Flat Cap - Youth Culture

Youth Culture

Boys in the United Kingdom and North America of all classes wore this cap in the late 19th and early 20th centuries. This is not the case in the United States. Flat caps were not very common in the 19th century, although we see some being worn in the 1890s. They grew in popularity in the 1900s and by the 1910s were standard boys' wear. The working-class association prevalent in Britain, was never very prevalent in America. Boys of all classes wore them. They were worn to school, for casual wear, and with suits. Flats caps were almost always worn with knicker suits in the 1910s and 20s. Both flat caps and knickers declined in popularity during the 1930s. The flat cap hat is often associated in popular culture with city newsboys (i.e., street-corner newspaper sellers) in North America, which is why the style is sometimes called a newsboy or newsie cap. Some may associate the cap more with working class boys, though this may be purely personal or regional. Possibly due to popular portrayals in movies and other media, the cap is commonly perceived as a badge of a cab driver in the United States; for this reason, it is sometimes referred to as a cab driver or cabbie hat.