Regency Fashion: The John Bull Top Hat

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First in Lloyd’s Treatise of Hats, is the John Bull:
JOHN BULL THE greatest difficulty a painter has professionally to encounter is to produce a striking resemblance of a coun tenance where there are no striking features just so with the Hat called JOHN BULL It has no marked style of peculiarity in the formation but independent of the fine texture there is in it a combination of rare qualities not often met with for instance it has in appearance strong marks of becoming gravity a bold but manly dignity a pleasing diffidence with a conscious yet un assuming importance and is recommended to persons somewhat robust in form features full and round with a complexion not too dark In wearing it should neither be placed aside thrown too far back nor brought parti cularly forward over the face for the following reasons the first position would bespeak an air of non challance the second a sort of slovenly neglect in the person and the third an incommunicative sullenness of dispo sition
Lloyd’s Treatise on hats (1819)

This is first in a series on Gentleman’s Hats:

Regency Fashion: Gentlemen’s Hats – Regency Reader (regrom.com)

 

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