Top hats are still de rigueur at Ascot. Over a century ago oval-shaped top hats were a new thing, nowadays men are spoilt for choice with hats of three different oval shapes : round oval, regular oval and long oval – who would have thought we needed so many? Here’s a modern guide to buying a top hat for those formal occasions.
‘LONDON PATENT IMPROVED OVAL-SHAPE BEAVER HATS,
Manufactured upon Blocks the exact Shape of the Head, and warranted to retain their form.
NATHANIEL DANDO and Co. Oval Hat Manufacturers. Original Inventors, and only Makers of the Improved Oval Shape Beaver Hat, No. 42, Cheapside, LONDON, again beg leave to introduce to the notice of the public, their Patent Improved Oval Shape Beaver Hats, assuring their friends that they have now completely effected that desideratum of making a hat so near the shape of the head, that it is worn without being felt ; thereby preventing those frequent head aches, and unpleasant sensations, so often experienced by wearing the common round shaped hat on an oval head, which must of course cause an unequal pressure upon the veins, thereby obstructing the free circulation of the blood in the vessels of the head, and often producing most serious consequences.
N Dando and Co. beg to refer to the many medical gentlemen, of the first eminence, who are wearing and recommending their Oval Shaped Beaver Hats, for their peculiar ease and comfort.
Merchants and the Trade can be supplied with the Improved Oval Shape Beaver Hats, only by Messrs. Nathaniel Dando and Co. 42, Cheapside, London, and the public by most of the respectable hatters in the Kingdom.
A brief explanation of the Superiority of the Improved Oval Shape Beaver Hat, to the Common Hat.
The natural shape of the common hat from its being made on a perfectly round block, and brought to the oval shape of the head, by the hands and the use of a screw, is liable by wear, or when exposed to the damp or rain, to get soft, flap in the brim, and return to its natural round form ; thus losing its shape by being artificially produced.
The Improved Oval Shape Beaver Hat, being manufactured and finished upon an oval block, made to the exact shape of the head, (most of which are from one inch to one inch and a half oval,) will not lose its shape, not being artificially produced with the hands and screw, as is the case with the common hat ; but manufactured from its first state in the shape required to be worn, nor is its shape liable to be affected by the damp or rain.
Nathaniel Dando and Co. request their friends and the public particularly to observe, that they have not appointed any Agent in London ; that their Warehouse, 42, Cheapside, is the only house in Town where they can be supplied with the Improved Oval Shape Beaver Hat ; and that every hat manufactured by them, has their names engraved in the bottom of the lining.’
Stamford Mercury, 27th August, 1819.