus, Government of Canada](https://www.btb.termiumplus.gc.ca/tpv2alpha/alpha-eng.html?i=&index=ent&lang=eng&srchtxt=TOP+HAT)\n5. [Top hat (chistera), Museo del Traje, Spanish Ministry of Culture](https://www.cultura.gob.es/mtraje/en/visita/visita-virtual/romanticismo/el-traje-sociedad/chistera.html)\n6. [Top Hat, Christy's, ca. 1856, V&A Explore The Collections](https://collections.vam.ac.uk/item/O15690/top-hat-christys/)\n7. [The story of … the top hat, The Conversation](https://theconversation.com/the-story-of-the-top-hat-26215)\n8. [Top hat designs, The National Archives (UK)](https://www.nationalarchives.gov.uk/explore-the-collection/explore-by-time-period/victorians/top-hats/)\n9. [TOP HAT definition and meaning, Collins English Dictionary](https://www.collinsdictionary.com/dictionary/english/top-hat)\n10. [Silk plush top hat, c. 1855-60, ASU FIDM Museum](https://asufidmmuseum.asu.edu/learn/articles/silk-plush-top-hat-c-1855-60)\n11. [Top hat (silk plush), The Metropolitan Museum of Art](https://www.metmuseum.org/art/collection/search/156249)\n\n---\n*Topic: Encyclopedia › Arts and culture › Food, customs, and everyday culture › Clothing, textiles, and domestic crafts › Dress and clothing of the world › Garments, fabrics, and clothing terminology › Garment types and parts › Headwear*\n\n*Initially written Sep 17, 2026 · Reviewed: Oct 25, 2026 · Edited: Oct 15, 2026; Oct 25, 2026 · Last review: Oct 25, 2026*\n\n*Copyright 2026 EdgeChat AI, a subsidiary of Biostate AI.*\n\nLicense: Edgepedia Community License 1.0, https://www.edgepedia.org/edgepedia/license\n", "same_as": [], "url": "https://www.edgepedia.org/top-hat-ep1gtrhkq8", "markdown_url": "https://www.edgepedia.org/top-hat-ep1gtrhkq8.md", "license": { "name": "Edgepedia Community License 1.0", "url": "https://www.edgepedia.org/edgepedia/license", "summary": "Free with credit, commercial use included. AI training is open to everyone. For other uses, organizations over USD 100M in revenue or 100M monthly users license separately.", "spdx": "LicenseRef-Edgepedia-Community-1.0" }, "credit": "\"Top hat\", Edgepedia (EdgeChat), https://www.edgepedia.org/top-hat-ep1gtrhkq8. Edgepedia Community License 1.0.", "credit_md": "\"[Top hat](https://www.edgepedia.org/top-hat-ep1gtrhkq8)\", Edgepedia (EdgeChat), [https://www.edgepedia.org/top-hat-ep1gtrhkq8](https://www.edgepedia.org/top-hat-ep1gtrhkq8). [Edgepedia Community License 1.0](https://www.edgepedia.org/edgepedia/license).", "credit_html": "\"Top hat\", Edgepedia (EdgeChat), https://www.edgepedia.org/top-hat-ep1gtrhkq8. Edgepedia Community License 1.0.", "speakable": "Top hat: tall cylindrical men's formal hat, dominant 19th-century headwear, beaver then silk plush, now worn mainly at weddings." }