The top hat is the hat that most clearly shows what hats once were: not accessories or style choices, but mandatory signals of social position that no respectable man could appear in public without. The story of the top hat is the story of formal dress codes from their peak to their collapse, compressed into a single object that still appears at royal weddings and horse racing events as a living relic of what men once wore as a matter of course.
Origins: The First Top Hat
The top hat emerged in the late 18th century as a development from the earlier tricorn and bicorn hats. The generally accepted first documented top hat belongs to haberdasher John Hetherington, who according to contemporary newspaper reports wore a tall, smooth, cylindrical hat on the streets of London in January 1797 and was subsequently charged with disturbing the peace due to the public panic his hat created. Whether or not this specific event occurred, it captures something real: the top hat was genuinely novel and genuinely shocking when it appeared.
The early top hat was called a stovepipe hat for its resemblance to a flue pipe. The crown was straight-sided and very tall, with a flat top and a relatively small brim. This extreme form was the Georgian original; the Victorian era produced subtler variations with slightly flared or tapered crowns.
The Victorian Peak: Universal Formal Headwear
By the 1830s, the top hat had become the mandatory outdoor hat for men of any social pretension in the UK, the US, and most of Western Europe. It was worn at all formal occasions, in all professional contexts, and on any public occasion where appearance mattered. A businessman, lawyer, politician, clergyman, doctor, or gentleman who appeared in public without a top hat was making an unmistakable statement of either poverty or eccentricity.
The social significance extended downward: men who could not afford the formal silk top hat wore hard felt versions (the bowler hat, which emerged as a working-class and outdoor alternative to the silk topper), and the status hierarchy of the hat was legible at a glance. Silk top hat: formal, upper-middle class and above. Felt top hat: formal but less elevated. Bowler: working professional. Flat cap: working class.
The Materials: Silk Plush and Beaver
The finest top hats were made from silk plush -- a dense, short-pile woven silk fabric -- applied over a buckram base. The silk plush top hat had a characteristic lustrous surface that reflected light with what was described as a watered or moire effect when the nap direction changed. These hats were extraordinarily labor-intensive to make and extremely expensive; they remained relatively rare even among the wealthy until manufacturing improvements in the mid-19th century brought costs down somewhat.
Genuine beaver top hats also existed, following the centuries-long tradition of beaver fiber hatmaking. Beaver top hats were more weather-resistant than silk plush but less lustrous and less formally prestigious. As real beaver became extremely expensive (due to over-hunting), rabbit fiber felt substitutes became standard for lower-priced formal hats.
American Associations: Lincoln and Stovepipe
Abraham Lincoln is the American figure most associated with the top hat -- he wore a silk stovepipe hat consistently from his early political career through his presidency. The hat he was wearing on the night of his assassination at Ford's Theatre in April 1865 survived and is now in the collection of the Smithsonian Institution. The Lincoln-top hat association is so strong in American cultural memory that the style is often called a stovepipe or Lincoln hat in American contexts.
The top hat was common throughout American political and professional life in the 19th century. Every US president from James Monroe (1817) through Calvin Coolidge (1929) was photographed or painted wearing a top hat at some point. The top hat appeared at inaugurations, formal state events, and any occasion where the conventions of formal dress applied.
The Decline: 20th Century
The top hat declined faster and more completely than any other formal hat style. By the 1920s it was already being displaced by the fedora for most formal occasions. By the 1940s it was primarily ceremonial -- worn at weddings, at certain races, and in specific formal contexts where tradition explicitly required it. By the 1960s it was vestigial in mainstream use.
The decline followed the general collapse of formal dress conventions in the 20th century, but the top hat fell faster than the fedora because its formality was so extreme that it had no casual or semi-formal application. The fedora could dress down to everyday wear; the top hat could not. Once formal occasions relaxed their dress codes, there was no context for the top hat to retreat to.
Where Top Hats Are Still Worn
The top hat has survived in specific ceremonial and traditional contexts where its formality signals are still culturally legible and desired:
Royal Ascot (UK): Top hats are required in the Royal Enclosure at Ascot, the only venue in Britain where this dress code is still formally enforced. The wearing of top hats at Ascot is a direct continuation of Victorian-era racing dress codes.
Formal weddings: Morning dress (a specific formal dress code for daytime formal events) traditionally requires a top hat. Morning dress is still worn at the most formal weddings, christenings, and certain state events in the UK.
Ceremonial and state occasions: Certain ceremonial roles -- military uniforms, civic dignitaries in some European traditions, certain judicial costumes -- incorporate top hat variants.
Performance and entertainment: The top hat has a strong theatrical heritage as stage wear, associated with conjurers, musical hall performers, and formal entertainers. Fred Astaire's film performances made the top hat an element of a specific American entertainment aesthetic.
Find classic fedoras and heritage hat styles at Hatloom.
Frequently Asked Questions
Why did men stop wearing top hats?
Because the social norms that made them mandatory disappeared. The top hat was worn because not wearing it in appropriate contexts was a social failure -- it signaled poverty, eccentricity, or disrespect for convention. As formal dress conventions relaxed across the 20th century, first for everyday wear and then for formal occasions, the enforcement mechanism that had maintained top hat wearing for 120 years disappeared. Without social consequence for not wearing one, most men stopped.
When are top hats still appropriate?
Royal Ascot's Royal Enclosure requires top hats, making it one of the very few events where a top hat is an actual dress code requirement. Morning dress events -- certain formal weddings, christenings, and some ceremonial occasions -- traditionally include top hats, though the requirement is rarely formally enforced outside the most traditional contexts. Outside these specific occasions, a top hat reads as theatrical or costumed rather than formally appropriate.
What material is a top hat made from?
The most prestigious traditional top hats were made from silk plush applied over a buckram or felt base. Lower-cost versions used wool or rabbit fiber felt. Modern top hats for the wedding and occasions market are typically made from quality wool felt, as silk plush production has largely ceased. Theatrical and costume top hats may use synthetic materials.
How tall is a top hat?
Historical top hats varied from approximately 15 cm to 20 cm in crown height, with the tallest Victorian stovepipe versions reaching 25 cm or more. Modern formal top hats for weddings and Ascot are typically 16-18 cm, a slightly reduced height from the Victorian extreme that reads as formal without the anachronistic extremism of the tallest historical versions. Theatrical top hats may be taller for visual impact.
Can women wear top hats?
Top hats have appeared in women's fashion repeatedly, particularly in the early 20th century when riding habits included formal top hats for women in equestrian contexts (a tradition still visible in dressage competition, where top hats are worn by riders). In fashion contexts, women's top hats have appeared as statement pieces in multiple decades. The cultural associations with Victorian masculinity have made the women's top hat read as specifically androgynous or avant-garde rather than as conventional occasion headwear, which can be a deliberate style choice.
