The Pork Pie Hat

A pork pie hat or porkpie hat is a type of hat made of felt or, less commonly, straw. It is somewhat similar to a trilby or a fedora, but like the boater it has a flat top. The crown is short and has an indentation all the way around, instead of the pinch crown typically seen on fedoras and homburgs. The pork pie hat originated in the mid 19th century. Originally referring to a type of woman’s hat, it gets its name from its resemblance to a pork pie.

The pork pie hat was a staple of the British man-about-town style for many years. Commonly worn by American Civil War soldiers and the US Army (unofficially) through the 1880s. Pork pie hats are often associated with jazz, blues and ska musicians and fans. Charles Mingus wrote an elegy for jazz saxophone great Lester Young called "Goodbye Pork Pie Hat". Many artists have performed this tune, including Jeff Beck, Rahsaan Roland Kirk, Derek Sherinian, and Joni Mitchell. In Jamaica, the hat was popularized by the 1960s rude boy subculture, which traveled to the United Kingdom and influenced the mod and skinhead subcultures (although Jamaican and British pork pie hats are more similar to a very short-brimmed trilby rather than the US style). Jamaican ska artist Laurel Aitken performed the song "Give Me Back My Pork Pie Hat".

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