Кепи: История и особенности головного убора

Flat circular cap with a visor

The kepi (/lang//pron/'/k//ɛ//p//iː/ '/k//eɪ//p//iː/) is a cap with a flat circular top and a peak, or visor. In English, the term is a loanword from , itself a re spelled version of the , a diminutive form of Kappe, meaning "cap". In Europe, the kepi is most commonly associated with French military and police uniforms, though versions of it were widely worn by other armies during the late 19th and early 20th centuries. In North America, it is usually associated with the American Civil War, as it was worn by soldiers on both sides of the conflict.

The kepi was formerly the most common headgear in the French Army. Its predecessor originally appeared during the 1830s, in the course of the initial stages of the occupation of Algeria, as a series of various lightweight cane framed cloth undress caps called casquette d'Afrique. These were intended as alternatives to the heavier, cloth covered leather French Army shako. As a light and comfortable headdress, it was adopted by the metropolitan (French mainland) infantry regiments for service and daily wear, with the less practical shako being relegated to parade use. In 1852, a new soft cloth cap was introduced for campaign and off duty. Called bonnet de police à visière, this was the first proper model of the kepi. The visor was generally squarish in shape and oversized and was referred to as bec de canard (duck bill). This kepi had no chinstrap (jugulaire). Subsequent designs reduced the size of the cap and introduced chinstraps and buttons. The kepi became well known outside France during the Crimean War and was subsequently adopted in various forms by a number of other armies (including the U. S. and Russian) during the 1860s and 1870s. In 1870, when troops were mobilized for the Franco Prussian War, large numbers of French soldiers either refused to wear the issued shakos or threw them away. Emperor Napoléon III abolished the infantry shako for active service and replaced it with the kepi on 30 July 1870. In 1876, a new model appeared with a rounded visor, as the squared visor drooped when wet and curled when drying. The model used in World War I was the 1886 pattern, which was a fuller shape incorporating air vents. Described as an "ideal headdress which was cheap, distinctive and easy to produce", the M1886 kepi's only significant drawback was that the sunken crown collected rain. By 1900, the kepi had become the standard headdress of most French army units and (along with the red trousers of the period 1829–1914) a symbol of the French soldier. It appeared in full dress (with inner stiffening and ornamental plume or ball ornament) and service versions. Officers' ranks were shown by gold or silver braiding circling the centre and as a trefoil on the crown. The different branches were distinguished by the colours of the cap – see the table. Cavalry normally wore shakos or plumed helmets, reserving red kepis with light or dark blue bands for wear in barracks. General officers wore (and continue to wear for ceremonial purposes) kepis with gold oak leaves embroidered around the band. In 1914, most French soldiers wore their kepis to war. The highly visible colours were hidden by a medium blue grey cover, following the example of the Foreign Legion and other North African units who had long worn their kepis with white (or later khaki) covers in the field. With the adoption of "horizon blue" (light blue grey) uniforms and steel Adrian helmets in 1915 to replace the conspicuous peacetime uniforms worn during the early months of the war, the kepi was generally replaced by folding forage caps. Officers, however, still wore kepis behind the lines. Following the war, the kepi was gradually reintroduced in the peacetime French Army, but was never adopted for wear in the Navy or Air Force. The Foreign Legion resumed wearing it in 1926; initially in red and blue, and then in 1939, with white covers on all occasions. The bulk of the French army readopted the kepi in the various traditional branch colours for off duty wear during the 1930s. It had now become a straight sided and higher headdress than the traditional soft cap. This made it unsuitable for wartime wear, and after 1940, it was seldom worn, except by officers. An exception was the Foreign Legion, who, previously just one of the many units that wore the kepi, now adopted it in its white version as a symbol.

The kepi was adopted in 1854 for wear as a working headdress by police agents and sergents de ville as an alternative to the heavy and less practical bicorne previously worn. The French National Police discarded their dark blue kepis in 1984 as part of a general updating of uniforms, adopting a low peaked cap. The reason given was that the rigid kepi, while smart and distinctive, was inconvenient for ordinary use and too high to be comfortably worn in vehicles. French customs officers (douaniers) and the Gendarmerie still wear kepis for ceremonial duty. Customs officers wear a baseball style cap for ordinary duties (since 1994 with many variations) while the Gendarmerie introduced a "soft kepi" in the early 2000s.

The practical nature and relatively low cost of the kepi made it a popular military headdress from the mid nineteenth century on. Many Latin American armies wore kepis in the late 19th and early 20th centuries which were close copies of the French model. Other armies that favoured kepis during the final period of colourful uniforms that ended with World War I included the Danish, Portuguese, Dutch, Italian (officers only), and Romanian armies. Even the Japanese Army adopted French style kepis for senior officers in full dress, as well as for their Gendarmerie units and military bands. Significantly such historic opponents of France as Germany and Britain, avoided the use of kepis, with only a few short lived exceptions, such as for service in India during the 1850s 60s. During this time the Albert shako was preferred. This may have been for practical rather than patriotic reasons, as the distinctive profile of the kepi would be likely to lead to confusion in battle.

Used by all soldiers of the Danish army until World War II, it is now only retained as part of the full dress uniforms for officers.

In Nazi Germany, the brown stiff kepi (Schaftmütze) of Hitler's Brownshirt Stormtroopers (SA, Sturmabteilung) and its black version initially worn by the members of the SS (before it was replaced by a peaked cap) were derived from surplus Austrian equipment.

