Fedora is a Trilby?

[gtdean48]

On Hornet Hats site, they have a model called the Fedora. In the description, it says it is a Trilby. I always considered these 2 different types with brim width being the difference. Are they interchangeable?
Does anybody in the Lounge have a Christy's Malborough?

 

[nickn5]

I have a Christy's Knightsbridge:

which is advertised as a 'trilby' but in actual fact is a fedora with a wide brim. As I understand there are two characteristics of trilbies which are different, the first is a narrow (stingy) brim of 1 3/4" or less, the other a more sharply turned up back brim.

The two terms are used rather interchangeably in this country it seems. I think many vendors here would imagine a fedora to be something which must have a feather in the side... [huh]

My only proper trilby is this one, wool felt from Marks and Spencer:

N.

 

[Baron Kurtz]

So far as i understood it, a trilby was simply what fedoras were/are called in the UK. A wide-ish brimmed, high crowned soft felt hat with or without snap brim in the UK in the 1930s would be called a trilby. Very rarely does the word fedora pop up in the period sales literature that i've seen.

Just as a short brimmed, low crowned 1960s hat wouldn't be called a trilby in the USA.

bk

 

[Not-Bogart13]

I've had a couple of Brits tell me that a Trilby is supposed to refer to a hat with a 2" brim or smaller (a stingy), but modern usage has blurred the line to include any fedora-like hat.

 

[xigxag]

On Hornet Hats site, they have a model called the Fedora. In the description, it says it is a Trilby. I always considered these 2 different types with brim width being the difference. Are they interchangeable?
Does anybody in the Lounge have a Christy's Malborough?

This is a Christy's Marlborough in light grey. I like this hat a lot.
It fits perfectly on my head.

 

[billyspew]

So far as i understood it, a trilby was simply what fedoras were/are called in the UK. A wide-ish brimmed, high crowned soft felt hat with or without snap brim in the UK in the 1930s would be called a trilby. Very rarely does the word fedora pop up in the period sales literature that i've seen.

Just as a short brimmed, low crowned 1960s hat wouldn't be called a trilby in the USA.

bk

What he said ^^

 

[Goose.]

I found this interesting to read the other day: http://www.equip.co.uk/news/n21.aspx

Here's forum link: http://www.thefedoralounge.com/showthread.php?t=7135

If I like my Hampton:
http://hatsdirect.com/cgi-bin/products.cgi?view=42&returncat=Fedora+Hats&returnpage=0

Then, I may go for a stingy brim Akubra Trilby:
http://hatsdirect.com/cgi-bin/products.cgi?view=42&returncat=Fedora+Hats&returnpage=0

I'm not into stingy brims (MY interpretation of a "Trilby") and the Hampton is going to be my narrowest...but I didn't like beer at first either

 

[randooch]

Xigxag

Nice photos, and welcome to the lounge.

 

[gtdean48]

This is a Christy's Marlborough in light grey. I like this hat a lot.
It fits perfectly on my head.

VERY nice. Thanks. What is the brim width & can you post a shot of the inside, please?

 

[xigxag]

inside of Christy's Marlborough

Thanks randooch for the welcome.
Brim width is 6.5 cm (2.5 inch if I'm correct).
The sweatband is also very nice and comfortable.
I bought the hat at Hornets Hats.

 

[gtdean48]

...Brim width is 6.5 cm (2.5 inch if I'm correct).
The sweatband is also very nice and comfortable.

That's correct. MANY thanks for the photos. Forgot to ask the width of the ribbon hatband.

 

[xigxag]

That's correct. MANY thanks for the photos. Forgot to ask the width of the ribbon hatband.

2.5 cm, 1 inch. Black.

 

[gtdean48]

2.5 cm, 1 inch. Black.

Excellent, again many thanks & welcome. Post some shots of you wearing it as well. Dang good looking lid!

 

[Nick D]

So far as i understood it, a trilby was simply what fedoras were/are called in the UK. A wide-ish brimmed, high crowned soft felt hat with or without snap brim in the UK in the 1930s would be called a trilby. Very rarely does the word fedora pop up in the period sales literature that i've seen.

Just as a short brimmed, low crowned 1960s hat wouldn't be called a trilby in the USA.

bk

After nearly two years over here I say rubbish, not garbage, braces, not suspenders, hob, not stove, trousers, not pants. However, my hat's still a fedora.

Regards,
Nick

 

[David V]

I've always used trilby to describe a narrow, but not stingy, unbound brimmed hat with a narrow ribbon worn by Brits of the horse world.

 

[gtdean48]

Interesting...thanks for all the replies.

 

[skyvue]

An employee at Lock & Co. told me during an early December visit to London that a trilby is simply a narrow-brimmed fedora. I wasn't sure I bought that, then or now.

I think he even cited measurements -- over a certain brim width=fedora, under= trilby -- but I don't recall what they were.

 

[Goose.]

An employee at Lock & Co. told me during an early December visit to London that a trilby is simply a narrow-brimmed fedora. I wasn't sure I bought that, then or now.

I think he even cited measurements -- over a certain brim width=fedora, under= trilby -- but I don't recall what they were.

Ditto. I wish there was something more definitive/authoritive. But it just may be similar to saying it's a situation of two countries separated by a common language. This case being, two hats separated by a narrow brim.

Even Akubra sells two diff hats in their line up specifically named "Fedora" and "Trilby". They are both on th HD "fedora" page: http://hatsdirect.com/cgi-bin/products.cgi?group=Fedora+Hats

So, maybe it's like this...
Not all Fedoras are Trilbys, but all Trilbys are Fedoras.

 

[carldelo]

The source?

Going to an authoritative (English) source, here are the definitions from the Compact Oxford English Dictionary:

trilby
• noun (pl. trilbies) chiefly Brit. a soft felt hat with a narrow brim and indented crown.
— ORIGIN from the heroine of George du Maurier’s novel Trilby (1894), in the stage version of which such a hat was worn.​

fedora /fidor/
• noun a soft felt hat with a curled brim and the crown creased lengthways.
— ORIGIN from Fédora (1882), a drama written by the French dramatist Victorien Sardou.
​

So according to the OED, it's mostly about brim width, and trilby is chiefly a Britishism. Their definition of a fedora sounds suspiciously like a Homburg to me:

homburg /homburg/
• noun a man’s felt hat having a narrow curled brim and a lengthwise indentation in the crown.
— ORIGIN named after the German town of Homburg, where such hats were first worn.​

Their def. of homburg sounds like a cross between a trilby and a fedora. Oh well, in this case I think the FL is probably the arbiter of what these terms mean. But, we can all reach a consensus, right? Yeah, right...

Anyway, just when I'm all set to order a couple of Akubra Stylemasters, Xigxag has to post pictures of the Christy's Marlborough, a hat I've seen and liked but had forgotten all about. Very close in size and shape, it appears - nice pictures, by the way, and now what am I supposed to do? They even come in the colors I want, tan and navy --- decisions, decisions....

 

[gtdean48]

...Anyway, just when I'm all set to order a couple of Akubra Stylemasters, Xigxag has to post pictures of the Christy's Marlborough, a hat I've seen and liked but had forgotten all about. Very close in size and shape, it appears - nice pictures, by the way, and now what am I supposed to do? They even come in the colors I want, tan and navy --- decisions, decisions....

Stylemasters abound, not Marlboroughs. Buck the trend!