What is it about the top hat that breathes class? It’s a simple enough design, totally unnecessary, and completely out of fashion. And yet, the top hat endures.

If you want to let the world know about your classy side, even when you’re in your pajamas, you might want to consider a top hat tattoo.

Fashion historians believe the top hat descended from the sugarloaf hat, a head garnish that forms more of a cone than a cylinder, worn from the time of Shakespeare until after the Revolution. Gentlemen soon began to favor the old stovepipe model toward the end of the 18th century. George Dunnage, a hatter of Middlesex, is credited with the top hat’s invention.

Dunnage was clearly on to something. In just a short time, the fashion trend took off like a silk brim in a gale force wind. Gents from all social classes began to don the old chimney pot, covering them with all kinds of fabric from cotton to felted beaver fur.

For all those dandies at heart who were simply born into the wrong era, you’re likely feeling out of place in this modern world of shiny steel and glass. You’d prefer an earlier, more elegant time, when men dared not leave the front step without something covering their ears, when you cared about how you looked and didn’t show status with fancy cars or gadgets but with class and manners. Sounds like you could use a top hat tattoo.