While the truth of the report is up for debate, a newspaper reported that the first public appearance of a top hat (invented by one John Hetherington in 1797) caused such a commotion that he was arrested for breach of the peace after ‘several women fainted at the unusual sight’:
While the truth of the report is up for debate, a newspaper reported that the first public appearance of a top hat (invented by one John Hetherington in 1797) caused such a commotion that he was arrested for breach of the peace after ‘several women fainted at the unusual sight’:
https://blog.britishnewspaperarchive.co.uk/2014/01/15/the-first-top-hat-causes-a-commotion/