Trilby Hats

The Trilby is a classic, timeless hat with a fedora-like crown along with a narrow snap brim.

Trilby’s were once considered a rich man’s hat but now is very popular for both casual and elegant outfits. The trilby hat reached its zenith of common popularity in the 1960s; the lower head clearance in American automobiles made it impractical to wear a hat with a tall crown while driving. It was also popularized by John Belushi and Dan Ackroyd in the classic movie the Blues Brothers.

The trilby hat had a resurgence in popularity in the early 1980s with both men and women on a retro fashion trend and continues to be popular to this day.

A trilby hat (commonly called a gentleman’s fedora) is a narrow-brimmed type of hat.

The trilby is also sometimes called the “brown trilby” in Britain and is frequently seen at the horse races.The London hat company Lock and Co. describes the trilby as having a “shorter / narrower brim which is angled down (snapped brim) at the front and slightly turned up at the back” versus the fedora’s “wider brim which is more level / flatter.” The trilby also has a slightly shorter crown than a typical fedora design.

The hat’s name derives from the stage adaptation of George du Maurier’s 1894 novel Trilby. A hat of this style was worn in the first London production of the play, and promptly came to be called “a Trilby hat”.Traditionally it is made from rabbit hair felt, but is usually made from other materials, such as tweed, straw, wool and wool/nylon blends.