THE RISE & FALL OF THE MEXICAN SUGAR LOAF

Although the signature highcrowned Mexican sombrero may rarely be worn today, it remains a powerful symbol of Mexico’s struggle a century ago for liberty, equality and freedom.

- BOB BOZE BELL AND STUART ROSEBROOK

On November 30, 1920, recently elected Álvaro Obregón, a general in the Mexican Revolution, was sworn into the Republic of Mexico’s office of president. Obregón, a one-time ally and rival of Pancho Villa and Emiliano Zapata, two of Mexico’s renowned revolutionary leaders, had survived a decade of war (he lost his right arm in the 1915 Battle of Celelya with Villa), assassinations and 11 presidents before being duly elected to the nation’s highest office.

Obregón’s decision to address the crowd with his men holding their hats was the beginning of the end of the high-crowned sugarloaf sombrero as popular headgear. Interestingly, 41 years later, U.S. Presidentelect John F. Kennedy went hatless at his inauguration in a symbolic, tip of the hat to a new, youthful era in America.

– ALL IMAGES COURTESY LIBRARY OF CONGRESS, UNLESS OTHERWISE NOTED –

Sugar loafs at Work on Docks of Vera Cruz, 1909

– COURTESY DIGITAL COMMONWEALTH OF MASSACHUSETTS –

Men Wearing Charro Costumes, Tampico, Mexico, circa 1890- 1930