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A homburg is a formal felt hat characterized by a single dent running down the center of the crown (called a "gutter crown"), a stiff brim shaped in a "kettle curl" and a bound edge trim.
Contents
Size
The homburg is made from stiff felt and has a grosgrain hatband and brim trim. Although the homburg is a formal hat, it is not an alternative to the top hat. The original homburg was of slightly more generous proportions than the modern version.
Popularity
It was popularized by Edward VII after he visited Bad Homburg in Hesse, Germany, and brought back a hat of this style. He was flattered when his hat style was mimicked, and at times he insisted on being copied.
Anthony Eden made the dark homburg so fashionable in the 1930s that it became known as "the Eden" on Savile Row. At his 1953 inauguration, Dwight D. Eisenhower broke with tradition by wearing a black homburg instead of a top hat. He also wore a homburg at his second inauguration, a hat that took three months to craft and was dubbed the "international homburg" by hatters since workers from ten countries participated in its making.
Decline
Like other formal Western male headgear, the homburg is not as common as it once was. Al Pacino gained some renewed fame for the homburg by wearing one in the film The Godfather, for which reason the hat is sometimes called a "Godfather". Some Orthodox Jewish, usually Misnagdish, rabbis wear black homburgs, though this practice is also in decline. It is considered somewhat more traditional and distinguished than the black fedora commonly worn by Orthodox Jews. Former Chief Rabbi of Israel, Yona Metzger, is typically pictured wearing a Homburg hat.