History
The word fedora comes from the title of an 1882 play by Victorien Sardou, Fédora, written for Sarah Bernhardt. The play was first performed in the United States in 1889. Bernhardt played Princess Fédora, the heroine of the play, and she wore a hat similar to what is now considered a fedora. The fedora had been a female fashion. When the fedora became a male fashion item in the late 19th century, it was popular for its stylishness and its ability to protect the wearer's head from the wind and weather. Since the early part of the 20th century, many Haredi and other Orthodox Jews have made black fedoras normative to their daily wear.
Fedoras have become widely associated with gangsters and Prohibition, which coincided with the height of the hat's popularity in the 1920s-early 1950s. In the second half of the '50s, it fell out of favor due to a shift towards more informal clothing styles.
The fedora enjoyed a revival only a few years after its waning popularity, dating back to the mid-1970s. The fedora as a personal statement has made impacts on American and global culture: Indiana Jones popularized his fedora in the Indiana Jones franchise. Among historical figures: Coach Tom Landry wore a fedora while he was the head coach of the Dallas Cowboys. It would later become his trademark image. A cenotaph dedicated to Landry with a depiction of his fedora was placed in the official Texas State Cemetery in Austin at the family's request. In addition the Cowboys wore a patch on their uniforms during the 2000 season depicting Landry's fedora. Author Terry Pratchett is known for having the fedora as a normal part of his image.
In music, Michael Jackson frequently wore a fedora in public appearances, concerts and video clips. In the television series Fringe, the mysterious figures, the Observers, all wear fedoras.
Read more about this topic: Fedora
Famous quotes containing the word history:
“The history of literature—take the net result of Tiraboshi, Warton, or Schlegel,—is a sum of a very few ideas, and of very few original tales,—all the rest being variation of these.”
—Ralph Waldo Emerson (1803–1882)
“When the history of this period is written, [William Jennings] Bryan will stand out as one of the most remarkable men of his generation and one of the biggest political men of our country.”
—William Howard Taft (1857–1930)
“The history of persecution is a history of endeavors to cheat nature, to make water run up hill, to twist a rope of sand.”
—Ralph Waldo Emerson (1803–1882)