View source for Flat cap

{{Short description|Type of hat}}{{Use British English|date=April 2025}}
{{Dmy|date=April 2025}}{{For|the hat sometimes known as a "flat cap" or a "flatcap"|Baseball cap#Snapback (hat)}}
{{Distinguish|Newsboy cap}}
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{{original research|date=December 2012}}
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[[File:Jason at golf.jpg|thumb|right|Woollen flat cap worn by the British actor [[Jason Isaacs]] (2005)]]

A '''flat cap''' is a rounded [[cap]] with a small stiff brim in front, originating in [[Northern England]]. The hat is also known in [[Ireland]] as a '''paddy cap'''; in [[Scotland]] as a '''bunnet'''; in [[Wales]] as a '''Dai cap'''; and in the [[United States]] as an '''English cap''' or '''Irish cap'''. Various other terms exist (scally cap,<ref>{{Cite web |title=Scally Origins {{!}} Boston Scally Co. {{!}} Caps & Hoodies |url=https://www.bostonscally.com/pages/origins-scally |access-date=2024-07-21 |website=Boston Scally |language=en}}</ref> cabbie cap, driver cap, golf cap,<ref>[https://blog.tenthstreethats.com/posts/golf-hat# 7 Gotta-Have Golf Hats for Tee Time]. Retrieved June 10, 2023</ref> longshoreman cap, ivy cap, jeff cap,<ref>{{Cite web |title=jeff cap, n. meanings, etymology and more {{!}} Oxford English Dictionary |url=https://www.oed.com/dictionary/jeff-cap_n |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20241007172023/https://www.oed.com/dictionary/jeff-cap_n |archive-date=7 October 2024 |access-date=2024-12-29 |website=www.oed.com |language=en |url-status=live }}</ref> train engineer cap and sixpence amongst others). Flat caps are usually made of [[Tweed (cloth)|tweed]], [[wool]] or [[cotton]], while some are made using [[leather]], [[linen]] or [[corduroy]]. The inside of the cap is commonly lined for comfort and warmth.<ref>{{Cite web |title=Factories, Farms and Financial Success - A history of the Flat Cap |url=https://www.sirgordonbennett.com/gordons-bugle/history-of-flat-cap/ |access-date=2023-03-25 |website=Sir Gordon Bennett |language=en-GB}}</ref>

==History==
[[File:Batschkapp (fcm).jpg|thumb|right|Woollen flat cap]]
[[File:Flat-cap.jpg|thumb|right|Flat cap, side view, [[herringbone pattern]] ]]
The style can be traced back to the 16th century in Northern England, when it was more likely to be called a "[[Bonnet (headgear)|bonnet]]". This term was replaced by "cap" before about 1700,<ref>{{cite OED|Bonnet}}</ref> except in [[Scotland]], where it continues to be referred to as a ''bunnet'' in [[Scots language|Scots]].<ref name=CSD>{{cite book|title=The Concise Scots Dictionary|year=1985 |publisher=Aberdeen University Press|isbn=0-08-028491-4|page=53|editor=Mairi Robinson}}</ref>

An act in 1571 of the [[Parliament 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 three [[Farthing (English coin)|farthing]]s per day <!--0.75d / 240 = 0.3125p = £0.003125 -->({{Inflation|UK|0.003125|1571|r=2|fmt=eq|cursign=£}}).<ref name=Independent>{{cite news|title=Minor British Institutions: The flat cap |url=https://www.independent.co.uk/news/uk/this-britain/minor-british-institutions-the-flat-cap-1926708.html |last=O'Grady|first=Sean|work=The Independent|date=27 March 2010|access-date=2017-07-24}}</ref> The act was repealed in 1597, by which time it had become firmly entrenched as a recognised mark of a [[commoner]]{{citation needed|date=January 2019}}, such as a [[bourgeoisie|burgher]], a [[tradesman]] or an [[apprentice]].{{dubious|date=January 2019}} The style may have been the same as the [[Tudor bonnet]] still used in some styles of [[academic 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 normal [[school uniform]].<ref>{{cite web |title=English school uniform garments: headwear |author= |website=Historical Boys' Clothing |date=9 October 2017 |url= https://www.histclo.com/schun/country/eng/gar/head/esu-head.html}}</ref>

The flat cap made its way to [[southern 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 the [[Fez (hat)|fez]], which was banned by [[Mustafa Kemal Atatürk]] in 1925.<ref>{{Cite web |title=fez |url=https://kids.britannica.com/students/article/fez/323180#:~:text=The%20fez,%20considered%20a%20symbol,and%20is%20rarely%20seen%20today. |access-date=2025-01-08 |website=Britannica Kids |language=en-US}}</ref> It also became popular in the [[Balkans]] 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 called ''{{ill|parpusa|es}}'', ''gorra madrileña'', or "Madrid Cap".

