Hunting for Style: a History of the Homburg

[@geekspotstore692]

A polyglot Frenchman is as rare as a true gentleman nowadays. Congratulations for being both, ol’ chap!

[@emmgeevideo]

Well said!

[@blablablablablablab3]

And a polyglot Englishman? Aren't they rare, as well?

[@IchabodvanTassel98]

​@@blablablablablablab3not quite as rare as the French one!

[@jameshorne9351]

I have 4 homburgs, it's my favorite hat, I have loved them since I was a kid & used to play with my grandfather's homburgs & fedoras, so he left his to me since he knew I would appreciate them. I wish I still had his, but I'm glad to have some of my own...

[@PippaRilley]

. Brilliant your Granfather left you his hats. ❤

[@joshrodrigue7216]

Ever since I saw Orson Wells wear the gray Homburg in Citizen Kane, it has become my favorite classic hat.

[@aubs400]

Ì have a grey and a brown Homburg. They are my two favourite hats

[@KeithPrince-cp3me]

I became aware of the homburg through a song by 1960s music group Procul Harem who recorded a song of that name, similarly The Kinks' song She's Bought a Hat Like Prncess Marina contains the lyric, "He's bought a hat like Anthony Eden's as it makes him think he's a lord..." Hense the hat's appearance in popular music of the sixties.

[@toastjoestar5126]

I loved the little cameo by Raphael from the Gentleman’s Gazette! Great video, love your channel already! Would love to see an episode on the pork pie hat style next!

[@hathistorianjc]

I'm a fan of their channel!

[@FadedGlint]

I always find myself back at your channel to satisfy my hat obsession.

[@johndell3642]

Very informative video - Another famous Homburg wearer was the British comedian Tony Hancock.

[@Jsmith2024]

I'll never forget the first time I saw someone wearing a Homburg. I was at a store opening in Regensburg and saw a VERY smartly dressed older man and his equally well attired wife. His was, if memory serves, gray--certainly not black. They were a bit over dressed for mall-shopping, but their sharp style left an indelible mark on me.

[@ladyflimflam]

My husband had a woven homburg that looked very sharp with his summer suits

[@jeromemckenna7102]

I grew up with only wearing a hat for cold weather but my father wore a Homburg much of his life. Always a gray one. Good video.

[@fredhasopinions]

as a French learner it's very nice to find that an interesting channel coincidentally uploads everything in both languages. Much appreciated. y a trop de contenu en ligne dont on ne trouve aucune traduction ni des sous-titres :/

[@chiron14pl]

I remember seeing my grandfather wear a Homburg both when he was alive in the 50s and in pics of him in 30s and 40s

[@jfu5222]

A handsome looking hat, I'd like one in grey. Thanks for another interesting history lesson, Happy New Year!

[@TheAyeAye1]

Thank you for encouraging my hat obsession.

[@Beaguins]

That's a striking and handsome hat. I really didn't know much about the Homburg. Thanks for the lesson!

[@HootOwl513]

I have my Grandfather's Homburg. If I can get a hatmaker to put in a new leather band, I may start wearing it.

[@stevenclark-z7i]

So very enjoyable and natty. I actually went to Bad Homburg when I was stationed in Germany, and the clear air was very relaxing, as was the town and woods. There is also a very picturesque Russian chapel there built by the Czar, since Russians liked to go there as well.

[@petuniaskunk2316]

You should do a video on the Jester hat

[@cooperszone]

Super passionnant comme toujours. Keep it up, Bonne Année!

[@petem7118]

In London, I remember back in the sixties and seventies the Homburg was the required hat for middle management and the Bowler was for senior management… and depending upon your level you were required to wear one….!

[@rjgreen71]

Back in the late 1970s I remember sitting on the tube as a small child opposite a city gent in his 60s wearing a bowler hat and morning suit. He was clutching a black suitcase and a bamboo handled umbrella. I remember being very impressed at his attire!

[@christopherlyons5900]

Alec Baldwin wore one in The Shadow, in 1994, playing the title character--but only when he was Lamont Cranston, wealthy man about town. When he was being The Shadow, scourge of the underworld, clouder of men's minds, he sported a very wide brimmed slouched black hat with a wide band around the base of the crown--not sure what style that one is. Hats, as always, are indicators of character, and what role you are playing at a given moment. I'd assume the reason some gangsters are shown wearing Homburgs is that they want to be seen as princes of a sort, and it was a prince who made the hat popular outside Germany. Then several prime ministers.

[@vonpfrentsch]

Congrats on this, yet again, well researched footage.

[@noodleperson17]

Love all your entertaining and informative hat vids. Chapeau!

[@user-tl5fi9lz9z]

I wear a Homburg some times.

[@infoscholar5221]

Impeccable, as always, Frere.

[@resolute123]

Happy New Year! Keep em coming!

