The bowler hat, also known as a Coke hat, billycock, bob hat, bombín (Spanish) or derby (United States), is a hard
felt
Felt is a textile that is produced by matting, condensing, and pressing fibers together. Felt can be made of natural fibers such as wool or animal fur, or from synthetic fibers such as petroleum-based acrylic fiber, acrylic or acrylonitrile or ...
hat
A hat is a Headgear, head covering which is worn for various reasons, including protection against weather conditions, ceremonial reasons such as university graduation, religious reasons, safety, or as a fashion accessory. Hats which incorpor ...
with a rounded crown, originally created by the London hat-makers Thomas and William Bowler in 1849 and commissioned by
Lock & Co. Hatters of
St James's Street
St James's Street is the principal street in the district of St James's, central London. It runs from Piccadilly downhill to St James's Palace and Pall Mall. The main gatehouse of the Palace is at the southern end of the road; in the 17th centu ...
, London.
It has traditionally been worn with
semi-formal and
informal attire
Informal wear or undress, also called business wear, corporate/office wear, tenue de ville or dress clothes, is a Western dress codes, Western dress code for clothing defined by a business suit for men, and cocktail dress or pant suit for wome ...
.
The bowler, a protective and durable hat style, was popular with the British, Irish, and American
working class
The working class is a subset of employees who are compensated with wage or salary-based contracts, whose exact membership varies from definition to definition. Members of the working class rely primarily upon earnings from wage labour. Most c ...
es during the second half of the 19th century, and later with the
middle and
upper class
Upper class in modern societies is the social class composed of people who hold the highest social status. Usually, these are the wealthiest members of class society, and wield the greatest political power. According to this view, the upper cla ...
es in the United Kingdom, Ireland, and the
east coast of the United States.
It became the quintessential attire of
City of London
The City of London, also known as ''the City'', is a Ceremonial counties of England, ceremonial county and Districts of England, local government district with City status in the United Kingdom, city status in England. It is the Old town, his ...
gents in the early 1900s, a tradition that lasted until the 1970s.
Origins

The bowler hat was designed in 1849 by the London hat-makers Thomas and William Bowler to fulfill an order placed by the company of hatters
James Lock & Co. of
St James's
St James's is a district of Westminster, and a central district in the City of Westminster, London, forming part of the West End of London, West End. The area was once part of the northwestern gardens and parks of St. James's Palace and much of ...
,
which had been commissioned by a customer to design a close-fitting, low-crowned hat to protect
gamekeepers from low-hanging branches while on horseback. The keepers had previously worn
top hat
A top hat (also called a high hat, or, informally, a topper) is a tall, flat-crowned hat traditionally associated with formal wear in Western dress codes, meaning white tie, morning dress, or frock coat. Traditionally made of black silk or ...
s, which were knocked off easily and damaged.
The identity of the customer is less certain, with some suggesting it was
Thomas Coke, 1st Earl of Leicester, who had an estate at
Holkham Hall, in
Norfolk
Norfolk ( ) is a Ceremonial counties of England, ceremonial county in England, located in East Anglia and officially part of the East of England region. It borders Lincolnshire and The Wash to the north-west, the North Sea to the north and eas ...
.
[Roetzel, Bernhard (1999). ''Gentleman's Guide to Grooming and Style''. Barnes & Noble.] However, research performed by a younger relation of the 1st Earl casts doubt on this story, and it is claimed by James Lock & Co. that the bowler was invented for
Edward Coke
Sir Edward Coke ( , formerly ; 1 February 1552 – 3 September 1634) was an English barrister, judge, and politician. He is often considered the greatest jurist of the Elizabethan era, Elizabethan and Jacobean era, Jacobean eras.
Born into a ...
, the younger brother of
Thomas Coke, 2nd Earl of Leicester.
[ When Edward Coke arrived in London on 17 December 1849 to collect his hat he reputedly placed it on the floor and stamped hard on it twice to test its strength; the hat withstood this test and Coke paid 12 ]shilling
The shilling is a historical coin, and the name of a unit of modern currency, currencies formerly used in the United Kingdom, Australia, New Zealand, other British Commonwealth countries and Ireland, where they were generally equivalent to 1 ...
s for it.
