Considering a Stetson Open Road, what pairs well with it?

[J. Everett Brooks]

Hello! Longtime lurker here, first post. I’m relatively new to the world of classic mens’ hats (bought my first brimmed hat in 2016), but I always wore visors or baseball caps, dating back to early childhood. A self-described “old soul,” I’ve always had an appreciation for tradition and bringing back lost arts, such as the lost art of proper hat wearing. It also helps that, as I’ve aged into my thirties, and the ol’ hairline has receded ever farther back, I’ve taken up brimmed hats so as to keep my brain canister warm in the winter, and hopefully, ward off skin cancer when I get older. Hats are one of the few things in life which are simultaneously darn functional AND good looking!

As a middle class dad of two young kids, I don’t exactly have a big budget for this hobby. I don’t own nearly as many as I’d like. My current favorite is my gray Jaxon fedora, with a black band and the front snapped down. It is the first true fedora I’ve owned. At $50, it wasn’t pricey, but I figured it was a good introductory fedora, to test the waters and see if I'd like the style. I didn’t want to jump in and drop hundreds, only to hate it. It has been everything I expected. I love the way it feels and looks, and I get compliments on it.

Currently, I’m seriously drooling over a Stetson Open Road, and considering getting one. My gray fedora is just a little too dressy to wear with jeans, in my personal opinion. The OR seems like the perfect blend of the classic cowboy hat and a fedora. It has the cattlemens’ crown, yet the ability to snap down the front brim.The curl on the back is more subtle than a traditional fedora.

I work in the usual office environment - business casual - and on a typical day, I wear a long sleeve Oxford button down with straight leg, slim fit khakis or dress slacks, and dress/chukka boots. If it’s a particularly hot summer day, I’ll wear a polo. In the colder months, add a sport coat, vest, leather jacket, or sweater. Pretty much your standard “preppy” or “Ivy League” style. I live in the Southern U.S., with hot, humid summers and mild to cool winters. I always remove my hat in the building, but I wear it while walking in and out, plus out to lunch, or to take a walk in the midday lunch hour.

Any Open Road wearers out there? What do you generally pair it with? It seems to me that it’s a very versatile hat. Presidents Truman, Eisenhower, and Johnson all looked dapper wearing the hat with a suit and tie. And on the other end of the fashion spectrum, I’ve seen guys pull it off quite well with a simple V-neck tee, dark jeans, and boots.

Those in hot, humid climates – have you found that fur felt hats are generally okay to wear in the hot months, within reason? I mean, I’m not going to wear it to an amusement park on a 90 degree July day (that is a job for my straw gambler!) but I think it’d be fine for a summer Saturday night date night. I wear lightweight sport coats in the summer, especially after dark, and the heat has never bothered me.

I appreciate the input! Here’s to making the world a little more classy, one hat at a time. Thanks for having me.

 

[Bamaboots]

I think you answered your own question. As you stated, from presidents in suits to being worn with jeans. It’s the most prevalent style in my collection and they get worn with everything. Some of Stetson’s ads touted the OR as the hat for Town or Country.

 

[suitedcboy]

I'm in TX and wear felts year round but limited daytime outside in hot months and that works for me. I have a point of exposure where I do perspire and that point seems to be reached felt or straw in a narrow range. When that happens and the sweatband becomes a sweat gutter and downspout then no hat works for me and it's ball cap time. I think you have a good plan but I am felt biased.

 

[J. Everett Brooks]

I think you answered your own question. As you stated, from presidents in suits to being worn with jeans. It’s the most prevalent style in my collection and they get worn with everything. Some of Stetson’s ads touted the OR as the hat for Town or Country.

I figured as much. I'm admittedly probably overthinking this. I just want the overall outfit to look put together., not "black socks with sandals" tacky.

Cheers to a fellow Alabamian!

 

[Tommy-VF51]

I'm not sure what state you're in, but I'm guessing you'd want to avoid anything too obviously Western.

Bare in mind that the take below come from someone who is into the 30s- 50s era.

I own an open Road and would personally pair it with the dressier end of my clothes.

Maybe not a suit (although that has been done), but often a tie. A spearpoint collared shirt and swing tie or if not a tie a loop collared shirt. Always long sleeve shirts.

