LAIRD HATTERS STYLE GUIDE
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Here at Laird we have been making hats and caps of distinction for over 10 years now and we would like to share a style guide on our most loved hats and caps, which we sell online and in all of our stores
8 Panel Bakery / Newsboy Cap
The English Baker Boy Cap, also known as theNewsboy Cap in the States, is a casual-wear cap with a wide, round crown, often made of Eight Panels, stitched together with a button on the top. The cap’s size is measured in inches, 9, 10, 11 and 12 inches, and refers to the diameter.
Also referred to as the: Baker Boy, Apple Cap, Eight Panel 8-piece, Gatsby (after The Great Gatsby), and similarly know as a Redford Cap. It is the same basic style as a Brooklyn, but with a rounder crown.
Of late the Bakerboy is synonymous as the Peaky Blinder’s Cap of choice, worn by Thomas Shelby and his gang. Famous for wearing razor blades in the cap brim and used as an unlikely weapon. Peaky Blinders has elevated the bakerboy cap to the most asked for cap at the moment, thanks to the Shelby Lads and “by order of the Peaky Blinders”
The Flat Cap
Laird’s signature ‘Cut’ of flat cap is narrow to the peak, with a closely fitted crown giving a modern, slim fit over the head, sitting deep at the back with a scalloped profile.
Practical as a Riding Cap, Driving Cap or ‘Golf Cap’, similar in form to the Bond Cap. While the shape of all of these caps is recognisable, the subtle differences are primarily the length of coverage at the back of the cap, the width and depth of the crown and the length of the peak. Fashionable at the moment are the Long-Peaked Flat Cap, better known as a Shooting Cap or ‘Shooter’ which has a broad peak.
The earlier version of the Traditional Flat Cap, is the Bond cap, which is flat on top, but has a larger, very round crown, with a broad peak. This version dates to around the 1850’s, and to the London Guilds. The size of your cap denoted your place in the guild, with apprentices wearing a very small cap and Masters wearing ridiculously large Bond Caps.
Fedora / Trilby Hat
A fedora is a tall, felt hat with a broad brim, think Indiana Jones’ hat, but also covers smaller hats like the iconic hat Mad Men’s, Don Draper wears.
They can have a split crown, lengthwise, or have a C-crown, which gives a wider crown and looks like a teardrop crown. Often the Fedora will have a turned brim at the back of the Crown, and this is given as a distinguishing factor; known as the snap-brim, but can also be down-brim too in safari hat or country hat style.
Eminently stylish, hats have been iconic throughout TV and Film, from Gene Kelly in Singing in the Rain, to Trevor Howard. Its’ drama made it a stalwart of ‘Film Noir’, and the Private Detective or as a Gangster hat, like the Corleone’s hats in The Godfather, and also Humphrey Bogart in Casablanca or Warren Beatty in Dick Tracey, but also music and Blues Brothers.
Porkpie Hat
The Pork Pie Hat or ‘Porkpie’ or Pork-Pie, is a squat, round hat often made of a furfelt or wool-felt.
It is an ideal substitute to the Trilby or a Fedora, giving a lower profile with a flatter, broader profile from the front. The crown is short and has an indentation all the way around, instead of the pinch and split crown or c-crown, typically seen on fedoras and Homburgs, it is a ‘Gutter Crown’. The Pork Pie hat originates from the mid 19th century, and was a type of woman’s hat. Its’ name comes, quite literally, from the similarity to a Melton Mowbray, Pork Pie!
The term is also used in reference to the brimless hats worn by sailors in the Royal Navy. This hat is typically round, flat on top and wider at the crown. This type of hat is also known as a "square rig" and lends itself to the Smoking Cap.
The Homburg
Popularised in the 1950s, the Homburg Hat is truly iconic. Made from premium, super-smooth furfelt.
The 'kettle curl' brim is trimmed with grosgrain ribbon. The crown is finished with a classic band and Laird’s ‘signature’ bow fold.
An elegant, semi-stiff hat that can be worn both as formal wear or part of an everyday modern take on a classic style. Winston Churchill was famously a historic advocate of the Homburg hat.