Cultural significance in the British Isles
The bowler has had varying degrees of significance in British culture. They were popular among the working classes in the 19th century. From the early 20th century, bowler hats were more commonly associated with financial workers and businessmen working in London's financial districts, also known as "City
A city is a human settlement of a substantial size. The term "city" has different meanings around the world and in some places the settlement can be very small. Even where the term is limited to larger settlements, there is no universally agree ...
gents". According to ''The Daily Telegraph
''The Daily Telegraph'', known online and elsewhere as ''The Telegraph'', is a British daily broadsheet conservative newspaper published in London by Telegraph Media Group and distributed in the United Kingdom and internationally. It was found ...
'', "The hat was adopted by City workers in the early 1900s and teamed with a buttonhole and walking stick to give the impression of sophistication". The traditional wearing of bowler hats with City business attire declined during the 1970s. In modern times bowlers are not common, although the so-called City gent wearing a bowler and carrying a rolled umbrella
An umbrella or parasol is a folding canopy supported by wooden or metal ribs that is mounted on a wooden, metal, or plastic pole. It is usually designed to protect a person against rain. The term ''umbrella'' is traditionally used when protec ...
remains a representation of Englishmen. For this reason, two bowler-hatted men were used in the logo of the British building society (subsequently bank) Bradford & Bingley.
In Scotland
Scotland is a Countries of the United Kingdom, country that is part of the United Kingdom. It contains nearly one-third of the United Kingdom's land area, consisting of the northern part of the island of Great Britain and more than 790 adjac ...
and Northern Ireland
Northern Ireland ( ; ) is a Countries of the United Kingdom, part of the United Kingdom in the north-east of the island of Ireland. It has been #Descriptions, variously described as a country, province or region. Northern Ireland shares Repub ...
the bowler hat is worn traditionally by members of the main Loyalist fraternities such as the Orange Order
The Loyal Orange Institution, commonly known as the Orange Order, is an international Protestant fraternal order based in Northern Ireland and primarily associated with Ulster Protestants. It also has lodges in England, Grand Orange Lodge of ...
, the Independent Loyal Orange Institution, the Royal Black Preceptory and the Apprentice Boys of Derry for their parades and annual celebrations.
Female officers of many British police forces also wear bowler hats as part of their uniforms
A uniform is a variety of costume worn by members of an organization while usually participating in that organization's activity. Modern uniforms are most often worn by armed forces and paramilitary organizations such as police, emergency ser ...
. This includes a cap badge
A cap badge, also known as head badge or hat badge, is a badge worn on uniform headgear and distinguishes the wearer's nationality and/or organisation. The wearing of cap badges is a convention commonly found among military and police forces, as ...
and generally has a black-and-white chequered band (called Sillitoe tartan
Sillitoe tartan is a distinctive chequered pattern, usually black-and-white or blue-and-white, which was originally associated with the Police Scotland, police in Scotland. It later gained widespread use in the rest of the United Kingdom and ov ...
) around the hat. Bowlers worn by female traffic police officers have white crowns or covers. These hats are not worn in the Police Service of Northern Ireland.
They are also part of the uniforms of female police community support officers (PCSOs).
File:WMP_Museum_-_West_Midlands_Police_hat_2_02.jpg, A typical bowler hat of female British police officers
File:WMP_Museum_-_West_Midlands_Police_Community_Support_Officer_hat_1_01.jpg, A typical bowler of female PCSOs in the UK
Outside the British Isles
The bowler, not the cowboy hat
The cowboy hat is a high-crowned, wide-brimmed hat best known as the defining piece of attire for the North American cowboy. Today it is worn by many people, and is particularly associated with ranch workers in the United States, Canada, Mexico, C ...
or sombrero, was the most popular hat in the American West, prompting Lucius Beebe to call it "the hat that won the West". Both cowboys and railroad workers preferred the hat because it would not blow off easily in strong wind while riding a horse, or when sticking one's head out the window of a speeding train. It was worn by both lawmen and outlaw
An outlaw, in its original and legal meaning, is a person declared as outside the protection of the law. In pre-modern societies, all legal protection was withdrawn from the criminal, so anyone was legally empowered to persecute or kill them. ...
s, including Bat Masterson
Bartholemew William Barclay "Bat" Masterson (November 26, 1853 – October 25, 1921) was a U.S. Army scout, lawman, professional gambler, and journalist known for his exploits in the late 19th and early 20th-century American Old West. He was bo ...
