It’s a well-known fact that many of the great things we enjoy in this world came into being by accident. Penicillin, for one – tasty, and fun for the whole family – was an accident.
Other things come into our collective culture through much trial and error. Rome for example – was actually NOT built in a single day!
Flash back 20 years and you would have seen pretty much every American male (yours truly included) under 30 sporting a backwards baseball cap. What most people don’t know is that the concept went through much prototyping before it reached the cultural icon status it eventually achieved.
First conceived by a somewhat bohemian Parisian in 1984, the backwards beret went largely unnoticed.
This was soon followed in 1986 by the backwards motorcycle helmet, invented by southern Harley enthusiast Billy-Ray McDougall (1964-1986)
Only in 1989 did the idea achieve it’s fully-evolved look finally appear. Adored by all, it is rumored that there are isolated pockets of the populace where the look lives on to this day.
Next week’s history lesson: Which came first? The chicken, or the bucket?