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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
You mean you don’t?
Biggest rainmaker in our firm wears bowties. He always has. Every day. It may be that it works because of his very strong personality, but death knell it is not. Of course, that department has a little bevy of acolytes that also wear bowties. Sorta cute.
They can put it in their hat?
Update:
After mentioning this whole conversation to my wife, she pointed out this article she had just read in the Buffalo News about a local hatter who made Frank Sinatra’s last 3 hats, as well as the hats for Indiana Jones & the Last Crusade, the hat that James Garner was buried in, and many more.
Article here.
I visited him and ordered a hat. I’ll be returning for my first fitting in September. Here he is holding one he just finished, very similar to the one I’ll be getting:
And here is some of his other work:
Men should wear hats. I assume this is not your first.
Great looking hat, by the way.
I have a friend/client who was born in Vietnam, went to high school in Columbus, Ohio. He told me he does not look good in hats. So I gave him a Panama fedora that I bought (in Panama of all places) that was too small for me. He looked great!
(Panama hats are generally made in Ecuador. Go figure.)