THE TOP HAT.

Stratford Evening Post, Volume XXXV, Issue 91, 24 April 1913, Page 4

THE TOP HAT.

A Home journal points out that centenary of the top-hat is to he celebrated tliis year. It is unfortunate that its vogue at the present time is really on the decline, even in England, j Motoring, of course, is its principal foe. Apart from its ordinary ceremonial use the most frequent appearance of the tall hat used to he on the head of the modern Jehu. The good old cahhy of the “four-wheeler,” the ’bus driver, and the private coachman have all discarded their toppers and become flat-capped chauffeurs. And in an open car the silk hat looks out of place even on a passenger. The hat has been known by many names—the tall hat, the silk hat, the top-hat, the chimney-pot, the stovepipe, ; .id in London as the “’igh ’at.” In the country it is known as the box-hat, in Germany as the cylinder. In the South of Germany it is seldom seen, j and the wearer is usually set down as an Englishman. But now it is even suggested that the boys of Eton and Westminster should discard their top-

pers. The one little revival the tophat has had is that it is superseding the opera hat for evening wear, because, as one no longer carries one’s hat about under one’s arm, a collapsible one is not necessary.