Greetings everyone! Thought I'd post a review of my birthday hat for this year, the Akubra RAP. This is Akubra's take on the black pork pie:
Hat has a 49mm brim with bound edge and a 100mm crown. Ribbon band is the standard Akubra type, 32mm. The bow is nicely tacked in all four corners to ensure that it won't come undone, and the band is tacked to the hat itself to prevent shifting. The feather came with the hat.
The other side:
As you can see the crown has a very minimal taper to it front to back. Side to side it is pretty much stovepipe straight. From the front:
And the back:
The curl in the back of the brim is slightly uneven - this probably happened during shipping.
As you can see the telescope of the crown is quite subtle compared to some other pork pies eg those from Christys. It is also subtle compared to something like the Akubra Pastoralist.
The hat can be worn with the front brim up or down. Wearing it down changes the look of the hat quite significantly in my opinion:
Brim down from the front:
Wearing the brim like this gives the hat an intriguing combination of the traditional pork pie and fedora look. It also has some top hat thrown in there as well... I'm still experimenting but this bodes well for the versatility of this piece.
The hat can even be worn with the brim snapped down all the way around! I tried this and the immediate thought that popped into my head was 'pilgrim'
I don't think the brim is designed to be worn like this though.
From the top:
There is something very 'vintage' looking about the top of the hat - I can't quite put my finger on it but it's something about the way the felt is shaped that makes it look worn in.
This hat works very well for my oval-shaped head. Fit is similar to my Bogart - very snug with no space at all at the sides. My Stylemaster in the same size feels noticeably less fitted. I would definitely recommend going up a size if you are considering this hat. The lowish crown means that the top of my head sits right up against the lining. My head is somewhat pointed at the top so this hat accommodates that quite well without rocking. The music on the other hand rocks pretty good when wearing it
Inside the hat - it has a beautiful two-tone lining:
A closeup:
From this picture you can see where the top of my head sits - sort of just above the Akura logo in the white part of the lining. The plastic overlay is thus very useful for preventing sweat from soaking into the lining, and the leather sweatband does the same on the sides of the hat. During a recent gig I could feel the sweat running down the sides of my face but the hat was unfazed.
I was debating between this hat and the Akubra Trilby and Hampton and am very glad I got this one. It has an absolute ton of character, even brand new. The black is wonderfully deep and just soaks up the light. A lot of people mistake this for a bowler in my part of the world (yeah sorry almost nobody knows anything about hats here) which is good as I can wear it formally or informally, to work or on stage. Cool man, just cool.
Thanks for reading, and Merry Christmas!
Regards,
Bruno
Hat has a 49mm brim with bound edge and a 100mm crown. Ribbon band is the standard Akubra type, 32mm. The bow is nicely tacked in all four corners to ensure that it won't come undone, and the band is tacked to the hat itself to prevent shifting. The feather came with the hat.
The other side:
As you can see the crown has a very minimal taper to it front to back. Side to side it is pretty much stovepipe straight. From the front:
And the back:
The curl in the back of the brim is slightly uneven - this probably happened during shipping.
As you can see the telescope of the crown is quite subtle compared to some other pork pies eg those from Christys. It is also subtle compared to something like the Akubra Pastoralist.
The hat can be worn with the front brim up or down. Wearing it down changes the look of the hat quite significantly in my opinion:
Brim down from the front:
Wearing the brim like this gives the hat an intriguing combination of the traditional pork pie and fedora look. It also has some top hat thrown in there as well... I'm still experimenting but this bodes well for the versatility of this piece.
The hat can even be worn with the brim snapped down all the way around! I tried this and the immediate thought that popped into my head was 'pilgrim'
I don't think the brim is designed to be worn like this though. From the top:
There is something very 'vintage' looking about the top of the hat - I can't quite put my finger on it but it's something about the way the felt is shaped that makes it look worn in.
This hat works very well for my oval-shaped head. Fit is similar to my Bogart - very snug with no space at all at the sides. My Stylemaster in the same size feels noticeably less fitted. I would definitely recommend going up a size if you are considering this hat. The lowish crown means that the top of my head sits right up against the lining. My head is somewhat pointed at the top so this hat accommodates that quite well without rocking. The music on the other hand rocks pretty good when wearing it
Inside the hat - it has a beautiful two-tone lining:
A closeup:
From this picture you can see where the top of my head sits - sort of just above the Akura logo in the white part of the lining. The plastic overlay is thus very useful for preventing sweat from soaking into the lining, and the leather sweatband does the same on the sides of the hat. During a recent gig I could feel the sweat running down the sides of my face but the hat was unfazed.
I was debating between this hat and the Akubra Trilby and Hampton and am very glad I got this one. It has an absolute ton of character, even brand new. The black is wonderfully deep and just soaks up the light. A lot of people mistake this for a bowler in my part of the world (yeah sorry almost nobody knows anything about hats here) which is good as I can wear it formally or informally, to work or on stage. Cool man, just cool.
Thanks for reading, and Merry Christmas!
Regards,
Bruno
