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My Fashion Revolution: Hats
I understand that men’s hats are out of fashion for men. I wear hats. Let’s be clear. A men’s hat has a 360-degree brim. A cap may have a bill. A cap is not a hat. I wear hats.
Hats come in many varieties, the most popular of which is the fedora. There are also the bowler (or derby), the top hat, the skimmer (or boater), the Homburg (which some class as a variation of the fedora), the trilby (small brimmed fedora), the pork pie (think Breaking Bad), the Outback, the cowboy hat, and many more.
I wear straw hats in warm weather.
Here is where I today announce that (1) I understand the traditional rules of hat wearing and (2) I plan to ignore them.
Traditional Rule #1. Straw Hat Season. Straw hats are acceptable only from May 25 through September 15. That may have made sense in jolly old England’s seasons. In the United States, we have a much larger window of warm weather. Especially in the South. The Traditional (English) rule makes no sense here.
Henceforth, I will begin wearing my straw hats when it is warm. I will stop when it is not warm.
Traditional Rule #2. Indoor Hat Wearing. Men may wear hats inside “public buildings” but not in restaurants, churches, or residences. If you believe the old movies, the only places men’s hat wearing was forbidden was churches. Today, cap wearers wear their caps everywhere, especially in restaurants. Yes, they look like buffoons when they do. But if they are not playing baseball, cap-wearers look like buffoons anyway. Especially when the cap is worn backward. Or has an extra wide, flat bill. (Have I offended anyone, yet?)
Henceforth, I will wear my hat everywhere but churches and private residences. Restaurants are fair game, especially if it is cold.
My rules. My way.
My go-to hat is a taupe-colored, foldable Borsalino fedora. But I get the most compliments on my black Homburg (which I wear only when wearing a coat and tie). For straw hats, I favor the Optimo crown, but I wear several different hats (fedora, gambler, homburg and others).
My motto is, “Men should wear hats.” The last of a dying breed, I fear.
Are there any other hat-wearers out there?
Published in General
I went to the races with my hat caved in (doo dah; doo dah)
Came back home with a pocket full o’ tin (all the doo dah day)
A good, wide brimmed hat really is nice for rough weather. As long as the wind remains below a certain mph.
Thanks to my brother and I wearing fedoras with our suits at a Minneapolis wedding reception, we almost got kicked out for allegedly being part of the St. Paul Mafia.
Haven’t had a compliment so nice since the guy in the Burger King kitchen yelled out “Teddy Roosevelt walked in!”
True on both points. I wear hats for both reasons. I was just stating my opinion, and not one I feel strongly about. Trust me, I am not a fashion critic. I haven’t had a suit on since my son got married 10 years ago, and it was rented. I don’t even own a tie.
I just don’t get why ball caps are so popular when there are so many other options. Even more puzzling to me is how long they have been popular. They have out lasted bell bottom pants, tie tye shirts, jean jackets, leisure suits, cargo pants and every other trend since the 60s. It is just puzzling that they are still common when nothing else lasts that long.
So, I’m not the only one who has had that thought?
Maybe that’s why no one sits next to me on the bus.
Not really a problem.
Objection, your honor! Assumes facts not in evidence – hair sufficient to have “hat hair.”
I have noted that many of the hat fanciers participating here have noted that they (like me) have shall we say less than full built in coverage up top (@amyschley does not fit the profile).
At my son’s wedding two weeks ago (in New Mexico) I did not consider it proper to wear my hat during the ceremony, as a result of which I had quite the head sunburn.
In fact, the reason I became a hat fan early in life was that when I was about 10 years old I saw the pain my uncle suffered when his head got severely sunburned while visiting us once, and I already knew then that I had the same hair and skin that he (and his father, my grandfather) did.
Hat, not a cap, unless there’s a compelling reason for the cap. Usually a fedora – wool except in warm weather, then straw (which in California is most of the time). When I’m working around the house, or really informal, it’ll be a “boonie hat,” “jungle hat,” “Hat, Sun, Army Combat Type IV,” or a civilian variant. If it’s really windy, I might wear a “bog stomper” or a bucket hat. Outdoors – always. Indoors – never. I learned recently that when people wanted to know whether or not I was at church, they would go look at the coat rack, where I always set my hat.
Why? Swedish heritage, high school swim team, worked through college in part as a lifeguard and water safety instructor, then outdoors work much of my adult life = off the charts risk of skin cancer. Plus going bald – hats are excellent substitutes for hair.
I always liked hats, but habits were cemented in the military. I’ve consciously maintained the habits for the above reasons.
A couple years ago a well-known and much beloved rancher passed away, and his funeral was at our church. The medium size sanctuary must have had over 100 cowboy hats in it – and not a single one on a head. I appreciated that.
For context, this is me without a hat on:
Calls to mind the old winter hiking admonition: “If your feet are cold, put on a hat.”
MIB
Keep your hair either short enough or long enough that it doesn’t matter. Or shave your head.
Bully!
I, too, wear newsboys and have been doing so since my early teens, so ~40 years.
I also wear flip-flops.
That’s not bad. The goggles are a nice touch. But that’s the British imperialist style. I think my French-imperialist one has a wider brim. And he doesn’t have the chin straps to hold it on while coasting downhill (and to make it dorky).
“…mere alcohol doesn’t thrill me at all….”
I think a baseball cap is actually an American-imperialist hat.
Look again. Note the brown band on the front? That’s the chin strap in not-in-use mode.
Make America Hat Again.
I have one of those on my helmet, too. It doesn’t make a useful chin strap – not even for mowing the lawn in low wind. The buckle has sharp pointy parts to gouge you, and the whole thing is not very strong. So I use the strap system from an old bicycle helmet, with three points of attachment. Two straps come from a point behind your head, and two are up closer to your temples.
I wish hat wearing would return for men and women. People used to dress so well. People used to speak so well and courtesy, good manners abounded. All change is not good. I plan to get my husband to buy a Stetson on my next trip to Houston. I have a friend who has a black one and looks very dashing.
Offered without comment:
Partner – have you ever been to Texas, or worked outside?
I feel like a fool for not recognizing you from Dukes of Hazzard sooner!
An Irish cap might not meet the Carroll rule. But mine is surely exempted by a grandfather clause because my grandfather wore one just like it. And I traveled all the way to Ireland to get it some twenty years ago.
More to the point, it’s magic. Without it, I am invisible. But with it I am every stranger’s friend. In fact, I must be an exceptionally boring person because I have never received so many compliments about anything so much as that
hatcap.Kids know. If I am seen without it, my nephews and nieces hurry to fetch it for me. Elders too comment on its absence until harmony is restored.
When I am asleep, I imagine wild animals and wandering ghosts must gather outside my window, tapping and repeating, “Your cap, sir! Put on the cap!”
Love it.