What is a bowler hat?

Question

What is a bowler hat?

Answer 1

Find a picture of Mr Potatoe Head. He is wearing one :)

Answer 2

charle chaplin always wore them

Answer 3

The bowler hat (also known as a 'derby') is a hard felt hat with a rounded crown. It was hard in order to protect the head of a man on horseback against low tree branches. Another theory is that they were originally produced for the gamekeepers of Holkham Estate in North Norfolk, they were hard to protect them from being hit round the head by poachers who were stealing game from the woods at night.

The bowler became a cultural identifier, ironically with two completely different meanings: throughout most of England it was associated with professional servants, i.e. butlers, and so upon seeing a man wearing a bowler in a pub or on the street, it was fairly safe to assume he was a "gentleman's gentleman," meaning a valet or butler; in London itself, however, it was associated with professionals, and so a man wearing a bowler in "the City" could safely be assumed to be a lawyer, stock broker, banker or government official. As the traditional headwear of London city 'gents' it has become something of an English cultural icon.

Read more at http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bowler_hat

Answer 4

Here's a picture of one:

http://www.bates-hats.co.uk/images/black...

Answer 5

http://www.bates-hats.co.uk/images/black...

^ is a bowler hat

(LOL SNAP TO THE PERSON ABOVE ME)

Answer 6

It's what americans call a Derby......

Butlers and valets wore them when their employers wore top hats (and morning suits during every day).......say in  the 1920s and 30s

When morning suits and top hats were used just for weddings and Ascot, stock brokers and bankers started wearing the less formal bowlers to work in the city....

during the 1950s and 60s