---
node: garment_deerstalker
type: garment
slug: deerstalker
title: "Deerstalker"
lead: "The deerstalker is a tweed cap with a peak at the front and another at the back, and ear flaps that tie either under the chin or over the crown. It was a Victorian stalking cap, and it is now the most recognisable hat in detective fiction."
published: 2026-08-18
updated: 2026-08-18
image_file: deerstalker.jpg
image_source: "https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Deerstalker%2C_W._Bill_Ltd._-_Bond_Street%2C_London_01.jpg"
image_author: "KaiKemmann — a tweed deerstalker with the flaps tied over the crown"
image_license: "CC BY-SA 4.0"
---

## Overview

It is made of wool tweed, usually a check, with a soft crown seamed from panels and two stiffened peaks front and back. The two flaps are stitched at the sides and carry tapes; tied over the crown they sit as a bow, tied under the chin they cover the ears. Nothing about it is decorative: the front peak keeps rain off the face, the back peak keeps it off the neck, and the check breaks the wearer's outline against heather.

## How it is worn

It is worn on open ground and not in town, which is the rule Sherlock Holmes is always shown breaking. The flaps stay up in fair weather and come down in wind, and the tweed is chosen to match the estate rather than the wearer. Because it has a peak behind, it cannot be worn with a collar turned up, and it is not raised in greeting — a stalking cap is working dress.

## History

It appears in Scotland in the 1860s among deer stalkers, who needed a cap that shed rain in two directions and did not silhouette against a hill. Sidney Paget drew Holmes in one in the Strand Magazine in 1891 for a countryside story; Conan Doyle never named it, and the illustration did the rest. It remains country wear in Britain and shorthand for detection everywhere else.