The other night I dreamed that I was searching for a missing bowler hat. I have never possessed such an item, so I don't know what the dream signified. All I know was that the hat was rather stylish - in charcoal grey - and that I looked good in it. I'm pretty sure that wouldn't be the case in reality.
The humble bowler is currently so unfashionable that - like the polka dot bow tie - wearing one would be a radical statement. Which means that it's likely to come back into favour at any moment. The cast of the new film The Brothers Bloom might give the bowler rebirth a nudge. Although they don't all wear bowlers, they have the correct bowler-wearing attitude: dapper and slightly eccentric.
There's something humorous about a bowler, which is perhaps why it's quintessentially British. It was, of course, designed by Brits: London hatmakers Thomas & William Bowler, to be precise. It was designed to protect gamekeepers' heads against low-hanging branches. Before that they wore top hats, which kept getting knocked off. Onlookers would then burst out laughing, which offended the gruff gamekeepers' sensibilities.
Bowlers soon become the acceptable headgear of the middle classes: not as snooty as a top hat and not as casual as a flat cap. Smart yet indestructible, they were adopted by butlers and City gents. In America they were known as "derbies", after Edward Smith-Stanley, 12th Earl of Derby and founder of the Epsom Derby horse race. (That may be the connection, because I was born in Epsom. How Freudian.)
The Surrealists - especially Magritte - were quick to alight on the paradoxical nature of the bowler, which is both anonymous and subversive. It has occupied a significant place in popular culture ever since. In the 
sixties, the actor Patrick MacNee wore bowlers to rakish effect as the super spy John Steed in the cult series The Avengers (left), which also had surreal undertones.
More recently, Pierce Brosnan looked dashing in a bowler in the climactic sequence of The Thomas Crown Affair, one of the few remakes that doesn't insult the original. The Parisian fashion designer Sonia Rykiel often
includes a bowler in her catwalk shows. And last season she (or rather her daughter, Nathalie, who is now the brand's designer) sent out a whole parade of
bowlers.
In fact, now I think about it, bowlers look even better on girls.
I gotta say, Pierce Brosnan in The Thomas Crown Affair really knows how to wear a bowler and not look like a complete jerk. Not to mention his predecessor, Michael Caine - he could even look timeless in a sombrero.
Posted by: Deaner | November 28, 2008 at 03:31 PM
Interesting dream.. Can I suggest it may be the bowler energy sending out bowler vibes as I too have been thinking of the bowler recently.. Bowlers and top hats courtesy of Hardy Amies at Central Saint Martins Museum and Study Collection. Its not up we are still in the process of cataloguing everything. If you like I'll let you know when it goes on line.
Posted by: Leigh Odimah | January 02, 2009 at 02:34 PM
Thanks Leigh...Bowler hats and Hardy Amies? Sounds perfect - count me in. M
Posted by: Mark | January 02, 2009 at 05:17 PM