[@BobQuay-zb3nf]

Have you ever thought of an episode where we simply tour your hat collection? I'm sure we would all love to see it.

[@laurentdevaux5617]

A very elegant hat that reminds me two of its most famous wearers, Hercule Poirot and Winston Churchill. Each and every day I Wear a hat or a cap, whether it's a fedora, a panama, a tweed cap or even a boater. But until now, I still hesitate to buy a homburg as I think, maybe I'm wrong, it's a bit too formal and hence not so easy to wear.

[@GT_3044]

thank you for this explanation

[@EnBarren]

Another fantastic video!

[@Alberad08]

My father wore a black Homburg in the sixties and early seventies, mostly on Sundays. I was a little boy back then, but remember this very well, also how my mother called that particular hat a "Homburg". On other days, he wore just a fedora, - sometimes a fur cap if it got really cold.

[@rafaelmijares369]

Through mysteries of the algorithm I came across the incredibly interesting Hat Historian and I now watch every video that I come across. May I suggest videos about the Spanish hat (cordobés), the bullfighter's montera, and the Mexican sombrero.

[@mrs.g.9816]

The only person I ever saw wearing a homburg was Zero Mostel in the 1967 comedy, The Producers. BTW - You look quite dapper in the homburg and evening attire!

[@tabletopmika4349]

I live quite close to the city of Bad Homburg, but the first time I heard about the Homburg hat was just recently in a song named Homburg by Procol Harum. 😄

[@BrunoGutjahr]

Greetings from Bad Homburg, germany. I‘m a collektor of hats an got a Homburg from my grandfather. On my second Wedding I wore a Kind of Homburg out of Panama Material. Tranks for your interresting explanations , people around here Tell a lot of rubbish about the Homburg hat history. As far as I know you told the truth.

[@davegreenlaw5654]

Only recently found your channel a week ago, but really fascinated with it. Here in Canada, I became aware of the homburg from the Canadian television series Murdoch Mysteries, where the title character, Detective William Murdoch, routinely wears one.

[@johnharley4112]

For the record (no pun intended), in 1967, Procol Harum referenced this hat in the lyrics of a song of the same name: "Your trouser cuffs are dirty And your shoes are laced up wrong You'd better take off your Homburg 'Cause your overcoat is too long"

[@westswell2757]

I consider cowboy hats 🤠 to be a derivative of the Homburg. I submit that in many posed and candid photos from the later 19th century some American men in the west were wearing distressed Homburgs.

[@karadocdevannes4687]

Happy new year, my best wishes to you and your family. May 2024 bring us many more hat videos of this quality! Have you thought about videos on the « bonnet phrygien », a french revolutionnary symbol rarely understood? Or the « bonnet à poil » of the Napoleon imperial guard?

[@Emanuel_carey]

Would you do a campaign hat video?

[@hathistorianjc]

It is planned

[@vonpfrentsch]

Fratelli d´Italia: Mi dispiace tanto. You get credit for so many things: Your pasta, your cheese, your wines, your landscapes, your pretty, elegant ladies, your fabulous cars, your football players, your dolce far niente. This time, please, Date a Cesare quello che è di Cesare. Homburg is the name of the hat, Bad Homburg v.d. Höhe is located in Germany.

[@Momo_Kawashima]

The two stories don't necessarily have to be separate and conflicting, but can be part of a whole other thing. The Lobbia matter is said to have happened in 1863, Wilhelm II was 4, and with a withered arm a 4 y.o. isn't much of a huntsman. Given that the whole "I bought this hat in Homburg while visiting my cousin Willy" thing happened much later it's possible that the two stories are related. The whole Lobbia thing happened in northern Italy, which is also where the first Lobbias started appearing (I'm from southern Italy and while sometimes temperatures get low it's always hot, felt hats would be a pain to wear. They're more common up north). Since northern Italy and Germany are close it's not unlikely that things went this way: -they try to whack an italian politician -hat makers in northern Italy decide to profit from it and sell dented bowler hats as "Lobbia hats" -the hat style spreads in Germany too -the Kaiser buys one -his cousin buys one in Homburg -the brits start calling it the "homburg hat" cause the big guy said he bought it in Homburg

[@tj-co9go]

​@@Momo_Kawashimayeah that's what I thought too

[@Based_Stuhlinger]

Lovely hat, a more formal and compact alternative to the fedora.

[@Sgront]

well, well, well....i tip my hat for all the research you are doing ! very interresting backgrounds to all that stuff - myself uses 3 hats in an australian style, 1 beret (purple, army style) and a flatcap from Britain....seems hats get more popular again ! sidenote: i dont really like baseball-caps 😛

[@ianweaver9936]

I found this video fascinating and enjoyable, there is much to hats that i did not know about. I would like to know the history of the Trilby, to me its a symbol of Ireland.

