Category: Sketches

Bits of knowledge on the silk hat that was left out from Hetalia volume 4~~

【Silk Hat】

・A hat with a cylindrical crown, in style among English gentleman in the 18th century.
　People back then all likely wore these with overflowing dandy dandyism.

・On 15th January 1797, John Hetherington, an English haberdasher, donned the hat that shocked the mayor and spectators enough for them to scream, “WHAT THE HELL IS THAAAT”.
　Children cried in fear, dogs wouldn’t stop barking, women fainted and collapsed, among other things.
　No hat can surprise anyone to that extent by itself…

・John was the first person in the world who wore the silk hat
…although such a belief was well known, it seems to have existed even further back somehow.

・In English it’s “Top hat”. In German, it’s “Zylinder”.
　In Chinese, it has the seemingly valuable name “大禮帽”.
・At first, the cylindrical part was longer, but over the course of 100 years, it has shortened considerably.

・Silk hats were often drawn as a symbol of capitalist America, and is a favourite hat for the infamous Uncle Sam.
(In overseas caricatures and country personifications, if they’re wearing a silk hat, it’s England or America)

~ A partial summary of hats that show up a lot as motifs of various countries ~

The hats of South America are also unique and cute!

Translation: spaghettifelice
Original