The Savannah morning news., 1902-12-21
SILK HATS OUT OF FAVOR.
Decreased Use in New York Hotels
and Restaurants

the hale Of reSpe''' ABILITY. or the M
/ signia OF sport.t riI"Ss. seeIIs TO be
! slightly out OF 'Htot ut The new CEN
! fury. That the SIX nat - 20 be rele-
| gated with the coonskin CAP for our
| squirrel shooting grand8a titcrs 10 the
| glass cases guarding treasures or the
| past according to the hatters, is not
| to be presumed. The cOOnskin cap
served a good purpose In IFS day. when
| there were no fashionable hat stores
| ia the forests. They were convenient
head covering when men had to sleep
| on The ground.
In the process OF evolution there
/ came the beaver" with its silky curls.
! the "Grandfather's Hat" that was
! prominent Tn the campaigns won and
| lost between Benjamin Harrison and
! Grover Cleveland. President OF the
| United States.
! It is true that John w. Gates and
other men OF more or less prominence
are seen at times in the evening wear
| ing silk hats, but the rule is that the
man in a dress suit wears an opera
hat The silk hat worn by the man in
| a Tuxedo" according to the apparent
| dictates of fortune at present Is about
! as permissible as wearing tan shoes
with the same garments. With the
| long tails of the dress suit the silk hat,
| according to the present fashion, Is
| about as much out of order as TX the
wearer should appear in his paJamas
| at the opera.
At banquet recently held in one of
| the great restaurants "a man of the
world of fashion" appeared with a
shieing silk hat. Those who knew him
wondered. AS he took his check for
his coat and hat he apologizeds saying
that he had gone to sleep in his opera
hat the night before and that the
mechanism had been put out of order.
MA hot hn hnan
| less and that in the morning he had
| found his hat crushed under the weight
| of his torso, much to the discomfort
of his floating ribs. AS he woke up
late. he said, it was impossible for him
| to take the time to buy new opera
hat
The unfortunate man was descend
ant of Daniel Phone. who was accus-
toned to sleep ~ his coonskin cap.
! hoping that the red men seeking his
scalp might in removing the ca? give
! him the alarm that would mean their
swift journey to the happy hunting
| ground"
Similar indications of heredity are
shown by those whose immediate an
cestors wore the SLOUGH hat. or the
sombrero of the west and southwest.
and which came to New York to live
| in luxury. They were among the first
( this season to discard the
silk hat and to wear a
modified SLOUGH. usually a Fe-
dora. They did not begin this with
| Western assurance that their ways
were without doubt superior to other
ways. for when they first came here
| they wore silk hats just as they found
the men here wearing them. They were
in New York to make money where
| money Is made, and they were going
| ~ nj ha tn In n
Rome as the Romans do
Then came the war with Spain,
| where the soldier. regular or Volun-
teer, became the public idol. and the
military hat was an insignia of merit.
This campaign hat, costing about u
cents, would not do. not that 1t was
less valuable than the SLOUGH. but be-
cause there are few who feel comfort
able In borrowed plumage. The next
thing to it was the SLOUGH hat in win
ter and the Panama in summer. The
silk hat staid in the hat box.
In addition to these and other caus-
es leading to the present discredit of
the silk hat was the introduction of a
fad at the horse show of three years
ago. This was in line with the fashion
made almost universal by e. Berry
Wall in the days when he was known
as the king of the dudes" Then nc
properly dressed who did not leave the
lower button of his waistcoat unbut-
toned. To corpulent persons this was
a providential fashion. To the hungry
1t was suggestive of an emptiness that
might better be relieved by a tight
belt At this time the fashion was tc
see that ones valet should not polish
hat, but rather should rub 1t here
and there against the grain. This LED
n ny1fa nF 49,
were old that they were in the best OF
fashion. The sale of silk hats decreas-
ed.
In the regular order of the evolution.
of the fashionable world 1t became styl
ish to leave the upper button of one'l
coat unbuttoned, an apparent result O
the Spanish war, where the exposed
threats of the sailor lads who did ans
dared OFF Santiago were admired a
characteristic of their heroism. Witt
this way of wearing ones coat Their,
was also the summer rage, particularly
popular with men who feared tina
their hair was failing out, of coins
without any headgear at ALL no matte
how hot the sun. With the coming o
the fall and the approach of a winte
showing no arctic attributes the heav,
high hat was left in its box and tn,
derby again came into vogue.
The manufacturers and sellers of tn,
once popular silk hat are far-sighted
They were the first to see the DANCE
that even the felt or derby hats Nigh
become conventional with those VIII,
wear frock coats in the afternoon. The,
threw on the market a new style o
silk hat, most noticeable for its gloss
IL was from one to two inches lowe
in the crown than the silk hats of re
cent seasons. This made It apparen
that the wearer had bought a new
tile"
The silk hat, however, has not beer
, relegated to the headgear of the day
when men wore laces, silk and satin
knickerbockers, white stockings an,
silver buckles on their shoes. Visits [,
the corridors OF fashionable hotels an,
e the halls leading TO the tables of much
= frequented restaurants, talks with tn
= men who check the hats. show that tn
q silk headgear has fallen off in popula
= favor on an average of 40 per cent
e Counting the hats worn when the PEG
= pie stream out of the churches show
. n decrease in popularity of the sill
hat amounting to a little less than 1
per cent.
The high hat, however has not los
its favor with the politicians, and ha
gained an amazing popularity on tn
east side and the Bowery. where TO b
without one on the occasion Of a wed
2 ding. funeral or to go to church witt
a seeming mark OF extreme poverty.