[@davidnorth9390]

A "serving" of PORKPIE please? BTW: Thank you, --these are informative and FUN!

[@hathistorianjc]

I need to get one first, but when I do, I'll certainly make a video on it

[@macnichols7180]

Both my grandfather and my father wore Homburgs. I think it is attractive.

[@gordoncgregory]

The stroller is the same level of formality as the tuxedo, but is the daytime equivalent as the tuxedo is correctly only worn in the evening.

[@vulpo]

I love you videos. Please make one about the Pork Pie Hat.

[@karlaverbeck9413]

Where do your wonderful costumes come from? They add so much to your wonderful hats.

[@ronhyde8758]

Many people in Britain are likely to associate the Homburg with the comedian Tony Hancock who was famous from the fifties and sixties.

[@carlupthegrove262]

I'm always in search of new hats. I've yet to find a good homburg at an affordable price. But I have got given up the hunt.

[@aicragej]

I have one from an Australian hatter. I love it and my only regret is not having enough opportunities to wear it properly. Won best dressed by a landslide in last year's office Christmas party with it.

[@ramamonato5039]

"Homburg" (Procol Harum)

[@martinstead5065]

It was also an undress hat for clergy, especially Church of England, worn with a black suit and clerical collar. My father wore this outfit in the 1960,s.

[@alexandrasmith4393]

When mum and dad were engaged, my dad walked mum home one rainy night, he bent dow to kiss her goodnight ……. and she got a face full of rainwater from his homburg.

[@rileyfox4001]

Excellent clip! I own a number of them and really disliked most...until my last purchase when I got what I wanted....a very small brim! Why are they so very hard to find???

[@ilfarmboy]

granddad always wore one my younger brother got it but it disappeared

[@11C1P]

Jeremy Brett as Sherlock Holmes would often wear one on the 80's & early 90's BBC tv series Sherlock Holmes.

[@EndingSimple]

I watched just one. Then I watched another. And then another. .... Habit forming.

[@finlaybond]

The first man that sprung to mind as a wearer of the Homburg for me was George Formby. He did also wear a fedora though, so perhaps not as iconic as many of the other examples given.

[@thomasbeach905]

Father had a very nice homburg. Unfortunately it was too small for me.

[@user-vw6ej7ib5c]

Are you interested in novelty hats. Can not send pictures here. I live in Arazona USA

[@Kevin-mx1vi]

The Homburg with a wider brim still seems to be very popular with the more traditional Jewish communities in Manchester and Leeds. I think it looks rather splendid. 😊

[@BaronessErsatz]

Of course I'll accept your invitation to dinner!

[@WildRover1964]

Can't believe you never mentioned Tony hancock

[@justayoutuber1906]

The Homburg, or the Heisenberg?

[@KarlDavies-d5c]

Why do you always say ‘tip’ and never ‘doff’?

[@hathistorianjc]

Might be a difference of American vs British English

[@BobAbc0815]

Not to be confused with Humbug.

[@aguadigger]

👍🎩🤠

[@basher2888]

Come to india

[@poil8351]

well in a way you should be glad that presidents no longer wear top hats seriously could you imagine trump wearing a top hat without look utterly ridiculous.

[@comlitbeta7532]

It's a good thing indeed that would have been quite a sight. Trump, looking ridiculous can you imagine such a thing 😂😂

[@Sir_Foxxo_The_Foxy_Fox]

Længe lever dronning Margrethe Long live Queen Margrethe Også selvom hun ikke er dronning længere

[@boomr334]

The Italian name Lobbia sounds a bit like lady parts so it is probably not true becaws we all know what them hot blooded latins are like always thinking about the sex stuff and anyway it is also a real improvement of grey over green although I could go for a deep forest green myself

[@viking-énervé]

Merci d'avoir fait tout en anglais tu es mon premier désabonnement de l'année

[@vonpfrentsch]

Montrer son manque d´ intellectualité ne pourrait être plus éclatant. Bonne nuit, restez dans votre bulle.

[@hathistorianjc]

Ah, j'ai l'honneur d'être le premier quelque chose cette année, ça ce célèbre quand même ;p Mais hélas, quelle tristesse, du fait de votre aversion à une de mes langues maternelles, vous ne verrez donc pas la version en français dans deux petites semaines comme chaque mois, que l'on me disait au début de ma chaîne que je perdais mon temps à faire... Comme l'a dit le sage: "Patience, you must have."

[@jeanlouisfrechin5934]

Ridicule et enervé .. francais toujours a râler contre quelque chose

[@viking-énervé]

Je n'ai rien contre l'Anglais mais ici on est en France et la langue et le Francais@@hathistorianjc

[@hathistorianjc]

@user-yy1di6dv4b C'est un argument possible, certes, sauf que j'habite et je filme mes vidéos à Kansas City, dans le Missouri, aux Etats-Unis...