, Butch Cassidy
Robert LeRoy Parker (April 13, 1866 – November 7, 1908), better known as Butch Cassidy, was an American train robbery, train and bank robbery, bank robber and the leader of a gang of criminal outlaws known as the "Butch Cassidy's Wild Bunch, ...
, Black Bart, and Billy the Kid. In the United States the hat came to be known commonly as the ''derby'', and American outlaw Marion Hedgepeth was commonly referred to as "the Derby Kid".
In South America, the bowler, known as in Spanish, has been worn by Quechua and Aymara women since the 1920s, when it was introduced to Bolivia by British railway workers. For many years, a factory in Italy manufactured such hats for the Bolivian market, but they are now made locally.
In Norway, Hans Majestet Kongens Garde
His Majesty The King's Guard () is a royal guard battalion of the Norwegian Army. The battalion has two main roles; it serves as the Norwegian King's bodyguards, guarding the royal residences (the Royal Palace in Oslo, Bygdøy Royal Estate, Bygdøy ...
(the royal guards) wear plumed bowler hats as part of their uniform. It was copied from the hats of the Italian Bersaglieri troops; a regiment that so impressed the Swedish princess Louise that she insisted the Norwegian guards be similarly hatted in 1860.
In the Philippines
The Philippines, officially the Republic of the Philippines, is an Archipelagic state, archipelagic country in Southeast Asia. Located in the western Pacific Ocean, it consists of List of islands of the Philippines, 7,641 islands, with a tot ...
, bowler hats were known by its Spanish name (literally "mushroom hat"). Along with the native buntal hat
The buntal hat is a traditional lightweight straw hat from the Philippines made from very finely-woven fibers extracted from the Petiole (botany), petioles of Corypha, buri palm leaves. It is traditionally worn by farmers working in the fields a ...
s, they were a common part of the traditional men's ensemble of the '' barong tagalog'' during the second half of the 19th century.
The bowler hat was worn by the national hero of the Philippines, José Rizal
José Protasio Rizal Mercado y Alonso Realonda (, ; June 19, 1861 – December 30, 1896) was a Filipino nationalist, writer and polymath active at the end of the Spanish colonial period of the Philippines. He is popularly considered a na ...
, during his execution on 30 December 1896, and it is still seen as symbolic of the history of the Philippine Revolution.
In popular culture
The bowler hat was famously used by actors such as Charlie Chaplin
Sir Charles Spencer Chaplin (16 April 188925 December 1977) was an English comic actor, filmmaker, and composer who rose to fame in the era of silent film. He became a worldwide icon through his screen persona, the Tramp, and is considered o ...
, Laurel and Hardy
Laurel and Hardy were a British-American double act, comedy duo during the early Classical Hollywood cinema, Classical Hollywood era of American cinema, consisting of Englishman Stan Laurel (1890–1965) and American Oliver Hardy (1892–1957) ...
, Shemp Howard and Curly Howard; and by the fictional character John Steed of '' The Avengers'', played by Patrick Macnee. In the 1964 film ''Mary Poppins Mary Poppins may refer to:
* Mary Poppins (character), a nanny with magical powers
* Mary Poppins (franchise), based on the fictional nanny
** Mary Poppins (book series), ''Mary Poppins'' (book series), the original 1934–1988 children's fanta ...
'', set in Edwardian London
London is the Capital city, capital and List of urban areas in the United Kingdom, largest city of both England and the United Kingdom, with a population of in . London metropolitan area, Its wider metropolitan area is the largest in Wester ...
, 1910, the London banker George Banks (played by David Tomlinson) wears a bowler.
