The hatting trade of the United States of America is noticed first in the representations made by the London Board of Trade to the House of Commons in the year 1732, in which they refer to the complaints of the London hatters, regarding the extent to which their particular manufacture was being carried at that time in New York and in the New England States.
[The Fashions.]
A look at the fashions and mode of dressing in ancient times causes amusement. So capricious is the fancy of man that nothing is immutable, all is change, and hats have been of all conceivable shapes and colors, and dressed with the most fanciful decorations, plumes, jewels, silk-loops, rosettes, badges, gold and silver bands and loops, &c. &c.
The crowns and brims having been in all possible styles from the earliest period. It would appear that nothing is left for the present and all coming time, but the revival of what has already been, even to the fantastical peaked crown that rose half a yard above the wearer's head.
In the fifteenth century, hats in Great Britain were called vanities, and were all imported, costing twenty, thirty, and forty English shillings apiece, which were large sums of money at that early period.
The most extreme broad brims were worn about the year 1700, shortly after which the three-cornered cocked hat came in, and about this time feathers ceased to be worn, the lingering remains being left for the badge of servitude to the gentleman's attendant. Metal bands and loops were only regarded as proper for naval and military men of honor.
It is a singular historical fact that the elegant soft hat of the Spaniard has remained the same from the earliest period to the present day, while among all other civilized nations a transformation in the style of that article has taken place. Comfort in the wear seems to have given place at all times to fancy and the demands of fashion.
Queen Elizabeth's patent grant to the hatters of London is still recognized in England, and the 23d of November is the hatters' annual festival, that being St. Clement's day, the patron of the trade.