Then & Now | Baseball caps became standard wear in post-war Hong Kong, but it wasn’t the Americans’ doing
- Hats in Hong Kong were historically chosen for practical reasons, but fashion took over when the baseball cap was adopted to mimic the post-war Japanese
- Sedan chair bearers wore a woven bamboo hat of a particular pattern to indicate the dialect they spoke; Hakka women’s fringed hats proved a hit with Nepalis
Hats – for both sexes – have enjoyed a variegated history in Hong Kong. Straw hats have always been popular; light and comfortable, they kept their wearer in the shade and didn’t heat the head unduly.
Mainly used as parade dress for certain British Army regiments, and the Hong Kong Police, these were sometimes labelled “coal scuttle” helmets for their scoop-like shape.
Forms of cultural hybridity came into play in the interwar years, when many Chinese men continued to don the male cheongsam as everyday wear, paired with narrow-brimmed felt fedora hats. As a fedora helped keep the head (and thus, the rest of the body) warm, they were more commonplace winter wear in Hong Kong. In north China, where cool conditions prevailed for longer, they were worn year-round.
By the 1960s, in tandem with the widespread decline of the male cheongsam, felt hats also gradually disappeared.
