The Wiser Hatter
I'll Lock Up
- Messages
- 4,765
- Location
- Louisville, Ky
Nice hat Mike.
Alan,
this boater is to die for! I always wanted to buy a boater or at least a bowler for myself, but i always refused to do so - because I know I wouldn't be tough enough to wear them in public. But perhaps sometime... Are you wearing boaters outside?
I went to visit the FBI earlier this week (not as exciting as it sounds). Seems like everybody and Wikipedia says that the FBI wore straw boaters as some kind of unofficial uniform in the 1930s (seems unlikely to me), but there certainly weren’t any in evidence circa 2011.
-Dave
It does indeed sound unlikely to me, though if true it would be ironic that it was Dillinger's hat of choice when they shot him.
I kind of assumed the idea came from the fact that the straw boater was common summer headgear in the early days of the FBI, so those looking at pictures of agents in those days would see them. If one wasn’t aware the population in general was wearing the same headgear, one might think it was a uniform.
This is the same mentality that results in your average Joe thinking only Al Capone wore fedoras and double-breasted suits.
-Dave