The Hellenic Army and the paramilitary Hellenic Gendarmerie historically followed French patterns in organization, doctrine, and dress since its establishment. A dark blue (green for cavalry) kepi was adopted in the 1860s, and used until khaki field uniforms were introduced in 1910, whereupon it remained in use in ceremonial uniforms. The 1915 pattern uniform adopted a German inspired peaked cap instead, but after Greece's entry in World War I, the Greek military was re equipped by the French, and the kepi returned to use. It was retained as part of both field and ceremonial uniforms until the adoption of British style uniforms in 1937. Ceremonial use continued in the No.1 gala uniform until the early 1970s. In the post 1974 Third Hellenic Republic, it is used exclusively by the officer instructors and cadets of the Hellenic Army Academy (in blue), by the cadets of the NCO Academy, and by the honour guards of the Ministry of National Defence (in blue). As a result of the historical military usage, the kepi is still widely used by uniformed marching bands in Greece.

In India, during the French colonial rule of Pondicherry, Yanam, Karaikal and Mahé, kepis were worn by two kinds of policemen, the Armed and the Indigenous, differentiated by the colour of the kepis they wore. While the law and order forces wore bright red caps, the armed constabulary was conspicuous by its blue kepis. After Indian Independence, the former French colonial territory was integrated into the Union Territory of Puducherry and the bright red kepi continues to be the headgear of the constabulary — both for the local and the armed police signifying the cultural and administrative legacies left by the former colonialists.

In Iran this kind of headdress was known as the "Pahlavi hat" (kolah pahlavi, کلاه پهلوی). Only worn for a brief period, from 1927 until the 1930s, it was generally of a grey color.

The kepi was the main headdress in the Italian Army from its constitution to 1933, in both ceremonial and field uniforms. It had different degrees of markings for branch or unit, and rank. From its traditional blue, rigid shape, the kepi evolved in 1909 a field version, more comfortable and in the Army's traditional 'grigioverde' (gray green), with increasingly less visible markings. Since then, it was gradually substituted with the more comfortable side cap and later during the Second World War the beret; the kepi remains standard issue with historical uniforms for both the Army and the Police, especially for musicians and education institutions, as part of their ceremonial dress.

In modern ceremonial dress the Latvian National Armed Forces Staff Battalion and musicians of the Central Military Band of the Latvian National Armed Forces both wear backward sloping kepis of the style worn by the Belgian Army immediately prior to World War I.

Kepis with a slightly higher back were formerly worn by the Luxembourg Army until 1945. Since World War II they were replaced by British Army style peak caps. The same kepis with higher back were also worn by the former Grand Ducal Gendarmerie in a blue version corresponding to the colour of their uniforms. The kepi is still used by the newly created Grand Ducal Police which replaced the Gendarmerie and the local police forces in 2000.

A form of kepi is worn by female officers in the Police Service of Northern Ireland. It was formerly worn in the Royal Ulster Constabulary.

The Norwegian armed forces used kepis until World War II and still retain them as part of the full dress of officer cadets.

In Spain, a version of the kepi (actually a low shako), the ros, is used by the Guardia Real (Royal Guard) and the Regimiento de Infantería Inmemorial del Rey for ceremonial functions. The Spanish 1887 regulation kepi or Teresiana was made of black oilcloth with a tortoise shell visor. A plainer form of kepi was retained by the Civil Guard as its non ceremonial headdress for normal police duties, until it was abolished under the 2011 revised regulations and replaced by a baseball cap.

In Sweden, the kepi has been used with several uniform types for the Swedish Army. The most common was the grey kepi worn as part of the M1923 field uniform and the dark blue kepi worn as part of the uniform types m/1886 and m/1895, and still in use by the Life Guards.

In Switzerland, the kepi was worn as a part of the dress uniforms of senior NCOs (Sergeant major and above) and officers (with additional rank insignia) until the 1995 army reform (Swiss Armed Forces). Since then, it has only been worn by senior staff officers (Brigadier general and higher).

In Thailand, the kepi has been used with the study uniform and casual attire of police cadets at the Thai Royal Police Cadet Academy (RPCA).

Kepis also found their way into the uniforms of numerous railway and streetcar operators in the United States. From there it was adopted by other public transport operators around the world, including the examples given below:
in Brisbane, Australia, drivers and conductors continued to wear distinctive white kepis with black visors until 1961. Brisbane bus inspectors continued to wear black kepis with decorative braid until the introduction of a blue version in 1987. Brisbane Transport finally replaced inspectors’ kepis in 1995, although as of 2006 they could still be worn at official functions. Belgian Railways conductors (but not train drivers or other personnel) wear a kepi as part of their daily uniform. Train dispatchers (Pengatur Perjalanan Kereta Api/PPKA) of the Indonesian Railways wear a red kepi as part of their uniform. A form of kepi modeled on the Austrian ski cap was the standard headgear of uniformed British Rail male employees from the mid 1960s to the mid 1980s. A round peak less cap with an outline resemblance to a kepi is also worn by traditional student fraternities (Studentenverbindungen) in Germany, Austria, Switzerland and Belgium. They come in different varieties and are very colorful in appearance. In the United States, the Nation of Islam's security/executive protection force, the Fruit of Islam, also wears a dark blue version of the kepi.