The top‐hat in South African history: The changing significance of an article of material culture

Abstract

Articles of apparel may carry strong symbolic meanings and convey messages such as gender and social status. As with other media of communication, items of dress are systematically related to each other to form codes. The top hat is a good example. Part of the urban uniform of the English male upper class from the late eighteenth century onwards, the top hat had become unfashionable in elite circles by the later years of the nineteenth century. However, by this time, the top hat had been adopted as part of the regalia of political leaders outside the colony and in later years, of the South African State President and of participants in the licenced saturnalia of the Coon Carnival.