: a low soft felt hat with the crown creased lengthwise
The hat and its name come from French dramatist Victorien Sardou's 1882 play Fédora, which was written for its first star, Sarah Bernhardt, who played the eponymous Princess Fédora. The princess wore the hat we recognize as the fedora today, and for the decade following the play's premier the hat was reportedly worn primarily by women. Starting by the end of the 19th century and continuing for a significant portion of the 20th, men in both Europe and the United States (and it was basically all of them) had commandeered the fedora as a wardrobe staple, though women never relinquished their claim entirely. See: J.Lo.