The British bank Bradford & Bingley owns more than 100 separate trademarks featuring the bowler hat, its long-running logo
A logo (abbreviation of logotype; ) is a graphic mark, emblem, or symbol used to aid and promote public identification and recognition. It may be of an abstract or figurative design or include the text of the name that it represents, as in ...
. In 1995, the bank purchased, for £2000, a bowler hat which had once belonged to Stan Laurel
Stan Laurel ( ; born Arthur Stanley Jefferson; 16 June 1890 – 23 February 1965) was an English comic actor, director and writer who was in the comedy double act, duo Laurel and Hardy. He appeared with his comedy partner Oliver Hardy in 107 sh ...
.
The bowler is part of the Droog outfit that main character Alex
Alex is a given name. Similar names are Alexander, Alexandra, Alexey or Alexis.
People
Multiple
* Alex Brown (disambiguation), multiple people
* Alex Cook (disambiguation), multiple people
* Alex Forsyth (disambiguation), multiple people
* Al ...
wears in the film version of '' A Clockwork Orange'' to the extent that contemporary fancy dress costumes for this character refer to the bowler hat.
There was a chain of restaurants in Los Angeles
Los Angeles, often referred to by its initials L.A., is the List of municipalities in California, most populous city in the U.S. state of California, and the commercial, Financial District, Los Angeles, financial, and Culture of Los Angeles, ...
, California known as The Brown Derby. The first and most famous of these was shaped like a derby.
Many paintings by the Belgian surrealist artist René Magritte
René François Ghislain Magritte (; 21 November 1898 – 15 August 1967) was a Belgium, Belgian surrealist artist known for his depictions of familiar objects in unfamiliar, unexpected contexts, which often provoked questions about the nature ...
feature bowler hats. '' The Son of Man'' consists of a man in a bowler hat standing in front of a wall. The man's face is largely obscured by a hovering green apple
An apple is a round, edible fruit produced by an apple tree (''Malus'' spp.). Fruit trees of the orchard or domestic apple (''Malus domestica''), the most widely grown in the genus, are agriculture, cultivated worldwide. The tree originated ...
. '' Golconda'' depicts "raining men" all wearing bowler hats.
Choreographer Bob Fosse frequently incorporated bowler hats into his dance routines. This use of hats as props, as seen in the 1972 movie ''Cabaret
Cabaret is a form of theatrical entertainment featuring music song, dance, recitation, or drama. The performance venue might be a pub, casino, hotel, restaurant, or nightclub with a stage for performances. The audience, often dining or drinking, ...
'', would become one of his trademarks.
In the 2007 Disney
The Walt Disney Company, commonly referred to as simply Disney, is an American multinational mass media and entertainment industry, entertainment conglomerate (company), conglomerate headquartered at the Walt Disney Studios (Burbank), Walt Di ...
animated film
Animation is a filmmaking technique whereby still images are manipulated to create moving images. In traditional animation, images are drawn or painted by hand on transparent celluloid sheets to be photographed and exhibited on film. Animati ...
''Meet the Robinsons
''Meet the Robinsons'' is a 2007 American animated science-fiction comedy film produced by Walt Disney Animation Studios and released by Walt Disney Pictures. It is based on the 1990 children's book ''A Day with Wilbur Robinson'' by William Jo ...
'', the main antagonist is known as the Bowler Hat Guy.
In ''The Adventures of Rocky and Bullwinkle and Friends
''The Adventures of Rocky and Bullwinkle and Friends'' (commonly referred to as simply ''Rocky and Bullwinkle'') is an American animated television series that originally aired from November 19, 1959, to June 27, 1964, on the American Broadca ...
'' cartoon series, the legendary "Kerwood Derby" was worn by such world conquerors as Alexander the Great
Alexander III of Macedon (; 20/21 July 356 BC – 10/11 June 323 BC), most commonly known as Alexander the Great, was a king of the Ancient Greece, ancient Greek kingdom of Macedonia (ancient kingdom), Macedon. He succeeded his father Philip ...
and Elvis Presley
Elvis Aaron Presley (January 8, 1935 – August 16, 1977) was an American singer and actor. Referred to as the "King of Rock and Roll", he is regarded as Cultural impact of Elvis Presley, one of the most significant cultural figures of the ...
