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Aflat cap is a roundedcap with a small stiff brim in front, originating inNorthern England. The hat is also known inIreland as apaddy cap; inScotland as abunnet; inWales as aDai cap; and in theUnited States as anEnglish cap orIrish cap. Various other terms exist (scally cap,[1] cabbie cap, driver cap, golf cap,[2] longshoreman cap, ivy cap, jeff cap,[3] train engineer cap and sixpence amongst others). Flat caps are usually made oftweed,wool orcotton, while some are made usingleather,linen orcorduroy. The inside of the cap is commonly lined for comfort and warmth.[4]
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The style can be traced back to the 16th century in Northern England, when it was more likely to be called a "bonnet". This term was replaced by "cap" before about 1700,[5] except inScotland, where it continues to be referred to as abunnet inScots.[6]
An act in 1571 of theParliament of England aimed to stimulate domestic wool consumption and general trade. It decreed that on Sundays and holidays, all males over 6 years of age, except for the nobility and "persons of degree", were to wear woollen caps or pay a fine of threefarthings per day (equivalent to £1.41 in 2023).[7] The act was repealed in 1597, by which time it had become firmly entrenched as a recognised mark of acommoner[citation needed], such as aburgher, atradesman or anapprentice.[dubious –discuss] The style may have been the same as theTudor bonnet still used in some styles ofacademic dress.
In the 19th and early-20th centuries, when men predominantly wore some form of headgear, flat caps were commonly worn throughout Great Britain and Ireland. Versions in finer cloth were also casual countryside wear for upper-class men. Flat caps were worn by fashionable young men in the 1920s. Boys of all classes in Britain wore caps during this period; a peaked school cap of prescribed colour and design, of more rounded shape than men's flat caps, was part of the normalschool uniform.[8]
The flat cap made its way tosouthern Italy in the late 1800s, likely brought by British servicemen. In Turkey, the flat cap became the main headgear for men after it became a replacement for thefez, which was banned byMustafa Kemal Atatürk in 1925.[9] It also became popular in theBalkans around the same time.
In the early-20th century it was worn by working-class men in Spain and it became part of the traditional attire and folklore of Madrid, where it is calledparpusa [es],gorra madrileña, or "Madrid Cap".
InBritish popular culture the flat cap is typically associated withYorkshire, and, more broadly,working-class men. The flat cap can also be taken to denote theupper class when affecting casualness. "Atoff can be a bit of a chap as well without, as it were, losing face."[10] In the late-20th and early-21st centuries British public figures includingDavid Beckham,Nigel Mansell,Guy Ritchie,Richard Blackwood and thenCharles, Prince of Wales wore the flat cap.[11]
InNorthern England notable wearers include: the television personalityFred Dibnah, fromBolton; the comic strip antiheroAndy Capp, fromHartlepool; and theAC/DC vocalistBrian Johnson, fromGateshead.[12][13]
InPeaky Blinders, a fictionalisedBBC television series abouta real-world defunct Birmingham-based gang, characters are seen wearingBaker Boy Caps, a similar style often confused for flat caps. It was thought, and adapted, that the gang had sewed-in razor blades on the peak of their flat caps for use as a weapon to blind their enemies.[14]
Usage in theEast End of London is illustrated byJim Branning of the television soap operaEastEnders andDel Boy Trotter ofOnly Fools and Horses. Taxicab and bus drivers are often depicted wearing a flat cap, as comedically portrayed by Gareth Hale and Norman Pace's (Hale and Pace) "London cabbies" television sketches.
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The Canadian team in the1998 Winter Olympics wore red flat caps designed byRoots Canada in the opening ceremonyparade of nations.[15] The US team in the2008 Summer Olympics also wore white flat caps designed byPolo Ralph Lauren during the parade.[16]
The TV series suggests that the gang are called "Peaky Blinders" because they use the razors in their hats to blind their enemies, either by slicing the blade across their victims' eyes or by slashing up their faces so much that they are blinded by blood.
