- Object name(s):
- Top hat
- Brief description:
- Top hat in black silk. Tall crown slightly spreading at sides; broad flat brim. Narrow band of black velvet braid with a wavy floral stem pattern. Japanned metal buckle. Partly lined with quilted red satin, the remainder with striped pink and white silk. Stamped in gold on the lining is 'Made in Paris (?). This hat was given to me by an old Welsh cottager (near Llechryd, Cardiganshire) who has constantly worn it. It has been in my possession since 1893' (?). Much worn and discoloured.
- Collection:
- Victoria and Albert Museum
- Associated concept:
- Accessories
- Associated concept:
- Clothing
- Associated concept:
- Formal wear
- Associated concept:
- Men's clothes
- Associated place:
- Llechryd
- Associated place:
- Wales
- Credit line:
- Given by Mrs. Dodgshon, 20th October 1921
- Current reproduction location:
- https://framemark.vam.ac.uk/collections/2019MA6179/full/!100,100/0/default.jpg
- Location type:
- Thumbnail
- Dimension:
- Height
- Dimension measurement unit:
- in
- Dimension value:
- 8.5
- Dimension:
- Width
- Dimension measured part:
- brim
- Dimension measurement unit:
- in
- Dimension value:
- 3.5
- Dimension:
- Width
- Dimension measured part:
- back to front
- Dimension measurement unit:
- in
- Dimension value:
- 14.75
- Dimension:
- Width
- Dimension measured part:
- left to right
- Dimension measurement unit:
- in
- Dimension value:
- 13.25
- Object name:
- Top hat
- Object number:
- T.335-1921
- Object production date:
- ca. 1893
- Date - association:
- made
- Date - earliest / single:
- 1888-01-01
- Date - latest:
- 1897-12-31
- Object production place:
- Paris
- Place association:
- made
- Object production place:
- France
- Place association:
- made
- Physical description:
- Top hat in black silk. Tall crown slightly spreading at sides; broad flat brim. Narrow band of black velvet braid with a wavy floral stem pattern. Japanned metal buckle. Partly lined with quilted red satin, the remainder with striped pink and white silk. Stamped in gold on the lining is 'Made in Paris (?). This hat was given to me by an old Welsh cottager (near Llechryd, Cardiganshire) who has constantly worn it. It has been in my possession since 1893' (?). Much worn and discoloured.
- Reproduction number:
- 2019MA6179
- Reproduction number:
- 2011FD3342
- Reproduction number:
- 2011FD2914
- Reproduction number:
- 2017JV9188
- Reproduction number:
- 2017JW4477
- Responsible department/section:
- T&F
- Style:
- 19th century last quarter
- Text reason:
- Collections online record
- Text:
- This hat was said to have been worn 'for many years' by a Welsh cottager in the village of Llechryd, Ceredigion. Its date of manufacture is not known, though the style is typical of the middle years of the nineteenth-century. The velvet band, richly-decorated with its floral stem pattern, is actually quite reminiscent of the style of the burgeoning Arts and Crafts movement, which began in the 1860s. It is similar in form to the hat worn by Isembard Kingdom Brunel in Robert Howlett's famous 1857 portrait, though the eminent engineer's lacked a decorative band. The alleged creation of this hat in Paris is appropriate, since the first known depiction of what we know as a top hat was French. The 1796 painting by Charles Vernet, Un Incroyable, depicts a dandy holding an item of black headgear with a high spreading crown and wide curling brim; in other words a recognisable top hat. The top hat, with a few stylistic alterations, remained the dominant form of headwear for the next hundred years. Top hats were the symbol of the emergent middle-class in industrial Victorian Britain. The questionable use of a relatively large amount of rich material on such an uncomfortable style of hat was expressive of an attitude to expressive luxury long-adopted by the aristocracy, whom the new industrialists longed to rub shoulders with.
- Text reason:
- Summary description
Persistent shareable link for this record: https://museumdata.uk/objects/edb85ca4-0cb9-3e80-a8dc-fb064f810454
Use licence for this record: CC BY-NC
Attribution for this record: https://museumdata.uk/objects/edb85ca4-0cb9-3e80-a8dc-fb064f810454, Victoria and Albert Museum, CC BY-NC
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