(a play on the name of then popular tv personality Durward Kirby).
In the mid-1960s ''Batman
Batman is a superhero who appears in American comic books published by DC Comics. Batman was created by the artist Bob Kane and writer Bill Finger, and debuted in Detective Comics 27, the 27th issue of the comic book ''Detective Comics'' on M ...
'' TV series, the Penguin
Penguins are a group of aquatic flightless birds from the family Spheniscidae () of the order Sphenisciformes (). They live almost exclusively in the Southern Hemisphere. Only one species, the Galápagos penguin, is equatorial, with a sm ...
's band of "fine feathered finks" usually wear derby hats.
There is a giant bowler hat along I-30 in south Dallas
Dallas () is a city in the U.S. state of Texas and the most populous city in the Dallas–Fort Worth metroplex, the List of Texas metropolitan areas, most populous metropolitan area in Texas and the Metropolitan statistical area, fourth-most ...
, Texas.
Charlie Chaplin
Sir Charles Spencer Chaplin (16 April 188925 December 1977) was an English comic actor, filmmaker, and composer who rose to fame in the era of silent film. He became a worldwide icon through his screen persona, the Tramp, and is considered o ...
wore a bowler hat to his morning dress
Morning dress, also known as formal day dress, is the Formal attire, formal Western dress code for day wear (disambiguation), day attire, consisting chiefly of a morning coat, waistcoat, and formal trousers for men, and an appropriate gown for ...
as part of his ' Little Tramp' costume.["Charlie Chaplin's bowler hat sold at auction"](_blank)
''CBS News
CBS News is the news division of the American television and radio broadcaster CBS. It is headquartered in New York City. CBS News television programs include ''CBS Evening News'', ''CBS Mornings'', news magazine programs ''CBS News Sunday Morn ...
'' (New York). Retrieved 11 June 2016.
Bing Crosby
Harry Lillis "Bing" Crosby Jr. (May 3, 1903 – October 14, 1977) was an American singer, comedian, entertainer and actor. The first multimedia star, he was one of the most popular and influential musical artists of the 20th century worldwi ...
wears a bowler hat in the 1946 film '' Road to Utopia'', among others.
John Steed of '' The Avengers'' wore a variety of bowler hats throughout the series.
Oddjob, Auric Goldfinger's manservant, uses his razor-edged bowler hat as a weapon in the 1964 James Bond
The ''James Bond'' franchise focuses on James Bond (literary character), the titular character, a fictional Secret Intelligence Service, British Secret Service agent created in 1953 by writer Ian Fleming, who featured him in twelve novels ...
movie '' Goldfinger''.
John D. Rockerduck possesses the distinctive character trait of eating his bowler hat whenever he is defeated by Scrooge McDuck
Scrooge McDuck (occasionally stylized as $crooge McDuck) is a cartoon character created in 1947 for The Walt Disney Company by Carl Barks. Appearing in Disney comics, Scrooge is a Scottish-born American anthropomorphic duck. Like his nephew, Do ...
.
J. Wellington Wimpy wears a bowler hat.
Notable comic book characters who wear bowler hats include Timothy "Dum Dum" Dugan (Marvel Comics
Marvel Comics is a New York City–based comic book publishing, publisher, a property of the Walt Disney Company since December 31, 2009, and a subsidiary of Disney Publishing Worldwide since March 2023. Marvel was founded in 1939 by Martin G ...
), Thomson and Thompson
Thomson and Thompson ( ) are fictional characters in ''The Adventures of Tintin'', the comics series by Belgian cartoonist Hergé. They are two detectives who provide much of the comic relief throughout the series. Hergé twice calls them "bro ...
and Professor Calculus
Professor Cuthbert Calculus ( , meaning "Professor Tryphon Sunflower") is a fictional character in ''The Adventures of Tintin'', the comics series by Belgian cartoonist Hergé. He is Tintin (character), Tintin's friend, an absent-minded profess ...
from ''The Adventures of Tintin
''The Adventures of Tintin'' ( ) is a series of 24 comic albums created by Belgians, Belgian cartoonist Georges Remi, who wrote under the pen name Hergé. The series was one of the most popular European comics of the 20th century. By 2007, a c ...
