Reply To: Black hats

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#751667

Just a couple of points:

1. While a fedora style hat was a common part of male dress up to about the 1960s, it wan’t necessarily black. There are many photos from those days of yeshiva men in the U.S. and Europe wearing light grey hats or no hats at all. The black fedora is a modern (post 1970) innovation.

2. Payos (side locks) were not a solely Jewish siman. Over the years they have gone into and out of fashion it the world at large. For instance, in Napoleonic France, sidelocks (braided) were popular among military officers and men. I don’t know if they were in style in Egypt 3300 years ago but if they were, Moshe Rabeinu could have had payos and still looked like an Egyptian.