Fedora (felt hat)

Fedora

The fedora is a soft felt hat with a mostly wide brim , which is bent down along the crown and pinched in on both sides at the front .

In 1882, the theater actress Sarah Bernhardt in the role of Princess Fédora Romanoff made a hat into fashion among women, which from then on became world-famous as the fedora. He is u. a. worn by representatives of the women's movement. After the turn of the century, the fedora also came into fashion with men - for example with the high-ranking representatives of the gangster organizations during Prohibition in the USA. Known with a smaller brim as a trilby, this version of fedora regained popularity in the 1960s: Sean Connery wore the trilby in his films in the role of James Bond. Fedora and trilby are among the most popular hats of the 19th and 20th centuries.

background

The name was borrowed from the play "Fédora" by Victorien Sardou from 1882. The heroine of the play, Princess Fédora Romanova, wore a hat of a similar style there.

In the early 20th century, the fedora was worn in prestigious, industrialized surroundings as stylish protection against wind and weather, while being compact enough to coexist with newer technology such as the automobile. It is often associated with the mafia of the American prohibition era and with private detectives and is considered the culmination of the so-called zoot suit . Al Capone also made sure that the fedora became a fashionable item of clothing, he repeatedly urged his men to wear gray fedoras so that they could distinguish their own kind from law-abiding citizens.

The popularity of the fedora resulted in its wide variety of styles available. Fedoras can be imagined in almost any color, but black, grays, and browns are the most popular and widespread. In the United States , fedoras were seen as an indispensable part of business or dress suits. Most men did not go out of the house without it.

In 1940s Hollywood films, actors often wore fedoras, especially when playing private detectives, gangsters, or "tough guys." Notable examples are Humphrey Bogart's characters in Casablanca or in The Maltese Falcon . The fedora is closely associated with film noir characters.

Like the melon , the fedora lost its popularity during the late 1950s and early 1960s. It became unpopular even earlier on the American west coast. In the early 1950s there was a change from long and wide skirts and ties to narrower shapes, which also led to shorter-brimmed hats, which deprived the fedora of its position as an indispensable item of clothing. The fedoras have experienced a small comeback in recent years, which makes them more socially acceptable again. Only Charedic ("ultra- orthodox ") Jews have remained loyal to the Fedoras over the years and wear black hats (over a kippah) to this day.

Variations

has a trilby or trilby

In Great Britain , the fedora variant trilby became popular. This hat has a narrower brim. It is characteristic of it that the rear part is pointed sharply upwards.
An Akubra is a felt hat from the company of the same name from Australia. The company is so popular that the term has established itself for almost every slouch hat from Australia.

Occurrence in the media world

The logo of the software company Red Hat shows a red fedora supported by a white shadow.
- The Red Hat company is also behind the Linux distribution called Fedora .
The nighttime bar-goers to Edward Hopper's style-defining painting Nighthawks wear fedoras.
The fictional character Indiana Jones and the comic book character The Question are known for wearing a fedora, which links the felt hat with adventure.
In addition to his clawed glove, the disfigured face and the red and green striped sweater, the fedora is the trademark of the horror creature Freddy Krueger .

The Red Hat logo
Trademark of Indiana Jones , played by Harrison Ford

Famous porters

From 1962 Sean Connery wears trilby hats by the London milliner James Lock & Co. Hatters as a secret agent James Bond in the 007 film series Sandown.
In 1983, Michael Jackson broke away from his brothers on stage for the first time by resolutely putting on a fedora and beginning his live performance of Billie Jean .
The Blues Brothers wore black trilbies. Together with the black suits, the black ties and the sunglasses, that made their typical appearance.
Actor Harrison Ford also wore a fedora in the Indiana Jones films .
The musicians Leonard Cohen , Pete Doherty and Patrick Stump often wear or wore fedoras,
occasionally the actor Johnny Depp as well .
In addition, video game developer Markus Persson wears fedoras very often.

Web links

Commons : Fedoras - collection of images, videos and audio files

Wiktionary: felt hat - explanations of meanings, word origins, synonyms, translations

[1]

Individual evidence

↑ Erika Stalder: Fashion 101: A Crash Course in Clothing . Houghton Mifflin Harcourt, 2008, ISBN 978-0-547-94693-1 , pp. 56 (English, limited preview in Google Book Search [accessed January 14, 2017]).
^ Anne McEvoy: The 1920s And 1930s . In: Costume and Fashion Source Books . Facts On File, Incorporated, New York 2009, ISBN 978-1-4381-2730-9 , pp. 17 (English, limited preview in Google Book Search [accessed January 14, 2017]).
↑ Fedora Hut - also known as Al Capone, Mafia or Bogart Hut. In: Well covered . ( gut-bedeckt.de [accessed on May 16, 2017]).

[1] Erika Stalder: Fashion 101: A Crash Course in Clothing . Houghton Mifflin Harcourt, 2008, ISBN 978-0-547-94693-1 , pp. 56 (English, limited preview in Google Book Search [accessed January 14, 2017]).

[2] Anne McEvoy: The 1920s And 1930s . In: Costume and Fashion Source Books . Facts On File, Incorporated, New York 2009, ISBN 978-1-4381-2730-9 , pp. 17 (English, limited preview in Google Book Search [accessed January 14, 2017]).

[3] Fedora Hut - also known as Al Capone, Mafia or Bogart Hut. In: Well covered . ( gut-bedeckt.de [accessed on May 16, 2017]).