I have worn it with a denim jacket, but would more likely wear it with a leather jacket or Cotton Ricky Jacket, although have worn it with my b-10 flying jacket too. Thinking about it I've worn it at least once with my calf length Donegal tweed overcoat. If I'm going to wear it with a sports coat it's probably the more casual end- either a Hollywood jacket, a Pendleton Topster or at least a boxy atomic fleck one. Also goes well with double breasted suit or sports coat.

Trousers, well I have worn it with Jeans, but more likely Hollywood waisted high and wide. Or 1940s Style Chinos.

For shoes, never worn it with loafers, but have worn it with various dress shoes, 4 hole redwing work shoes and on at least one occasion my red wing round toed boots.

Bare in mind this is a somewhat subjective take. Although I'd try and steer you away from the slim chinos. Once you get into looser, properly waisted Trousers it's hard to go back.

 

[J. Everett Brooks]

too obviously Western.

Yeah, I do not own horses or cows, nor even know much about them. I feel that wearing a true Western hat is a lifestyle indicator, not just a hat. I feel that, in order to pull it off, you can't just have the hat. You must wear the pearl snap, the Wranglers, and cowboy boots, and let's not forget the belt buckle that can pick up 20 channels over the air. And, you need the truck to complete the look. When was the last time you saw someone wearing the outfit I just described, driving a Honda Civic?

I think the Open Road hat is certainly a nod to the Western US culture, but it's got enough fedora DNA to avoid being a true cowboy hat. I don't look at a guy wearing an Open Road and immediately think "movie extra from the set of Tombstone."

 

[StoryPNW]

I am also in my 30s, late 30s but still, with two kids and have recently discovered a love for fedoras and brimmed hats. I think the OR is a super versatile hat, I have worn it everywhere from work, project manager for a communications company, to date night with my wife. Jeans and work boots to slacks and dress shoes. Haven't worn it with a suit yet but I imagine you could. I live in Oregon and am not a cowboy but have rebashed my OR with more of a center dent with a pinch front. If you get one just wear it and enjoy it, they are very cool hats.

 

[belfastboy]

Yeah, I do not own horses or cows, nor even know much about them. I feel that wearing a true Western hat is a lifestyle indicator, not just a hat. I feel that, in order to pull it off, you can't just have the hat. You must wear the pearl snap, the Wranglers, and cowboy boots, and let's not forget the belt buckle that can pick up 20 channels over the air. And, you need the truck to complete the look. When was the last time you saw someone wearing the outfit I just described, driving a Honda Civic?

I think the Open Road hat is certainly a nod to the Western US culture, but it's got enough fedora DNA to avoid being a true cowboy hat. I don't look at a guy wearing an Open Road and immediately think "movie extra from the set of Tombstone."

There is a general style of hat often referred to as a 'crossover' or a 'country gentlemen's'. It sits in that range between a fedora and an overt western style. I think the OR fits into that category and can straddle both dressier and casual outfits. It is informal enough, city enough to not be confused with a 'cowboy' hat. Also keep in mind unless you get it on sale the retail you will pay for it puts you very close to a custom hat price point. For that money you can get a hat completely to your spec, better felt, better sweat, better ribbon and hand made. You can get it creased as you like and perhaps move away from the more overt western 'cattleman' crease into something more neutral......centre dent, light pinches perhaps.

 

[RBH]

I personally do not like a hat with the front brim snapped up....but an Open Road can be worn with anything.

You might also try a Stratoliner, for a simular look.

 

[johnnycanuck]

You can save a few pennies and get an Akubra Campdraft instead. It’s the same as the Stetson Open Road but comes open crown and at a cheaper price point (even with shipping and currency conversion) the advantage is you can shape it more fedora or more western. You are not stuck with the factory pre set shape.
Just an idea. Good choice in style though
Johnny

 

[deadlyhandsome]

Yeah, I do not own horses or cows, nor even know much about them. I feel that wearing a true Western hat is a lifestyle indicator, not just a hat. I feel that, in order to pull it off, you can't just have the hat. You must wear the pearl snap, the Wranglers, and cowboy boots, and let's not forget the belt buckle that can pick up 20 channels over the air. And, you need the truck to complete the look. When was the last time you saw someone wearing the outfit I just described, driving a Honda Civic?

I think the Open Road hat is certainly a nod to the Western US culture, but it's got enough fedora DNA to avoid being a true cowboy hat. I don't look at a guy wearing an Open Road and immediately think "movie extra from the set of Tombstone."