==British popular culture==
In [[British popular culture]] the flat cap is typically associated with [[Yorkshire]], and, more broadly, [[working-class]] men. The flat cap can also be taken to denote the [[upper class]] when affecting casualness. "A [[toff]] can be a bit of a chap as well without, as it were, losing face."<ref>Mather, Geoffrey. "Capped for England" BBC Radio 4, 2001.</ref> In the late-20th and early-21st centuries British public figures including [[David Beckham]], [[Nigel Mansell]], [[Guy Ritchie]], [[Richard Blackwood]] and then [[Charles III|Charles, Prince of Wales]] wore the flat cap.<ref>{{cite news|title=If you want to get ahead, get a flat cap|url=http://fashion.telegraph.co.uk/news-features/TMG8108321/If-you-want-to-get-ahead-get-a-flat-cap.html|last=Porter|first=Richard|work=The Daily Telegraph|date=4 November 2016}}</ref>

In [[Northern England]] notable wearers include: the television personality [[Fred Dibnah]], from [[Bolton]]; the comic strip antihero [[Andy Capp]], from [[Hartlepool]]; and the [[AC/DC]] vocalist [[Brian Johnson]], from [[Gateshead|Gateshead]].<ref>Katie Wales (2006). ''Northern English: a cultural and social history''. p. 26. Cambridge University Press {{isbn|9781139457057}}</ref><ref>Anthony Bozza (2009). ''Why AC/DC Matters''. p.54. HarperCollins, Retrieved 30 November 2011 {{isbn|9780061804601}}</ref>

In ''[[Peaky Blinders (TV series)|Peaky Blinders]]'', a fictionalised [[BBC]] television series about [[Peaky Blinders|a real-world defunct Birmingham-based gang]], characters are seen wearing [[Newsboy cap|Baker 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.<ref>{{cite web |url = https://www.radiotimes.com/news/tv/2019-07-18/where-does-the-name-peaky-blinders-come-from/ | title= Where does the name Peaky Blinders come from? | last = Griffiths | first = Eleanor | date = 2019-07-19 | website = RadioTimes | publisher = Immediate Media Company Limited | access-date = 2019-11-17 | quote = "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."}}</ref>

Usage in the [[East End of London]] is illustrated by [[Jim Branning]] of the television soap opera ''[[EastEnders]]'' and [[Del Boy|Del Boy Trotter]] of ''[[Only 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.

==Modern popularity==
{{refimprove|date=January 2021}}
[[File:DickBerggren.jpg|thumb|upright|[[Dick Berggren]] is known for wearing a flat cap.]]
[[File:Pablo Neruda - BCN.jpg|thumb|upright|The Chilean poet [[Pablo Neruda]] was known for wearing flat caps.]]
The Canadian team in the [[1998 Winter Olympics]] wore red flat caps designed by [[Roots Canada]] in the opening ceremony [[parade of nations]].<ref>[https://olympic.ca/photos/nagano-1998/ Photos] from 1998 Nagano Olympics Opening Ceremony from [[Canadian Olympic Committee]] official website.</ref> The US team in the [[2008 Summer Olympics]] also wore white flat caps designed by [[Polo Ralph Lauren]] during the parade.<ref>{{citation |first=Chandler |last=Plante |title=Team USA's Most Iconic Olympic Outfits Throughout the Years Are Pure Gold | url = https://www.popsugar.co.uk/fashion/team-usa-olympics-outfits-through-years-48419555#photo-48419544 |date=14 July 2021 |publisher=popsugar.co.uk}}</ref>

==See also==
* [[List of hat styles]]
* [[Ascot cap]]
* [[Baseball cap]]
* [[British country clothing]]
* [[Coppola (cap)]]
* [[Newsboy cap]]
* [[Skipper cap]]

==References==
{{reflist|30em}}

==External links==
{{wiktionary}}
{{commons category|Flat caps}}
*[https://www.expressandstar.com/news/2007/03/31/cap-fits-for-new-generation/ Cap fits for new generation"]. ''Express & Star'', July 2007.
* [http://histclo.com/country/us/gar/head/style/cap/usgc-flat.html American boys' flat caps] Historical Boys Clothing
* [https://www.fashionablehats.com/blog/ivy-caps-vs-newsboy-caps/ Ivy vs. Newsboy Caps] Flat Cap Information Resource

{{Hats}}
{{Clothing}}

{{DEFAULTSORT:Flat Cap}}
[[Category:Caps]]
[[Category:British clothing]]
[[Category:Northern England]]
[[Category:Golf culture]]