Atop the average British workingman's attire since 1571.
“He had a sudden whim for a cap and bought one in the haberdashery, a conservative bluish-grey cap of soft English wool. He could pull its visor down over nearly his whole face when he wanted to nap in his deck-chair, or wanted to look as if he were napping. A cap was the most versatile of headgear, he thought, and he wondered why he had never thought of wearing one before? He could look like a country gentleman, a thug, an Englishman, a Frenchman, or a plain American eccentric, depending on how he wore it.”
-- Patricia Highsmith, The Talented Mr. Ripley
Traditionally, a soft flat cap of wool (be it tweed, felt, or otherwise) characterized by a stiff pointed peaked bill at the front. Nowadays, they are available in many styles, of many materials, and by many names. Fads come and go, dontcha know, and everything old is made new again, excepting maybe you and I.
Speaking of fads, back in 2015, GQ gave these four styling rules:
- It should never be floppy, or weirdly too small.
- Fall is the season to wear one.
- Wear it on busy, errand-running days.
- Don’t wear it with suspenders or other old-timey things.
Am pretty sure these still hold, but what do I know? I live on the
States' side o' the
pond,
Texas specifically, where the
baseball cap is functionally synonymous, as near as I can tell.
JD observes that
cloth caps may be more popular in
Canada than the U.S.
References:
https://www.gq.com/story/how-to-wear-a-driving-hat-newsboy-cap
https://www.gentlemansgazette.com/flat-cap-newsboy-hat/
https://dictionary.langeek.co/en/word/36073?entry=cloth%20cap
https://smilesfrommel.blogspot.com/2010/06/how-to-make-newsboy-cap.html
dusted off from wertperch's nodeshell challenge
for Brevity Quest 2024, 276 words total