'' series, and the Riddler
The Riddler (Edward Nigma, later Edward Nygma or Edward Nashton) is a supervillain appearing in American comic books published by DC Comics. The character was created by Bill Finger and Dick Sprang, and debuted in ''Detective Comics'' #140 in O ...
(DC Comics
DC Comics (originally DC Comics, Inc., and also known simply as DC) is an American comic book publisher owned by DC Entertainment, a subsidiary of Warner Bros. Discovery. DC is an initialism for "Detective Comics", an American comic book seri ...
).
Doctor King Schultz and "Butch" Pooch wear wide Derby-variant bowler hats in ''Django Unchained
''Django Unchained'' ( ) is a 2012 American revisionist Western film written and directed by Quentin Tarantino. Produced by Tarantino's A Band Apart and Columbia Pictures, it stars Jamie Foxx, Christoph Waltz, Leonardo DiCaprio, Kerry W ...
''.
Matthew "Stymie" Beard from the '' Little Rascals'' was always seen with a bowler hat. It was a gift from Stan Laurel.
Ub Iwerks
Ubbe Ert "Ub" Iwerks ( ; March 24, 1901 – July 7, 1971), was an American animator, cartoonist, character designer, Invention, inventor, and special effects technician, known for his work with Walt Disney Animation Studios in general, and f ...
character Horace Horsecollar
Horace Horsecollar is a cartoon character created in 1929 at Walt Disney Animation Studios. Horace is a tall anthropomorphic black horse and is one of Mickey Mouse's best friends. Characterized as a boastful show-off, Horace served as Mickey’s s ...
is seen wearing an orange bowler hat complementing his outfit with an orange horse collar
A horse collar is a part of a horse harness that is used to distribute the load around a horse's neck and shoulders when pulling a wagon or plough. The collar often supports and pads a pair of curved metal or wooden pieces, called hames, to wh ...
.
File:Stan Laurel and Oliver Hardy - 1938.jpg, Laurel and Hardy
Laurel and Hardy were a British-American double act, comedy duo during the early Classical Hollywood cinema, Classical Hollywood era of American cinema, consisting of Englishman Stan Laurel (1890–1965) and American Oliver Hardy (1892–1957) ...
, 1938.
Stan Laurel
Stan Laurel ( ; born Arthur Stanley Jefferson; 16 June 1890 – 23 February 1965) was an English comic actor, director and writer who was in the comedy double act, duo Laurel and Hardy. He appeared with his comedy partner Oliver Hardy in 107 sh ...
took his standard comic devices from the British music hall
Music hall is a type of British theatrical entertainment that was most popular from the early Victorian era, beginning around 1850, through the World War I, Great War. It faded away after 1918 as the halls rebranded their entertainment as Varie ...
: the bowler hat, the deep comic gravity, and nonsensical understatement.
File:Lego Store Leicester Square London Lester 2.jpg, Lego
Lego (, ; ; stylised as LEGO) is a line of plastic construction toys manufactured by the Lego Group, a privately held company based in Billund, Denmark. Lego consists of variously coloured interlocking plastic bricks made of acrylonitri ...
of a classic London banker (with bowler and umbrella) at the Lego store in Leicester Square
Leicester Square ( ) is a pedestrianised town square, square in the West End of London, England, and is the centre of London's entertainment district. It was laid out in 1670 as Leicester Fields, which was named after the recently built Leice ...
, London
File:Giant Bowler Hat.png, Giant bowler hat as roadside art in south Dallas, Texas
File:Malcolm McDowell Clockwork Orange.png, Alex DeLarge in the dystopian film '' A Clockwork Orange'' (1971)
Notable wearers
* Winston Churchill
Sir Winston Leonard Spencer Churchill (30 November 1874 – 24 January 1965) was a British statesman, military officer, and writer who was Prime Minister of the United Kingdom from 1940 to 1945 (Winston Churchill in the Second World War, ...
