General · EdgepediaSeptember 17, 20268 min read

Top hat

The top hat is a man's tall, cylindrical hat with a stiff brim, usually slightly curved at the sides, worn especially on formal occasions¹. It is known by many other names, including stovepipe hat, plug hat, chimney-pot hat, and high hat²^•³. In French it is the haut-de-forme, historically worn with the redingote, the jaquette, or the habit⁴; the Spanish Museo del Traje records it as the chistera⁵. Collapsible hats of the same shape are cataloged as a separate category, opera hats¹.

Key fact	Detail
Definition	Tall, cylindrical hat with a stiff brim usually slightly curved on the sides, worn by men especially on formal occasions¹
First appearance	Very end of the eighteenth century; dominant form of men's headwear for the next hundred years⁶
Daily wear span	1806 to the beginning of the twentieth century, per John Peacock²
Period price	A genuine beaver top hat cost 40 shillings when a hatter might earn two shillings and tuppence a day⁷
Signature material	Silk plush replaced beaver fur as the preferred material by the 1850s⁶
First collapsible patent	1812, by the London hatter Thomas Francis Dollman⁸
Status today	Worn only on special occasions, for example at some weddings⁹

History and origins

The 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 years⁶. 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 men⁸.

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 apocryphal⁷. 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 wear².

Materials, cost, and social meaning

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 cost². 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 wealth⁷.

The silk-plush era. Beaver fur was eventually displaced by silk plush, which gives the hat its rich luster. The Victoria and Albert Museum dates the replacement to the 1850s for its objects⁶, while The Conversation places the disappearance of beaver pelt by the 1830s as the silk top hat appeared⁷; 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 classes². The Spanish national collection describes the construction of such hats as long black silk velvet imitating castor, that is, beaver skin⁵.

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 servants¹⁰. 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 wear⁵.

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 superiors¹¹. Hats made of silk plush required frequent brushing so that the hat and the gentleman looked polished at all times¹¹.

Forms and variants

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 height². 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 Lincoln⁶.

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 toppers⁷. 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 1840s⁸. 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 handle².

Two 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 spring⁸. The Conversation instead credits the Frenchman Antoine Gibus with the invention of the collapsible spring-loaded silk opera hat, known as the Gibus⁷.

The top hat and the bowler

The top hat's principal nineteenth-century rival was the bowler, also called the derby hat, which has a low, rounded crown and an upturned brim¹⁰. 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 occasions¹, while the bowler's low rounded shape became accepted for everyday wear⁷. Chronologically, the top hat held daily dominance from 1806 into the twentieth century², and the bowler overtook it at the end of the nineteenth century¹⁰.

Decline and contemporary use

By 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 situations¹⁰. 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 was photographed holding his top hat as he entered Westminster Abbey¹⁰. Collins records the same narrowing: top hats are now worn only on special occasions, for example at some weddings⁹.

The trade today. The Conversation described top-hat making as a dying craft and reported that only a handful of hatters were still practicing it⁷. 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 Consort⁶.

By the numbers

Documented figures for the hat's dimensions and cost, drawn from museum records and dress history:

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 height⁶.
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 brim¹⁰. 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.
Theatrical extremes reached up to 12 inches high, tall enough that hat checkers were introduced at theaters and operas⁷.
A genuine beaver top hat cost 40 shillings against a hatter's daily wage of two shillings and tuppence⁷.
The first spring-mechanism collapsible top hat was patented in 1812⁸.

References

Initially written Sep 17, 2026 · Reviewed: Oct 25, 2026 · Edited: Oct 15, 2026; Oct 25, 2026