Flechet

[Frunobulax]

Huh. Well, learn something new every day. Perhaps Daniele will weigh in.


Sent directly from my mind to yours.

 

[Daniele Tanto]

Ciao Madame Jane,
It's not easy to date a hat from four photographs.
I have many hats made by Flechet and so at first sight your hat to be restored seems to belong to the 50s or early sixties. The shape is typical of those years for the French hatters, then the size has narrowed.
Could you send me pictures of the sweatband and the paper label below it?
They would help me a bit more, but I do not think it's older than I told you about.
It seems to me that the hat is pretty worn and pretty common, though if your friend loves him so much to restore it ....... Any other information you can ask for it and hope to help you.
If you have the ability to take pictures as I have asked, I will be more precise.
Buona giornata
Daniele

 

[mayserwegener]

I have a few hats from the WWII era that have simulated leather sweatbands. Here is a late 1930s early 1940s JHS "Foulard" that has a sweatband made from a coated canvas like material.

And Fantastic Looking!

 

[madamejane]

It is truly a fantastic looking hat!

I will post more detailed pictures asap.

 

[mayserwegener]

It is truly a fantastic looking hat!

I will post more detailed pictures asap.

Thanks! Please post the follow-up here.

http://www.thefedoralounge.com/threads/french-hats-and-makers.36690/page-19#post-2260685

 

[steur]

Haven't posted my French hats before (I don't have many), but while browsing I noticed this Flechet thread. Here's one I have: Flechet Escapade qualité speciale, colour or finish Irlandais (not sure what the name refers to). Fantastic velours felt finish. Size 56, overwelt edge brim at 5cm and crown at 10cm at the pinch. Doesn't get much wear due to the short brim, but I admit it's growing on me (slowly).

 

[KarlCrow]

Haven't posted my French hats before (I don't have many), but while browsing I noticed this Flechet thread. Here's one I have: Flechet Escapade qualité speciale, colour or finish Irlandais (not sure what the name refers to). Fantastic velours felt finish. Size 56, overwelt edge brim at 5cm and crown at 10cm at the pinch. Doesn't get much wear due to the short brim, but I admit it's growing on me (slowly).

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michael collins often wore a homburg when not in uniform, as did our other revolutionaries wear other hats, formal coats and dress hats was unusually the guerilla way, the opressed dressed as the opressor, even the peasants in the fields dressed in formal attire, perhaps this hat was trying to cash in on that irish connection, although who knows.

 

[steur]

The pictures I've seen of Collins usually show him in uniform. The ones where he wears a homburg show that it's not a very stiff and formal homburg and the hat comes close to a fedora with an upturned or curled brim. In popular culture the Irish are mostly shown wearing caps, so no idea why the French should choose Irlandais as a name for this finish or colour. On a different note: I know there was a bit of controversy between the descendants of James Joyce and those who initiated the placement of his statue just off O'Connell street because of the statue wearing a fedora (quite flamboyantly), because the family didn't feel the hat was something associated with their ancestor. The backers of the statue came up with the picture you can find on google and the matter was sussed. Get's no nearer the French interpretation of Irlandais, but nice to know.

 

[KarlCrow]

joyce's descendents hold themselves in such high regard nobody else has a mind to. The irish may be pictured wearing caps, pictured by whom?, but they followed a bastardised protestant anglo irish (gentry) dress code. The evidence may be anecdotal but includes mid 19th century potato pickers wearing battered hat & coat-tails in the fields.

most of the cultural elements of irishness, or 'gaelic' culture, were invented from the 1870s drawing from ancient and adapted from contemporary cultures including sports, by originally the fenian movement, culminating in Yeats' reworking of myth and legend.

still doesn't answer the french hat irlandais.

