Bowler hat

The bowler hat, also known as derby in the US, is a hard felt hat with a rounded crown. It was designed by the London hat-makers Thomas and William Bowler in 1849 when a company called James Lock & Co. of St James’s asked them to make a protective hat for professional hunters. They had previously worn top hats but they were easily knocked off by branches and broken.

From these very specific origins, the humble bowler hat soon became a popular hat worn first by working-class men and later also by middle and upper class men in all of the English speaking Western world. In the US, also the outlaws preferred to wear the bowler hat. Interestingly, in the 1920s the bowler hat was adopted by the peasant women of Peru and Bolivia where the hat is now a staple part of their traditional dress.