First Hat - Need lots of advice

[Yeps]

On the formality note (sorry to hijack your thread, but I think that the info this discussion gives will help), I think that the fedora is a rather casual style. In my opinion the most dressed up one should be with a fedora is with a business suit, and I think that it lives best with either odd jackets, or work shirts. That said, I have seen some very sharp fedoras around here, so I do not want to sound like I really know what I am talking about. That is just the way I tend to see it.

 

[danofarlington]

On the formality note (sorry to hijack your thread, but I think that the info this discussion gives will help), I think that the fedora is a rather casual style. In my opinion the most dressed up one should be with a fedora is with a business suit, and I think that it lives best with either odd jackets, or work shirts. That said, I have seen some very sharp fedoras around here, so I do not want to sound like I really know what I am talking about. That is just the way I tend to see it.

You're right, I agree. My best Borsalino fedora, the 2 1/2 inch brim beaver hat, only looks best with my leather jacket, somehow (that's the hat where I decided I needed a wider brim than that).

I think that the limiting factor is what you can carry off, and only the mirror will tell you that. If you can be convincing with a fedora and whatever clothes, go for it. I find more such versatility in a vintage hat--use it anyhow, with anything. More difficult is if I buy a men's dress hat new (like my wide-brim gray Borsalino), putting it together with more casual clothes doesn't seem to work well. But maybe on a different person it would be OK. There is probably danger in generalizing too much from one's own case to the general case.

But at the risk of being wrong, one thing I'm pretty sure about is that wearing a fedora with a t-shirt doesn't look good. When Adam something on the Discovery channel "Myth Busters" does that, it's just not very clever, in my view. Yes, Paul Newman wore his brown fedora with a BVD in "The Sting," but I didn't think that was so great either. Wearing a fedora with a work shirt--yes. With odd jackets--yes. But I think you can't get around that a hat is a dressy item, and to make it work you have to dress it up a little, at least with a collar, and then it will look good. Whoever wears a fedora with a t-shirt in my opinion has thrust himself into the realm of the dufy.

 

[Rock31]

Thank you once again for all the information provided. I am going out Monday with a friend in Brooklyn for lunch so will check out Bencraft hats. If all goes well I will have a nice first lid!

 

[Yeps]

You're right, I agree. My best Borsalino fedora, the 2 1/2 inch brim beaver hat, only looks best with my leather jacket, somehow (that's the hat where I decided I needed a wider brim than that).

I think that the limiting factor is what you can carry off, and only the mirror will tell you that. If you can be convincing with a fedora and whatever clothes, go for it. I find more such versatility in a vintage hat--use it anyhow, with anything. More difficult is if I buy a men's dress hat new (like my wide-brim gray Borsalino), putting it together with more casual clothes doesn't seem to work well. But maybe on a different person it would be OK. There is probably danger in generalizing too much from one's own case to the general case.

But at the risk of being wrong, one thing I'm pretty sure about is that wearing a fedora with a t-shirt doesn't look good. When Adam something on the Discovery channel "Myth Busters" does that, it's just not very clever, in my view. Yes, Paul Newman wore his brown fedora with a BVD in "The Sting," but I didn't think that was so great either. Wearing a fedora with a work shirt--yes. With odd jackets--yes. But I think you can't get around that a hat is a dressy item, and to make it work you have to dress it up a little, at least with a collar, and then it will look good. Whoever wears a fedora with a t-shirt in my opinion has thrust himself into the realm of the dufy.

You make a lot of good points, and indeed there are dressier fedoras. I think part of this stems from my own warped definition of casual. I am rather against the wearing of t-shirts in general, at least for myself. Other people can dress how they want, and probably look good doing so. To me, anything short of a suit is casual. There is a gray zone with blazers/sport coats and ties, but that depends on the situation to me.

To me having a collar is not dressing up, it's dressing. (I stole that quote in a slightly different form from someone else here, not sure who.)