 

[steur]

joyce's descendents hold themselves in such high regard nobody else has a mind to. The irish may be pictured wearing caps, pictured by whom?, but they followed a bastardised protestant anglo irish (gentry) dress code. The evidence may be anecdotal but includes mid 19th century potato pickers wearing battered hat & coat-tails in the fields.

most of the cultural elements of irishness, or 'gaelic' culture, were invented from the 1870s drawing from ancient and adapted from contemporary cultures including sports, by originally the fenian movement, culminating in Yeats' reworking of myth and legend.

still doesn't answer the french hat irlandais.

The reworking of history and legend to create a sense of national identity is not unique for Ireland. There has been quite a bit of that through history. But you're right: it doesn't get us nearer to the French take on "Irlandais". Maybe Christophe can shed a light on the matter.

 

[steur]

Here's another Flechet I have. Flechet marquis in grey longhair finish, size 56 with bound brim at 5,5 cm and crown at 10cm at the pinch. This one started off with an overwelt brim edge, which I thought was too short for my liking. So I took it out only to find that there was a very distinct difference in colour and feel after that with the rest of the brim. Oops. The hat also never felt quite right for me. I almost gave up on the hat but I sent it along with some other hats to Fleur de Huu of Penumbra Hat Co and she reblocked and reflanged the hat for me and added a brim binding (handstitched) for me. It feels as if it's a completely different hat. The felt always was stunning but now the form fits my taste as well.

 

[KarlCrow]

Here's another Flechet I have. Flechet marquis in grey longhair finish, size 56 with bound brim at 5,5 cm and crown at 10cm at the pinch. This one started off with an overwelt brim edge, which I thought was too short for my liking. So I took it out only to find that there was a very distinct difference in colour and feel after that with the rest of the brim. Oops. The hat also never felt quite right for me. I almost gave up on the hat but I sent it along with some other hats to Fleur de Huu of Penumbra Hat Co and she reblocked and reflanged the hat for me and added a brim binding (handstitched) for me. It feels as if it's a completely different hat. The felt always was stunning but now the form fits my taste as well.

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well worth restoring. Beautiful, thanks for posting these.

 

[steur]

well worth restoring. Beautiful, thanks for posting these.

Karl, thanks. My pleasure to share them.

 

[alanfgag]

My only Flechet.

 

[steur]

My only Flechet.

That liner makes me want to see more. Flechet hats did have very nice liners in general. Looks like a longhair too?

 

[alanfgag]

Yes... sorry not to have more photos. I am on the road this week. This hat is one from a collection of NOS Flechet velours purchased by RLK a number of years back. He believed they were 1920s-1930s. I suspect this one is not that old, but I have no research to know for sure.

 

[steur]

Yes... sorry not to have more photos. I am on the road this week. This hat is one from a collection of NOS Flechet velours purchased by RLK a number of years back. He believed they were 1920s-1930s. I suspect this one is not that old, but I have no research to know for sure.

Thanks for sharing that, Alan. Great looking velours. I really like the brim curve on that one. Judging by the sweatband I think you're right about it not being that old. Probably early or mid fifties.

 

[steur]

I have one more Flechet I'd like to share with the lounge (don't have any more really). Flechet Escapade qualité speciale in grey (Granite according to the label). Size 56 with an overwelt brim at 5,5cm and crown at 11cm at the pinch. Longhair finish (with some mothing damage). The previous owner (Jan de Vries) died in 1966 so the hat dates from before that date. Mid fifties to early sixties is my guess. The shop it came from (Transvalia in Gouda, Holland) ceased to exist in the early eighties.

 

[alanfgag]

Thanks for sharing that, Alan. Great looking velours. I really like the brim curve on that one. Judging by the sweatband I think you're right about it not being that old. Probably early or mid fifties.

Here is the label from the Flechet... RLK purchased a lot of NOS French velour hats some years back. It may well be older than it appears.

 

[mayserwegener]

Alan, My guess would be mid to later 1930s maybe a bit later. That was great find by Robert. I believe one of them was an Austrian Velour.