More than anything, it was the display of spectacular headgear that fascinated observers. No garment signified status more thoroughly than the top hat. To H. G. Wells, the acquisition of his first topper had signalled a definite step on his upward climb through the ranks of society. It was, he believed, ‘the symbol of complete practical submission to a whole world of social conventions’.27 At Ascot, a burnished black silk hat with a mourning band was an indispensable attribute of every gentleman in the Royal Enclosure, setting him apart from the straw-boatered hoi polloi beyond.
