[FASHIONS.]
No. 12.
THE high crown hat, vulgarly termed "stove-pipe," may be taken as the general indicator of fashions existing during the period of the present century. Following the "cocked" hat (the counterpart of the French chapeau), which style prevailed at the time of the American Revolution, was the "steeple top," which had a conical crown. This shape for a high hat was soon abandoned and the bell crown substituted, and so acceptable has this particular style proved that, since the opening of this century, it has held supremacy as the fashionable head-covering for man, despite frequent attempts to destroy its popularity by the introduction of other shapes, or the advocating of a change as practical.
High hats were first napped with beaver fur, which material, being expensive, necessarily made costly hats. Otter fur was afterwards used, then muskrat, which greatly lessened their cost.
"Scratch" or "brush" hats (terms used for hats made with a felt body and afterwards combed or scratched until a nap was raised) were manufactured and worn prior to the middle of the century. These were all stiffened high hats, and constituted the dressy article of headwear until the introduction of the silk hat, which for the last fifty years has maintained its ascendency as the leading article of fashion in gentlemen's hats.
About the year 1830 the beaver hat assumed huge proportions of crown, having a very heavy "bell," measuring full seven inches in height and nine inches across the tip; to this crown was added an insignificant brim of only one and a half inches in width. These hats were covered with a beaver nap of such a length that it waved with the wind, and its appearance upon the head of the wearer was as outre and unique as the "shako" on the head of a modern drum-major.
To more forcibly illustrate the proportions of this style of hat, we may say that its actual capacity was nearly a peck.
Besides the high hats of either beaver, brush or silk, caps made of cloth or fur were much used prior to the introduction of the soft felt hat, and continued to be so until an incident occurred which created a sudden revolution in the tastes of the American people regarding their head-dress.
The visit of Louis Kossuth, the eminent Hungarian patriot, to this country in the year 1851, had the effect of producing a wonderful change in the fashion of hats. The one worn by Kossuth was a high unstiffened black felt trimmed with a wide band, and was ornamented with an ostrich feather. The immense popularity of this famous foreigner with all Americans brought about the fashion of a similar hat. Never before or since in this country did the introduction of a new fashion in hats spread with such rapidity as did the "Kossuth." All hat factories in the country were taxed to their utmost capacity to supply the demand, until every American citizen, old and young, was to be seen wearing a soft hat ornamented with an ostrich plume. It was the "Kossuth" that marked the era of the introduction of the soft or slouch hat, and stimulated the sale of that undress article of headwear, which continued in vogue throughout the United States for a number of years. The soft hat appeared in many forms and styles, some of which became universally popular. The "wide-awake," brought out during the election campaign of Abraham Lincoln, in the year 1860, was a noted and successful style. It was a low crown, white felt, with wide black band and binding.