Flat Caps

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The flat cap, also known as a Scally cap, or Cheesecutter is a rounded shallow cap with a small stiff brim at the front. There are some slightly different variations of the cap, including a deeper ‘fashion’ style, Riding Cap, Driving Cap (with fold down ear warmers), and Golf 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 head and the length of the peak. Fashionable at the moment are the Long Peaked Flat cap which is narrower on the head with a deeper fitting back.

A slight variation to the traditional flat cap, is the Bond cap, which is flat on top, but has a large round head, and is wider than the Cheesecutter, with a protruding peak.

As with all ”rules”, there are exceptions, and these primarily come down to Italian tinkering with certain aspects, creating a wider fit around the cap, and rounding off some of the sharper edges to create a softer fit flat cap, with a deeper fit to the head of the cap.

Flat caps are synonymous the English country look, and generally found in Tweeds of wool or cashmere, but can also be made of linen, cotton and silk cloth for summer with air vents and occasionally leather trim. The flat cap is really a year round essential, warm in the winter and cooling in the summer.

The popularity of the flat cap remains strong with fans of English country clothing, the English ‘Country Set’. Princes William and Harry have often been seen in Tweed Caps around the Polo fields and has been a staple for Chap the tweed cap has made a big come back as a must have fashion accessory, pioneered by Vivienne Westwood and worn by many, in and around town.

The style can be traced back to 14th century Britain, Italy and Ireland, when it was more likely to be called a ‘Bonnet’, until it was replaced (except in Scotland) by 'cap' sometime before 1700. When Irish and English immigrants came to the United States, they took the flat cap with them. This style of cap is also referred to in some parts of England as a 'Cheesecutter' because of its wedge shape.

A 1571 Act of Parliament to stimulate domestic wool consumption and general trade decreed that on Sundays and holidays, all males over 6 years of age, except for the nobility and persons of degree, were to wear caps of wool manufacture on force of a fine (3/4d per day). The Bill was not repealed until 1597, and by this time, the flat cap had become firmly entrenched in England as a recognized mark of common birth; a burgher, tradesman, apprentice or artisan. The early style of flat cap survives as the Tudor Bonnet, worn in some of the older academic institutions on official occasions.

The stereotype of the flat cap as purely 'working class' was never correct. They were frequently worn in the country, but not in town, by middle and upper-class men for their practicality. It is undoubtedly classless, and there lies its strength. A ‘Toff’ can be a ‘Chap’ as well without losing face."

Flat caps gained popularity with more fashionable young men in the 1920s. The image of Berty Wooster in his plus fours and tweeds cap is a memorable one. Many country gentlemen would wear their cap as a practical accessory to plus fours or twos.

The British workman is no longer stereotyped as wearing a flat cap, so in the twenty-first century, it has gained an increasingly upper class image.