These are pictures from the parts of England where I have lived and which I know best: the North East coalfield, Northumberland, Somerset and Devon - and the common feature is the Flat Cap.
The flat cap has always been standard dress for the adult male in the indigenous populations of these parts; and I have been wearing a flat cap, or had one folded/ rolled in my pocket, since I turned eighteen and inherited a couple from my recently deceased Grandfather.
There isn't much to be said about this unpretentious garment except that, without much fuss; English men have been wearing them for a long time - at least six generations, probably more.
Unlike most national dress, which has been invented by revivalists or contrived mainly for tourists, this is just what men actually use day by day; to keep a bit warmer and a bit dryer and to shade the eyes; from agricultural rustics and toffs everywhere, to Northern townees and all manner of workers in heavy industry.
Nice. I always wondered where those things came from.
ReplyDeleteWe rednecks in Canada wear sheepskin flying hats and toques in the winter, and baseball caps in the summer. I can't be bothered with the caps - my eyebrows block out the sun anyway (!).
@A - In the rain, wearing a cap with a hood over the top is more effective than either alone - I got the idea from seeing hill shepherds in Northumberland. But in Canada, during the winter, the cold can be of a degree that we never experience here; and a flat cap would be useless.
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