Apork pie hat is one of several different styles ofhat that have been worn since the mid-19th century. The pork pie hat gained further popularity in the 20th century, being worn by famous actors and musicians. This style of hat features a flat crown that resembles a traditionalpork pie, thus earning its name.[1]
The origins of the pork pie hat in Western fashion lay in the 1860s. Initially an item of women's wear, this accessory was identifiable through its shape, particularly the narrow brim which distinctively curled round towards the crown of the hat, which was flat, and usually made from straw or velvet in this period.[2] The pork pie hat was small, and would be worn towards the front of the head to account for popular hairstyles of the era.[3] The fashion for pork pie hats soon spread, also becoming a feature of menswear. As a men's accessory, the pork pie was larger, and could be fashioned with decorative ribbons to the back of the hat.[3]
The pork pie began to gain further popularity in Britain as a man's hat not long after the turn of the 20th century in the fashion style of theman-about-town, with famous entertainers sporting this style regularly.[3] Silent film actorBuster Keaton convertedfedoras into strawboater-like felt pork pies by stiffening their brims with a dried sugar-water solution.[4] This kind of pork pie had a very flat top and similar short flat brim.
The heyday of the pork pie hat occurred during theGreat Depression, following the straw boater era that peaked in theRoaring Twenties. In this incarnation, the pork pie regained its snap brim and increased slightly in height. Its dished crown became known amonghatmakers as "telescopic crowns" or "tight telescopes" because when worn the top could be made to pop up slightly.[5] Furthermore, as stated in a newspaper clipping from the mid-1930s: "The true pork pie hat is so made that it cannot be worn successfully except when telescoped." The same clipping refers to the hat also as "the bi crowned".[6] Among famous wearers of the pork pie during this era areFrank Lloyd Wright, whose pork pie hat had a very wide brim and rather tall crown.Lester Young, whose career as a jazz saxophonist spanned from the mid-1920s to the late 1950s, regularly wore a pork pie hat during his performances, and after his deathCharles Mingus composed a musical elegy in Young's honor entitled "Goodbye Pork Pie Hat". Young's pork pie had a broader brim than seen in earlier styles but retained the definitive round, flat, creased crown.A porkpie hat was a trademark of physicistRobert Oppenheimer, scientific director of theWorld War II project that developed the atomic bomb.[7][8]
In African American culture in the 1940s the pork pie—flashy, feathered, color-coordinated—became associated with thezoot suit. By 1944 the hat was even prevalent inNew Guinea.[9]
After the end of World War II the pork pie's broad popularity declined somewhat, though as a result of thezoot suit connection it continued its association with African American music culture, particularlyjazz,blues, andska. In television between 1951 and 1955,Art Carney frequently wore one in his characterization of Ed Norton inThe Honeymooners, and inPuerto Rico the actorJoaquín Monserrat, known asPacheco, was the host of many children's 1950s TV shows and was known for his straw pork pie hat andbow tie—in this incarnation, the pork pie returned to its Buster Keaton style with rigidly flat brim and extremely low flat crown.
In the 1960s inJamaica, the "rude boy" subculture popularized the pork-pie, as well as hats resembling tall trilby styles.[10] Jamaican diaspora brought the pork pie hat back into style in the United Kingdom through the connecting of youth cultures. When migration to the United Kingdom increased following the end of the Second World War and government calls for post-war reconstruction (seeWindrush generation,British Nationality Act[11]),[12] shared musical and style interests thereby influenced the appearance of garments such as the pork pie hat in the emergent youthmod andrave subculture.[13]
The porkpie hat enjoyed a slight resurgence in exposure and popularity afterGene Hackman's characterJimmy "Popeye" Doyle wore one in the 1971 filmThe French Connection.[14] Doyle was based on real-life policemanEddie Egan, who played the captain in the film, and his exploits. Egan was famous all his life for wearing a pork pie hat.[15] At about the same time,Robert De Niro wore a pork pie hat in the 1973 filmMean Streets (the same hat he wore when he auditioned for the film).[16]
Further, theTwo-ToneSka revival of the 1970s also contributed to the revival of the pork pie hat in youth culture and fashion in the United Kingdom,[12] where black and white tailored garments were coupled with this style of hat, as worn by members of bandsThe Specials andThe Selecter, for example.
A frequent wearer of pork pie hats is Panamanian salsa singer and composerRuben Blades. In the early 21st century, the wearing of a pork pie hat retained some of its 1930s and '40s associations. Fashion writerGlenn O'Brien says:[17]
The porkpie hat is the mark of the determined hipster, the kind of cat you might see hanging around a jazz club or a pool hall, maybe wearing a button-front leather jacket and pointy shoes. It's aTom Waits,Johnny Thunders kind of hat. It has a narrower brim than afedora and a flat top with a circular indent. Usually the brim is worn up. It is often worn with agoatee,soul patch, and/or toothpick.
Bryan Cranston's characterWalter White wears a pork pie hat in the AMC seriesBreaking Bad when he appears as hisalter ego "Heisenberg", whose persona is associated with the hat.Sony Pictures Television donated "Heisenberg's" hat to theSmithsonian Institution.[18]
Bernfeld [...] wore a distinctive porkpie hat, a felt hat with a low, flat top. Oppenheimer was deeply impressed—and soon took to wearing a porkpie hat like Bernfeld's.
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