Hats and Caps

Welcome

Congratulations to you – you’ve obviously been intelligent enough to seek us out, so Welcome to our little online shopping experience.

We are Classic Hats and Caps, the hat, and Cap emporium, selling aforesaid to discerning gentlemen, the occasional lady (who are known to purloin our wares) and sometimes the downright caddish individuals who want to set themselves apart from the crowd and the otherwise humdrum and increasingly generic “other”.

If you have made it thus far, well done, you are no longer the “other” and have entered the elite, one of those individuals considered to have a certain something, élan. We pride ourselves on stocking items of headwear, and other accessories (cufflinks, vintage scarves, watches, gloves and sunglasses), which offer timeless elegance, quality and appeal.

We have cleverly devised two different ways to access our products: you are aware of the first, as you are using it, a website, and the second is our very individual store on the world famous Columbia Road, in London’s salubrious East End. While we are happy for you to shop online, we like to get to know our customers and almost insist on them visiting the shop to meet us in person at some stage in the client/purveyor relationship.

We would happily visit you, but unfortunately, the shopkeeper adjacent to us requires constant supervision.

We stock a variety of hats and caps of a classic nature in contemporary cloths and sometimes an added style. Our basic Hat syles are Fedora, Trilby, Homburg, Bowler and, of course a few Top (hat, of course). In the Cap range we happily stock the Baker Boy in Big’un, littl’un and inbetween(un), including the Italian, softer version. We also stock the old English Bond cap, the American Brooklyn style and not forgetting our very own Flat cap in a multitude of tweeds, both Harris and not, and plain wools. There are other more modern caps, the Mariner, Workers cap, Duck Bill, and Trapper. Since their recent period of enlightenment, we now stock the American Baseball cap, albeit in an attractive tweed and suede, of course.

Happy perusal, and do not hesitate to contact us should you require a more personalised experience. Having said this, do not be fooled by the website, we are thinking of you.

 

For the Love of a Hat

Apart from being a very practical accessory in both cold and warm weather, the hat is a sartorial must have for a Chap, be he Cad or Gentleman.

Not only is it the perfect place to store one’s gloves when handing them to the doorman the slogan “If you want to get ahead, get a hat” still rings true today especially in affairs of the heart.

The hat is an instrument to delight and entice the object of your affection. It can be worn at a devilish angle on one’s head and with such elegant, confident Chapiness as to make a lady swoon. Of course, wearing the incorrect apparel will have the opposite effect.

To woo a fair Lady, the bowler must be put aside – it is far too stuffy an object to win her heart. Instead opt for the Homburg - a formal hat, which may be worn with a dark suit or evening wear, but never white tie. It gives the wearer a certain Regality of manner that cannot easily be overlooked. Introduced to England by King Edward the VII after a visit to Bad Homburg, in Essen, Germany the Homburg is a grand, curved hat. The English version has a ribbon and bow, but the American version, worn in the 1910’s and 20’s may also be adorned with a feather. The Homburg was also worn by one of England’s greatest Chaps, Churchill, and evokes the British tradition of courage in adversity – an essential quality for a well-rounded Chap.

If your affections are of a more ‘garden’ variety, and the doughty shop girl has won your heart, the Trilby or Fedora are more appropriate especially when worn slightly off kilter with the brim down, for that sense of drama and dark excitement.

For the Cads amongst you chasing a strumpet or, in fact, any of the above, there are no rules, only fractured regulations littered amidst equally broken promises. A true Cad will be able to charm his way into the affections of the fairer sex while wearing even the Dandyist of combinations, as he makes the boudoir his ultimate destination.

In the modern gentlemen’s wardrobe over the years the hat has become a lamentable omission but amongst the more style conscious, that is changing. Just a few decades ago the well-dressed man would not be seen outside his home without a hat. Indeed most black and white movies made before 1960 are often referred to as ‘Hat Movies’ due to the preponderance of hats.

Who can forget the stoically Heart broken Trevor Howard in Brief Encounter? Hat at an intimate angle as he comforts and protects a misty-eyed Celia Johnson, during their final goodbyes on a damp railway platform; or indeed, the exuberant Gene Kelly in 1952’s Singing in the Rain dancing for joy in a downpour. I myself wooed my fair lady in a similar fashion to Gene Kelly, except I opted for a high top topper, and danced a little number of my own choreography; it worked!

Being a Chap is a state of mind, and for most, an aspiration. It is more than the some of parts, but good tailoring is essential; so too are accessories, on which a Chap relies and must not do without. Hats, like manners, maketh the man and still do for the modern Chap.