The record-union., 1899-07-25
ENGLISH HATS.
Changes in London Of Re-
cent Years.


If the question were asked of every
wearer of a silk hat. IF comfort Were
the only question to be considered,
would you prefer to wear a felt or a
silk hat?" we do not doubt that, with
out exception, the answer would be
that fashion DEGREES that silk hata
must be worn by all men who wish to
look well dressed, and the dictates OF
fashion must be obeyed, notwithstand-
ing the extra comfort gained by wear
ing a hard or soft felt. While fashion
rules thus, the hat trade benefits all
round. A man wearing a silk hat when
on business, at social functions, or On
Sunday, naturally reverts to felt hat
on other occasions. AS hatterS know, a
hat suffers almost as much wear by
being exposed to light and dust when
hanging on peg as when on the wear
er's head. 1t follows that all branches
of the trade are helped, and the more
frequently the leaders OF fashion de-
sire new shapes in either silks or feltS
the greater will be the turnover Of
manufacturers and retailers.
Who are the mysterious individuals,
or, rather, who is the mysterious indi.
vidual who DEGREES with what particu-
lar kind of covering long-suffering hu-
manity shall hide the brains we are all
more or less supposed to possess? 1t ia
said that the Prince of Wales, who is
a staunch believer in the silk hat, has
considerable hand in the matter But
whether that be so or not, the Prince
is undoubtedly responsible for the still
almost impregnable position this articlt
occupies in the wardrobes According
to London morning paper the silk hat
is losing ground with a frock coat
it is de rigueur the world over of know,
ing what to wear" says the writer Of
the article. But in no city, perhaps,
is the doom of the silk hat more patent
than in London. Twenty, nay, ten
years ago, who but a vulgar clOdhopper
would dare wear a bowler in Bond
street or the park? What city man, to
say nothing of a city clerk. would have
| dreamed of going to his office except in
| the regulation headgear? What fellow
from the country-mOre especially if he
wanted to be taken for cockney-
would have come for a few days holi.
! day to London without his silk hat
| The shape, or style or cut did not mat
ter To his Impractical eye he saw no
difference; the fact that he had a silk
hat on was more than sufficient for
| him. But all that has changed. Tha
silk hat is fast losing it's hold in other
parts of London, as it did many years
ago in Fleet street.-the one great thor
oughfare where headgear is of no .ac-
count; where even poetical species Of
hat is affected by some, a veritable
sombrero of sunny Seville, which. for
some unfathomable reason Londoners
speak of asI 'sombrero hat. as though
sombrero itself meant nothing else.
"But in spite of all this the silk hat
still goes a long way to mark a man.
The silk hat of the swell-the man
about towns not the silk hat of the
city merchant; we have Cabinet Min
| ister's silk hat, a clerical silk hat, a
journalistic silk hat. a cabman's silk
hat, a city clerks silk hat, and many
more There they all are, proclaiming
| loudly to some extent by, their condi.
| ton, but more often by their shape, to
what class of person they belong. -
| Hatters' Gazette.