The 18th century tricorne is one of the most iconic hats ever. It is synonymous with the 1700s and holds its grip as a fashion must-have from the beginning of the century right upon the end, when the bicorn bumps it out of top fashion. But where does it come from?
So where did it come from? The common line of history is that is was Spanish soldiers, fighting the French in Flanders, during the War of Devolution in the 1667-1668, that cocked their brims up so it would be easier to handle the muskets. I have also read that they used to fold one side up, but then it rained so much in Flanders that they cocked the other one up too, so the rain would be lead away easier. The style is then said to be picked up by the French soldiers, and then it spread to Louis XIV, who picked up the style and then it spread like a fashion wild-fire in Europe.
I think this is a very over simplified version.
One thing we need to consider is how hats behave when being made. To day, we usually make the crowns of hats in an oval-shape, which is the actual shape of the hat. This is not how most hats where made historically. Historically they used round blocks, this means, when you put the round-shaped crown on an oval head, it will pull the brim up on the side.
Also when you block a hat most often, just by the natural way of blocking, the brim edge will curl up, so unless you strech it out, it will naturally fold up, and piece this together with the round crown, it will look something like in the painting Clement de Jonghe, Printseller by Rembrandt van Rijn, from 1651.
So you have the shape of the hat, that is already naturally giving the beginning of a cocked hat.
Of course, fashion can then give direction, there are plenty of hats, where they obviously want to have a straight brim.
But if we go back to the notion that the Spanish started with the folding up the brim to help with the musketeering?
I would say, no, it really seems to just be a natural evolvement of the hats, the turning up a side, or several sides of the brim is something universal. And for good reasons I think.
One, as I already said, it happens naturally when you make the hat, but it is also a function thing. If you have a wide brim, it is much easier if it is abit upturned. Both to see, handle, and it also reduces the area for the wind to catch the hat, so it most likely wont blow of as easily. And it leads the rain away from the face.
Above are some examples in the contemporary art:
– Aelbert Cuyp – Piping Shepards 1644 – Dutch painter
– Adam Frans van der Meulen – Battle 1657 – Flemish painter
– Jan Miense Molenaer – family Making Music -1734
Jan is a dutch painter, that seemes to never have left the country, and here is an intersting depiction of hats where the seem to have pinched the front.
– Swedish wall mural ca 1600 – Even though the hats are a bit different, it clearly shows that they clearly folded up the brims in different fashions
I think there are enough references to say that the folding up brims, is not just a Spanish thing, one can find it all over. And as the Swedish mural shows, the brim styling is not a new thing for the mid 1600s. Instead I would say what clearly changes from the 1500s to 1600s is the crown.
In the 1500s they are pretty tall and flat, whereas in the 1600s, they get lower and more round.
The next thing in the oral history of the 18th century tricorne, is that it is Louis XIV that after the War of Devolution embrace the tricorne. Well, again looking at the art, it is not as the tricorne (as we see it today) suddenly appear after 1667. Yes, the style is going more towards the smaller, more articulated shaped, but it is not until the 1690s that you actually start seeing it.
And the only painting of Louis XIV I found with it was one with very little information, that might be from 1704.
– René-Antoine Houasse: Louis XIV, King of France 1674
This is painted 1674, which is almost a decade after the War of Devolution, and yes the shape is starting to resembles a tricorn, but it is not there yet.
– Adam Frans van der Meulen – Louis Xiv at the Taking of Besancon – 1674
This is also from 1674, but by another painter, but you can still see the hat is very similar, and still not really an 18th century tricorne
– Painting by Unknown of Louis XIV ca 1704
Then in the 1690s the shape of the 18th century tricorne, as we know it, explodes. You see it everywhere. And I wont say that Louis XIV wasn’t an influence, he was a fashion icon. But I think it is pretty safe to say it had nothing to do with the Spanish, or the War of Devolution. As you can clearly see that people in the region way before that turned their brims up (as it seems most of everyone using a felt hat). And the tricorne does not even appear as we know it until 30 years later.
My personal opinion is that is a graduate change in the fashion overall, not anchored in a particular event. I have also read it has something to do with the big wigs, that is why it needs to be smaller, but huge wigs where a thing long before the 1690s.
I just think the brims started to creep up in the fashion and then one theory could be that in the end of the 1600s, alot of armies started to want uniform their armies. You needed to make clothes, cheap easy and quick. Thus the brims get shorter and smaller – easier to felt, less material, and the upturned brims are already fashion, so they sew them up, both for fashion and for function.
But that is not as easy to understand or as great a story as the story of the Spanish soldiers, battling both frenchmen and rain, and then the great Sun – king, taking on the fashion of the soldiers -spreading it across Europe. It is that saying – dont question a good story!
What ever its origin – the 18th century tricorne will for ever be a fashion icon.
A huge disclaimer that this is surface level research with looking at the art, one might find more looking at the written sources as well.
