Guys, we may be experiencing the dawn of a new day...

[citRon]

...a day where wearing a hat, a real hat, is common again. -I offer more evidence that we might be priviledged to be involved in something before it becomes 'in style':

http://artofmanliness.com/2008/03/01/bringing-back-the-hat/

 

[Vintage Betty]

From the comment section of the above article:

Corbett Coburn on March 4th, 2008 8:15 am A hat is a damned nuisance. Suppose you go out to eat wearing a hat. You can’t wear the damned thing while you’re eating, but there’s no place to put it. You can’t put it on the table. You can’t put it under your chair without getting it crushed. Got to a movie & it’s the same thing.

In the 1930’s & 40’s they had the infrastructure for taking care of hats (i.e., the hatcheck girl). Hatcheck girls have largely disappeared & unless they make a comeback (and they won’t), then hats aren’t practical.

------------------------------

John Redman on March 4th, 2008 4:27 pm I feel (believe) that hats cut circulation to the scalp and shorten hair life (lead to premature baldness).

 

[Mr. John Smith]

You are quite right. I work as a pit boss in a casino; therefore I'm in a suit 5 or 6 days a week. I cannot wear a hat on the floor, but I have noticed an increase in hat-wearing by patrons. This is typified by fedoras, porkpies, and homburgs predominately in the black community. Young white guys tend to favor the stingy-brim varieties.

Overall, there really is an increase in wear. I know I look good...

 

[KY Gentleman]

I wear a hat out pretty often. When you go to a restaurant, put it in the seat next to you while you're eating. Its no big deal. If you're somewhere you feel its inappropriate to wear a hat, hold it in your lap.
I think its cool that someone thinks hats are making a comeback! :eusa_clap
Nice article, CitRon!

 

[Edward]

In the 1930’s & 40’s they had the infrastructure for taking care of hats (i.e., the hatcheck girl). Hatcheck girls have largely disappeared & unless they make a comeback (and they won’t), then hats aren’t practical.

Chicken and egg thing, isn't it? I can understand this person's pov, but without significant numbers of patrons wearing hats, such establishments are unlikely to have any motivation to cater to them: Catch 22.

John Redman on March 4th, 2008 4:27 pm I feel (believe) that hats cut circulation to the scalp and shorten hair life (lead to premature baldness).

Hmmn. Anyone have any idea whether this one is actually true, or is it just a persistent urban myth? My mother alays used to warn us against wearing hats indoors - "it'll make you bald" - but as I only really became a hardcore hat wearer after I started balding, I couldn't really say...

 

[Roadrunner]

Balding or lack thereof is pure genetics unless you chemically damage your hair follicles somehow.

 

[citRon]

:arated: ...no truth to it; has been scientifically and medically debunked.

 

[Feraud]

From the comment section of the above article:

In the 1930’s & 40’s they had the infrastructure for taking care of hats (i.e., the hatcheck girl). Hatcheck girls have largely disappeared & unless they make a comeback (and they won’t), then hats aren’t practical.

This is an infrastructure we can all do without!

In one scene from The Sweet Smell of Success Burt Lancaster chides Tony Curtis for not taking his hat while going out.
Lancaster comments something along the line that Curtis does not want to spend a nickle!

I read accounts of people feeling "nickle & dimed" for a night out on the town as they had to check and tip everyplace they went. Some felt is was a strongarm technique.

Practical or not I like my hat.

 

[HDRnR]

I think baldness leads to wearing hats.

 

[funneman]

This is an infrastructure we can all do without!

In one scene from The Sweet Smell of Success Burt Lancaster chides Tony Curtis for not taking his hat while going out.
Lancaster comments something along the line that Curtis does not want to spend a nickle!

I read accounts of people feeling "nickle & dimed" for a night out on the town as they had to check and tip everyplace they went. Some felt is was a strongarm technique.

Practical or not I like my hat.

I've read where people out for a night on the town would leave their hats in the car to avoid tipping.

 

[Feraud]

I've read where people out for a night on the town would leave their hats in the car to avoid tipping.

Exactly!
I can see getting hit in the wallet at every establishment can affect hatwearing much more than the oft quote misinformation about a president.

 

[LindyTap]

Maybe it's just because I live in the bitter north, but there tends to be coat racks at a lot of restaurants I go to, that I could hang my hat on. usually privately owned ones tend to be better about it than chain restaurants. Going to the movies does present a problem though, I go to a local historical theatre (1928 it was built) a lot, so of course I want to dress vintage, but where do I put my hat during the show? Especially if it's a sold out show, I'm stuck holding the hat the hole time! (Maybe I should just have them put popcorn in it! )

 

[Stan]

Hi,

The only way I can see a hat contributing to balding is if the hat tends to grab onto hairs and pull them out! Uni-fit ballcaps have a tendency to do this, which is why I don't wear them much at all.

I agree with the comment that balding leads to hatting, so to speak.

I don't mean to annoy those losing hair, but I have way too much of it and always have. Since I love to work on things greasy and grimy, I get all sorts of gook in my hair that's a pain to wash out (sometimes kerosene and a rag is required, followed by ivory soap). So, I cut my hair short - 3/4 inch - and do it quite often.

The short haircut leads to a cold head, much like the guys that have that other issue to deal with. So, I like to wear a hat most of the time.

As far as what to do with the hat at various establishments, I also either sit it next to me or hold onto it. There are a few places around Raleigh that have coat and hat racks at the tables. I figure this is due to the large number of Danged Yankees (the Southern term for a Yankee that failed to go back home) that have coats.

Later!