I haven’t owned a pickup for eight years, I don’t own a belt buckle that’s draws any attention, we haven’t had animals other than cats and dogs since my kids were in 4H, and I only occasionally wear pearl snap shirts. I do, however, wear western hats a lot. If I was in a metropolis or worked in a cubicle (again) I don’t think I’d go with a western, but why not? As it is, the wider western brims provide more shade and protection than fedoras. Personally, I think the western hat can be easily worked in to most people’s wardrobes. It’s a functional hat and not a designator of employment or lifestyle, and they aren’t just for cowboys. That’s my take anyway.

 

[Snowman]

ORs or Strats generally are my first choices no matter what I’m wearing (unless it’s 90+ degrees and I’m wearing shorts, and even then, it’s not out of the question). I have them in gray, silverbelly, and fawn, as well as a Panama OR. Mine range from the early 1950’s to 2015, and the older ones are superior to the newer ones, and if you are patient, at less cost. Although I have other styles (homburgs, stingy brims, westerns) the thin ribbons are my favorites and most versatile hats. You can’t go wrong with an OR.

 

[glider]

Don't pay any attention to anyone that says you should own a horse to wear a western style hat or any other western style clothing. An open road [Stetson] can be worn with anything, it'll dress up jeans or soften a sport coat. You can certainly turn down the brim in front, I always do. Akubra makes some nice hats and they are very durable but if you want an open road get a Stetson, you can add an Akubra in the future.

 

[Doctor Strange]

Speaking as someone who presently owns just a single Open Road-style hat (but also had a Stetson in the past), I second johnnycanuck:

The Akubra Campdraft is a better hat at a better price than current Stetson Open Roads. (I just checked, it's $60 less from Everything Australian than an Open Road from Bencraft.) And the open crown allows you to easily wear it "fedora style" vs. Stetson's factory shaped western style... and change it whenever you like.

I live in a part of the country where "cowboy hats" are rarely seen. Creasing the Campdraft as a fedora is how I wear mine (color is taupe fawn):

 

[Bfd70]

Speaking as someone who presently owns just a single Open Road-style hat (but also had a Stetson in the past), I second johnnycanuck:

The Akubra Campdraft is a better hat at a better price than current Stetson Open Roads. (I just checked, it's $60 less from Everything Australian than an Open Road from Bencraft.) And the open crown allows you to easily wear it "fedora style" vs. Stetson's factory shaped western style... and change it whenever you like.

I live in a part of the country where "cowboy hats" are rarely seen. Creasing the Campdraft as a fedora is how I wear mine (color is taupe fawn):

View attachment 403393

Bring that A2 to the “Outerwear“ section.

 

[Doctor Strange]

Oh, it's been there before, Bfd70. Good Wear Dubow 27798 in dull russet horse I got a decade ago.

 

[Zombie_61]

...My gray fedora is just a little too dressy to wear with jeans, in my personal opinion...

Nonsense. Life is too short to be concerned with issues like this. Wear whatever you like whenever you want to (as long as you don't violate any local nudity/obscenity laws, that is) and enjoy it! If other people don't like it, it's their problem.

 

[deadlyhandsome]

Don't pay any attention to anyone that says you should own a horse to wear a western style hat or any other western style clothing. An open road [Stetson] can be worn with anything, it'll dress up jeans or soften a sport coat. You can certainly turn down the brim in front, I always do. Akubra makes some nice hats and they are very durable but if you want an open road get a Stetson, you can add an Akubra in the future.

Add “an” Akubra? If he sticks around he might end up with half their catalog!

 

[MisplacedHillbilly]

Or....with bib overalls and flannel. Though this hat is a Milano made open road clone.

Same for a western, so happens this is a pearl snap shirt though lol. Though I was raised around cattle and horses most of my life I haven't sat ahorse in about two decades. I'm in eastern North Carolina and western hats aren't common but I do see others occasionally. I'm originally from Virginia, you ain't gotta be from west of the Mississippi to like or wear "western". Oh and as a fat guy I hate big belt buckles lol.

 

[Rmccamey]

I like the look of the OR in a traditional Cattlemen's crease but, more often than not, the side creases will rub my head. I picked up an OR clone (a 3X) from Brent @deadlyhandsome without the side creases and it fits like a dream. I wear it often with suits or jeans. (First pic is a Beaver Brand OR clone.)