In another thread a question was raised about the sizing of Glengarries and I thought it deserved it's own thread.
Glengarries first appeared in the 1840's (supposedly invented by an officer of the 79th Foot) and initially they were somewhat taller than today's but by the 1860's looked nearly exactly like they do today.
Here's one worn in 1865:
and here's one some years later, by a veteran of The Thin Red Line (the 93rd Foot in Crimea)
In the 1870's military headgear in general got smaller (just compare the kepis worn in the US Army in the Civil War to the kepis worn in the 1870's) and by 1900 Glengarries were smaller and worn at a rakish angle. Here are the Pipe Majors of various Highland regiments, in India c1900:
and smaller yet are some Scots Guards pipers perhaps c1910:
Yet smaller is this Glen worn by a civilian piper. However does it stay on his head?
Over the course of the World Wars the Glens increased in size a bit. Here's some WWI soldiers:
Here's Evan MacRae, Pipe Major of the Queens Own Cameron Highlanders, in the 1950's.
and the trend has continued. Nowadays in the Army the Glens are bigger and worn more straight on the head. This is nearly identical to our Crimean War veteran above.
and even to this extreme, shoved all the way on the head and nearly touching the eyebrows:
(BTW see anything wrong about that book cover?)
I've mostly used military images because in the Army it's not "anything goes" but things must be worn strictly according to the prevailing style.
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