The purpose of the point over the left eye was so the musket
barrel would not hit it.
There are probably caricatures of hats being worn back on the
head, but the fashion was straight.
I remember hearing that 17thC hats were round rather than oval,
and the distortion when worn caused the fashionable undulation of the
brim. That doesn't happen when the brim is cocked up. Stretching the
hat to oval will change the shape a bit, but not the the extent that
it's visible with a free brim.
Carol
On Apr 15, 2009, at 6:36 AM, Kate Bunting wrote:
I think they were designed to be worn straight. When I did 18th
century re-enactment 30 years ago, we were told that soldiers' hats
should be worn with the front point an inch above the left eyebrow.
Kate Bunting
Librarian & 17th century reenactor
------------------------------
Not especially my period, but were they worn straight on the head?
If you
wear a hat tilted back so it sits where an alice band would be,
rather than
around the crown of your head, then the crown of the hat can have a
circular
rather than oval profile.
Claire
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