The fedora hat is generally made of soft beaver, rabbit, and/or wool felt, with smooth, brushed, velour, and/or longhair textures. It has a low-to-medium height crown with a length-wise or teardrop/diamond-shaped crease running along the crown’s top from front to back; a short, medium, or wide turned-up or turned-down brim; and the crown is usually ringed with a ribbon – often grosgrain with a flattened bow on the crown’s side.
The fedora is named after the 1882 play Fedora by Victor Sardou in which actress Sarah Bernhardt donned a soft felt hat to play the role of a Russian princess dressed like a boy. Contrary to popular lore, the play did not launch the fad of women wearing fedoras, but rather the hat was immediately marketed to and worn by men with its popularity slowly increasing from the 1880s through the 1910s.
The fedora’s prominence skyrocketed in the 1920s and 1930s, when it was worn by such actors as John Gilbert, William Powell, and Humphrey Bogart in popular Hollywood films. The fedora continued to be popular during the 1940s with support from gangster and Noir films – you simply couldn’t think of a gangster without imagining a fedora on his head!
During the 1950s and 1960s the fedora managed to maintain a menswear fashion presence, albeit an increasingly small one due to changing styles and times. By the early 1970s, as informal clothing became more acceptable and even popular, the fedora went out of fashion for most men, but enjoyed new popularity as womenswear with famous faces such as Lauren Hutton popularizing the look for ladies.
The list of famous fedora wearers is long and varied and includes everyone from gangsters, actors, and musicians to coaches, politicians, and even government employees. The fedora hat is a classic – both timeless and practical – and while other styles have come and gone, the fedora never truly goes out of style.
Written by JauntyRooster
1913 ladies Edwardian fedora
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1930s Huckel Czechoslovakia wide brimmed fedora
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1930s Borsalino fur felt fedora
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1940 ladies felt tilt fedora
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1940s Borsalino fedora
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1940s Bonwit Teller fur felt fedora
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1940s Lee felt fedora with windstring
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1940s Borsalino wide brimmed fedora
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1950s fedora
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1950s Champ fedora
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1960s Austrian green velvet fedora
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1950s felt fedora
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1950s Strawbridge & Clothier fedora
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1950s Wormser Panama straw fedora
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1960s felt fedora
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1960s narrow brim fedora
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1960s Haband felt fedora
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1960s Schiaparelli rat pack fedora
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1960s Knox velour stingy brim fedora
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1960s Bond fur felt stingy brim fedora
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1960s Suzy Michelle sculpted ladies fedora
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1960s Churchill Pocket Hat fedora
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1970s Borsalino fedora
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1970s tweed fedora
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1970s Harris Tweed fedora
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1970s Mr John ladies fedora
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1970s Kangol angora ladies fedora
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1970s Kurt Jr ladies fedora
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1970s Gwen Pennington Kashmir fedora
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1970s ladies fedora hat
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1980s Adolfo II straw ladies fedora
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