Our Sepia Saturday Theme Photograph this week features a group of toffs all wearing hats. There are precious few toffs in our family (my father worked in a toffee factory, does that count?) and the hats are more likely to be flat caps than toppers. My photograph, however, certainly features a group and they seem to be having an even better time than the group in the theme photograph. Some of my group are recognisable: that is my maternal grandfather on the right and my father next to him; and that is my mother with her hands on the young boys' shoulders. Who the rest are, I am not sure, but the chances are that the photograph was taken at some seaside boarding house during a family holiday, and the rest of the group would have been fellow guests. I have a few such photographs in the family collection - it must have been normal practice after cohabiting for a week at the seaside for the various guests to have a photograph taken together.
It is the caps I am drawn to. As most people know, I am deaf and my hearing is provided by something called a cochlear implant, the most important element of which is a tiny computer and sound processor which sits behind my ear. It doesn't cope well with getting wet and therefore the British climate necessitates a substantial collection of hats. I would quite like to be able to wear a cap - they don't blow off as easily in a wind - but the majority of caps these days have narrow brims. Not so, it would appear, back in the 1930s; and a cap such as the one worn by my Grandfather would be perfect for my needs. All I need to do now is to see if I can find one for sale in the twenty-first century.
Whilst I go off to look for a big cap, why don't you go on over and see what other people are doing for Sepia Saturday this wee. Just follow the links from the Sepia Saturday Blog.
They're almost the size of sombreros!
ReplyDeleteYou got a decent bit of cloth for your money back in those days.
DeleteLovely photo, looks like it was a fine holiday!
ReplyDeleteBck in the good old days when the sun shone in the summer. Just been out today and it is cold enough for a winter coat.
DeleteYour dad looks right spiffy -- like he might break out into a tap dance number a la Fred Astaire.
ReplyDeleteMy father was about as good a dancer as me - and that is not very good.
DeleteI have a photo of my father, circa 1925-28, wearing a cap nearly as wide as those. In another photo taken just a few years later, the cap had shrunken considerably.
ReplyDeleteMost fashions eventually come around again, but wide caps have been a long time a'coming
DeleteGood luck finding that hat, you don't see too many of those these days. Great picture, too bad you don't know who the other people are.
ReplyDeleteThey serious caps, Alan. A great post, and entertaining as always.
ReplyDeleteYour grandfather looks a bit like Bill Broadbent.
ReplyDeleteThe group in your photo do look like they're having a great time. Hey, I'm half deaf too, SSD as of this year and getting used to it. Do you have the deadly tinnitus? Communicating with the world through the keyboard has gotten to my preferred method. How lucky we are to be living now (instead of in the sepia age) with implants and internet to make the deaf world more tolerable.
ReplyDeleteAny hat is a good hat to me. I just love hats.
ReplyDeleteHope your hearing computer is working well. Everyone looks happy. They should be, if on holiday!
ReplyDeleteOh who needs hats anyway right? Unless it's cold or you want to protect yourself from the sun! This is another great family photo again! Everyone always looks so happy, mostly, and there's bound to be a clue or something to who or what they were up to in these photos! Very stylish curtains in the window too!
ReplyDeleteGreat photo, Alan! I recently came into possession (via the net) of a photo of my father's father in N.I. just prior to 1915. He has a cap on that is very much like your grandfather's. They are very broad, aren't they? My grandfather's head is positively dwarfed beneath it!
ReplyDeleteGood luck finding one. If that fails, you can always go for one of those mini-umbrella hats they wear at American Sports matches.
I finally got a post up for SS! Come and see when you get a minute.
I searched and searched to see if I could find a similar hat to your grandfathers. Couldn't find an exact match, but how about these? (Not sure if these links will work. Let me know if they do):
ReplyDeletehttp://www.etsy.com/listing/97195054/mens-vintage-pendleton-hat-100-pure?ref=sr_gallery_27&ga_search_query=mens+vintage+hats&ga_view_type=gallery&ga_ship_to=ZZ&ga_min=0&ga_max=0&ga_page=2&ga_search_type=vintage
http://www.etsy.com/listing/98083851/leather-trimmed-flannel-safari-hat-tan?ref=sr_gallery_25&ga_search_query=mens+vintage+hats&ga_view_type=gallery&ga_ship_to=ZZ&ga_min=0&ga_max=0&ga_page=4&ga_search_type=vintage
http://www.etsy.com/listing/93104311/vintage-pendleton-mens-hat-size-large?ref=sr_gallery_30&ga_search_query=mens+vintage+hats&ga_view_type=gallery&ga_ship_to=ZZ&ga_min=0&ga_max=0&ga_page=7&ga_search_type=vintage
Nancy
I find older photos rather intriguing when you look at styles. Now I can't really think of a cap with a wide brim at the side. I guess you'll have to stay with hats. How about one of our cowboy hats?
ReplyDeleteWith caps like that the photo can only be in Northern England. For caps that protect your ears there are some ratafarian hats that would do the trick. A player at my golf club has a rather fetching multicoloured one.
ReplyDeleteI haven't seen caps that wide before.
ReplyDeleteAwesome picture! I looks as if they were all having a nice time. I bet that you could bring those hats back into style if you can find anybody who could make some.
ReplyDeleteKathy M.
I have been watching a group of movies made from books written by Catherine Cookson. Do you know that name. They were are set in Ireland or northern England and they all wear that same style hat. Big brim. Look in a consignment shop somewhere.
ReplyDeleteQMM
nice pictures Alan I love Sepia Saturday:)
ReplyDeleteMy eye was immediately drawn to your father with his cigarette dangling cooly from his fingers. I recognized him as soon as I saw him.
ReplyDeleteGreat picture - they are all dressed up to be on holiday. It seems people dress down now wearing tshirts and jeans or shorts when taking a vacation . Good luck finding a hat - surely there's a reproduction of your grandfather's hat or something similiar for sale online.
ReplyDeleteIt's a huge cap, almost as far across as it is long!
ReplyDeleteI can almost smell the tobacco in your grandfather's pipe. Takes me back to my own grandfather who would sit for ages sucking on his pipe and blowing out clouds of smoke which always smelled so much richer than the nasty cigarettes favoured by the younger generation.
Interesting thing about caps vs. hats. I can remember when a few blue-suited gents in London's financial center still wore bowlers, but you'd not see hats or caps anywhere else. When I got out into the rural northern counties, I discovered that caps were still part of the fashion for older men. Is your father's lack of headgear a sign of changing styles?
ReplyDeleteThey do remain a practical device and I still pack a waxed cloth hat for those traditional wet British walks.
I can never find any kind of hat big enough for my head, except stretchy, wooly ones. This isn't a comment about my ego (which may or may not be valid) - I just seem to have a very big skull.
ReplyDeleteI'd be pleased to see a photo of you wearing such a cap in due course, Alan. Excellent photo and you're right, they do seem to be particularly enjoying the occasion.
ReplyDeleteCertainly someone out there will make a custom hat for you! Wouldn't that be fun..to pick your style and fabric! :)
ReplyDelete