top hat

c. 1910 top hat by Alfred Bertiel European royalty, 1859 16th U.S. President Abraham Lincoln at Antietam during the American Civil War in 1862, wearing his distinctive "stovepipe" top hat.

A top hat (also called a high hat, or, informally, a topper) is a tall, flat-crowned hat traditionally associated with formal wear in Western dress codes, meaning white tie, morning dress, or frock coat. Traditionally made of black silk or sometimes grey, the top hat emerged in Western fashion by the end of the 18th century. Although such hats fell out of fashion through the 20th century, being almost entirely phased out by the time of the counterculture of the 1960s, it remains a formal fashion accessory. A collapsible variant of a top hat, developed in the 19th century, is known as an opera hat.