Crown height question

[Lance]

Gentlemen,

I am 5'9 and and 165 lbs. What advice do you have for a newbie concerning crown height for someone with these dimensions? I am considering purchasing an Akubra Federation or perhaps an Adventurebilt.

I enjoy the site and have learned much from your postings.

Very truly yours,

Lance

 

[Victor]

Lance,
so you are looking at an Indiana Jones hat. These two hats have a very tall crown compared to most other hats out there. my thoughts are how screen accurate do you want to be verses how well the hat looks with your face. Do you have a strong square jaw or a receding jawline? are your features soft and subtle or strong and well defined?
I own an Adventurebilt and it is so far my favorite hat by a long shot. I did find though that I wanted a hat that fit my face more than I wanted a screen accurate Indy hat. My features tend toward the soft and I don't have a particularly strong jaw line. When I put on the screen accurate Adventurebilt it looked too tall for my face. Even after a week this was the case but it was not a problem to lower the crown and change the top from a center dent to closer to a teardrop or C dent. I feel that this looks better on my face and now love this hat.
I have noticed that while the Indy hat looks great with Harrison Fords face that it doesn't seem to look right with alot of other face shapes though this is really a personal choice.
As for choosing between the Adventurebilt verses the Akubra I would strongly suggest the Adventurebilt unless money is tight and the Akubra costs half as much. Adventurebilt hats are made of very high quality felt and just the right thickness and feel in my opinion.
I have never seen an Akubra Federation but have seen and tried on the Akubra Snowy River and the Akubra Bushman and these two seemed like a stiff and relatively inferior felt, certainly nowhere near the quality of Fedoras Adventurebilts or Art Fawcetts pure beaver hats (they are the same felt). The Adventurebilt is strictly an Indy hat at this point while Art is making some more classic vintage fedoras so that may be worth looking into as well.

 

[SHARPETOYS]

Try on some hats!!

Gentlemen,

I am 5'9 and and 165 lbs. What advice do you have for a newbie concerning crown height for someone with these dimensions? I am considering purchasing an Akubra Federation or perhaps an Adventurebilt.

I enjoy the site and have learned much from your postings.

Very truly yours,

Lance

The best thing you can do is try to find a hat store or a vintage store and try on some hats. Once you find one that looks good on you. I would measure the brim width and crown height.

Steve at Adventurebilt can block your hat to your specs.
Yes i would buy the Adventurebilt over an Akubra if its in your budget.

 

[binkmeisterRick]

I have both an Akubra Federation and an Adventurebilt. The Adventurebilt is worth saving the extra pennies for. The Akubra is a nice hat, but the Adventurebilt is pure beaver and shapes to the touch quite nicely. Also, if you prefer a taller crown, the AB will suit you better, too.

bink

 

[Matt Deckard]

It really depends on your face shape. Longer faces from what I have seen are just better accomidating to taller crowns while rounder faces look liek a bucket has been placed on a pumkin. Unless you have a local hat shop where you can try out various hats and see the difference it will be hard to determine. do you have a picture of yourself you can post?

 

[android]

A lot of fans are obsessed with getting a hat exactly like Indiana Jones or Bogart. In my opinion, this is the wrong approach. Get the hat to fit you and have the right proportions for your face. Sure, you can pick the same color, ribbon and crease, but I think it's more important to dress like *you* would have dressed in vintage times rather than to try and dress using proportions from a famous actor's suits and hats.

 

[BellyTank]

Too true...

I'm a bit like that- I like the Indy Fedora but the height would caricature me since I have a big head but a small jaw. I like a brown Fedora with a wide black ribbon, wide brim and not quite so tall- and that harsh pinch has to go- in my view, that's where the Indy hat stops looking like a hat and starts to look like the front of a car. But the Adventurebuilt looks like a place to start...

Yep- I've seen Indy fans with great hats- it's just a shame that it's not the hat for them- can they see that? Do they care?

BT.

 

[Mr. Rover]

I agree with Android. I'd say go for the AB with an open crown, and work with the felt until you get a desired shape. The felt should be so malleable that experimentation will be alot of fun. The block looks very 30's, straight and untapered, but with different bashes and pinches, you can get a range of tapers and shapes in the front. I have 2 akubras: a federation and a fedora. The Federation is in raiders shape, but through the last 10 months, has slightly started to taper, say Bridge scene taper. It looks good that way on me...I had it in the Raiders untapered look with the tight pinch for a long time, but the best look for me was the Bridge taper with tight pinch and turned swooped brim.
For my day-to-day hat, it's still like 5 1/2" open crown, but set down a great deal with a teardrop crown, the subtle taper suits my face much better than the stovetop look.
You also have to take into account your ears and shoulders. If you have broad shoulders, you can pull off a wide brimmed Indy hat. If you're a 15 yr. old scrawney m0f0 like me, you're going to have to trim down that Federation's brim a tad. Also, notice the high-set ears on harrison ford. That's makes a big difference in the look of the hat. The proportion of hat:face makes all the difference. You don't want that hat to swallow you up. And if you got mickey mouse ears like me (sarcastic self-depreciation. take with a grain of salt), then you're not gonna be able to pull of a Sinatra 1 1/2" brim, etiher.
It's more about finding the look that suits you, not emulating another's. A Frankenstein of sorts.