subject: The History And Development Of Peaked Caps [print this page] A long time ago, a hat for the French woman had no sense. It is difficult to be incorporated into everyday life, because only in the event of rain, snow and bad weather, people would use it, but the French woman used to stay home and had no chance to use hats. It was then the hats were considered as an expression full of imagination, and gradually used in the applicable occasions: at the wedding, the baptism, as well as going to the church.
Mothers, aunts, cousins who are wearing their hats to shade had a nice match of beauty to talk about and to compete with. In the 18th century, the French woman wearing a hat was even regarded as the lifestyle of queen because she owned an uncountable number of hats for which she named them the few stuff this could be true as the taste and mentality of the ladies were reflected from their hats.
The peaked cap has been worn by Russian army officers (other ranks had the same cap without a peak) as a new type of forage cap since 1796 by some regiments, and from 1811 by the most of the army. Throughout the nineteenth century peaked caps were the characteristic ordinary duty headdress for officers of both the Prussian and Russian armies. In 1856 a form of peaked cap was adopted by petty officers of the royal navy, in imitation of an undress headdress worn by officers from as early as 1827.
The British army adopted peaked caps in 1902 for both the new khaki field dress and (in colored form) as part of the "walking out" or off duty wear for other ranks. A dark blue version was worn by all ranks of the U.S.A Army between 1902 and 1917.
During the twentieth century the combination or peaked cap became a common headdress in the armies, navies and air forces of the world, especially for officers. As a relatively practical and smart item it also became popular amongst police forces, largely replacing the helmets and kepis worn earlier.
A peaked cap, forage cap or combination cap is a form of headgear worn by the armed forces of many nations and also by many uniformed civilian organizations such as law enforcement agencies. In the United States military, they are commonly known as service caps, wheel caps, saucer caps, or combination covers.
The cap has a crown, a band, and a peak (British English) or visor (American English). The crown is one color, often white for navies, light blue for air forces, and green for armies, and may be piped around the edge in a different color. The band can be one color, often black, or can be striped, vertically or horizontally. Most caps have some form of cap device (or cap badge). In the British army, each regiment and corps has a different badge.
In the American armed forces, the cap device is uniform throughout the branch of service, though different variants are used by different rank classes. The peak or visor is short, historically made of leather, or in newer caps may be a shiny plastic. Sometimes it is covered in black fabric when adorned with embroidered ornamentation.