, Prime Minister during the Second World War.
* José Rizal
José Protasio Rizal Mercado y Alonso Realonda (, ; June 19, 1861 – December 30, 1896) was a Filipino nationalist, writer and polymath active at the end of the Spanish colonial period of the Philippines. He is popularly considered a na ...
, a Filipino patriot and national hero, wore a bowler hat before his execution by firing squad in 1896.
* The Plug Uglies
The Plug Uglies were an American Know Nothing, Nativist criminal street gang, sometimes referred to loosely as a political club, that operated in the west side of Baltimore, Maryland, from 1854 to 1865. The term ''plug ugly'' was used to identi ...
, a nineteenth-century American street gang, wore bowler hats stuffed with cloth or wool to protect their heads while fighting.
* John Bonham
John Henry Bonham (31 May 1948 – 25 September 1980) was an English musician who was the drummer of the rock band Led Zeppelin. Noted for his speed, power, fast single-footed kick drumming, distinctive sound, and feel for groove, John Bonh ...
, drummer for Led Zeppelin
Led Zeppelin were an English rock music, rock band formed in London in 1968. The band comprised vocalist Robert Plant, guitarist Jimmy Page, bassist-keyboardist John Paul Jones (musician), John Paul Jones and drummer John Bonham. With a he ...
, often wore a bowler hat.
* Edward Coke
Sir Edward Coke ( , formerly ; 1 February 1552 – 3 September 1634) was an English barrister, judge, and politician. He is often considered the greatest jurist of the Elizabethan era, Elizabethan and Jacobean era, Jacobean eras.
Born into a ...
, for whom the first bowler hat was designed.[
* ]Lou Costello
Louis Francis Cristillo (March 6, 1906 – March 3, 1959), better known as Lou Costello, was an American comedian, actor and producer. He was best known for his double act with Bud Abbott and their routine " Who's on First?".
Abbott and Cos ...
of Abbott and Costello often wore a bowler hat.
* Laurel and Hardy
Laurel and Hardy were a British-American double act, comedy duo during the early Classical Hollywood cinema, Classical Hollywood era of American cinema, consisting of Englishman Stan Laurel (1890–1965) and American Oliver Hardy (1892–1957) ...
are known for wearing bowler hats.
* Curly Howard and Shemp Howard of The Three Stooges
The Three Stooges were an American vaudeville and comedy team active from 1922 until 1970, best remembered for their 190 short-subject films by Columbia Pictures. Their hallmark styles were physical, farce, and slapstick comedy. Six total ...
frequently wore bowler hats.
* Boy George
George Alan O'Dowd (born 14 June 1961), known professionally as Boy George, is an English singer-songwriter and DJ who rose to fame as the lead singer of the pop band Culture Club. He began his solo career in 1987. Boy George grew up in Eltham a ...
often wore a bowler hat during the 1980s.
* Dr. Peacock, Dutch DJ, music producer, label owner, event organizer and businessman.
* Big Bully Busick, professional wrestler, who wore a bowler hat as part of his 1920s bully gimmick.
* Hipólito Yrigoyen, President of Argentina, frequently wore a bombín hat
See also
* List of hat styles
Hats have been common throughout the history of humanity, present on some of the very earliest preserved human bodies and art. Below is a list of various kinds of contemporary or traditional hat.
List
See also
*List of headgear
References
...
References
Further reading
* Fred Miller Robinson, ''The Man in the Bowler Hat: His History and Iconography'' (Chapel Hill and London: The University of North Carolina Press, 1993).
* "Whatever Became of the Derby Hat?" Lucius Beebe, ''Gourmet
Gourmet (, ) is a cultural idea associated with the culinary arts of fine food and drink, or haute cuisine, which is characterized by their high level of refined and elaborate food preparation techniques and displays of balanced meals that have ...
'', May 1966.
External links
*
{{DEFAULTSORT:Bowler Hat
1849 introductions
19th-century fashion
20th-century fashion
British clothing
Hats
Rider apparel
21st-century fashion
Victorian fashion
Semi-formal wear
Gilded Age
Progressive Era in the United States