Stan

 

[Fletch]

Gentlemen beefing about the lack of checkrooms in every corner diner need to get hip to these things called hooks and pegs. Any halfway decent place has a few.

Something in my hat-head reacts to this as if the gent in question is on the verge of puppying out. Ooo if there's no place for my hat I probably shouldn't wear one. The next step is What will people think, with Maybe they're not for me two doors down, and I guess they're just for [insert marginalized group here] down at the dim end of the hall, with the snarled carpet and the sputtering fluorescent fixture.

Your hat is not a bridal veil that is fragile and must be kept pristine. It is an extension of you, not a gift wrap or a billboard. It's part of your daily life, or should be if you want to look and feel natural in it.

Let it rain on you hat now and then. Let the bash get bashed. Treat it no better than a fine overcoat or cherished pair of shoes. Don't put the weight of the world on it. The only place a hat really needs is your head. Everything else is negotiable.

(BTW, the link to Art of Manliness appears to be fbxrd. Maybe they're overwhelmed with hits!...oh c'mon Fletch, be real...)

 

[jdbenson]

Speaking as a Baldy...

Hat's have nothing to do with baldness, it's all genetic.

Oddly though, my grandmother once told me that I'd go bald if I DIDN'T wear a hat!

I shoulda listened to her...

 

[AdmiralTofu]

Gentlemen beefing about the lack of checkrooms in every corner diner need to get hip to these things called hooks and pegs. Any halfway decent place has a few.

Something in my hat-head reacts to this as if the gent in question is on the verge of puppying out. Ooo if there's no place for my hat I probably shouldn't wear one. The next step is What will people think, with Maybe they're not for me two doors down, and I guess they're just for [insert marginalized group here] down at the dim end of the hall, with the snarled carpet and the sputtering fluorescent fixture.

Your hat is not a bridal veil that is fragile and must be kept pristine. It is an extension of you, not a gift wrap or a billboard. It's part of your daily life, or should be if you want to look and feel natural in it.

Let it rain on you hat now and then. Let the bash get bashed. Treat it no better than a fine overcoat or cherished pair of shoes. Don't put the weight of the world on it. The only place a hat really needs is your head. Everything else is negotiable.

:eusa_clap :eusa_clap Tell it, brother!
I remember once, in a restaurant, I had my hat underneath my chair. My S.O. just about had a heart attack when our four-year-old grabbed it by the brim, crammed it down onto his head until the bash popped out, then ran around with it, giggling. I just grinned, re-bashed it, and told her it was made to take a lot worse abuse than what our kid could dish out.

(Granted, it's a wool crushable, but still... I've heard anecdotes about Art's hats surviving tornadoes!)

-Tofu

 

[kiltie]

Interesting observation...

...culturally speaking.
Related to the fellow who made the observation about the Black patrons wearing a particular hat and the White crowd, another. San Antonio is something like 50% Hispanic ( split up between the White and Central American Indian extraction, if you want to get into the whole ethnicity vs. culture thing....thats another forum. ) and, I don't know, say 11-14% Black. In any event, after an informal internal poll, I noticed something kinda cool/weird/interesting. My "nice hat" comments ( or anything similar ), tend to come from the so called ethnic minorities and females, while phrases that tend more towards ridicule or generally making fun come from the White male community. Working in the less affluent neighborhoods, I see considerably more day-to-day hat wear by those described above ( excluding females ); a more "natural" tendency. In fact, though they are of a cheaper variety - wool, straw - I've even seen hats sold at general/convenience stores in these parts of town. The appearance being: the White male seems interested in following whatever trend, in the matter of hats, while the minority community, already more inclined to being more traditional in general, kinda "does their thing". Just a bit of observation with absolutrly NO scientific validity, but I'd be curious to know other's experiences in this regard.

 

[Fletch]

My family sometimes expresses concern that my black and/or stingy hats might somehow be the cultural property of Black or Jewish men in New York, and may make me look like I'm kidding or baiting them. Not my intent at all - in fact, the only lip I've gotten has been from young White males who are not obviously Jewish. And that's been minor at best.

 

[KeyGrip]

...My family sometimes expresses concern that my black and/or stingy hats might somehow be the cultural property of Black or Jewish men in New York...

I was asked once if I was a Hasidic Jew while wearing my fedora. In the person's defense, I do have dark-ish curly hair, a beard, and was wearing a dark suitcoat at the time. I believe part of the aversion to fedoras comes from people not wanting to be confused with a group to which they do not belong, which makes it even more necessary that more men and women start wearing hats! They've been making a slight comeback with the hipster crowd, but that'll just end up being another trend unless the mainstream gets back into it.

 

[David Conwill]

My "nice hat" comments ( or anything similar ), tend to come from the so called ethnic minorities and females, while phrases that tend more towards ridicule or generally making fun come from the White male community. Working in the less affluent neighborhoods, I see considerably more day-to-day hat wear by those described above ( excluding females ); a more "natural" tendency. In fact, though they are of a cheaper variety - wool, straw - I've even seen hats sold at general/convenience stores in these parts of town. The appearance being: the White male seems interested in following whatever trend, in the matter of hats, while the minority community, already more inclined to being more traditional in general, kinda "does their thing".

I've had a nearly identical experience in the urban north. All white guys wear are ball caps and the occasional "Hot Topic" stingy brim. I also get the weird looks from white kids. On the other hand, black men have started coming up to me and asking "Is that a Dobbs?" (it is) and talking hats with me. One elderly couple even directed me to a hat store in Muskegon Heights that I did not know existed. It's been very exciting and pleasurable, actually, as my hat has opened cultural doors for me.

-Dave