Hats continue their comeback

[Sam Craig]

What is strange is now I have more dress hats than dress shoes. I need to address that!

If you've got nice enough dress hats, no one will pay attention to your shoes!

But if you show up with really nice shoes and a ratty hat, who will notice? Or worse yet, a ball cap and dress shoes!

Hats really make the difference,

Sam

 

[The Wiser Hatter]

Found this GQ video.
[video=youtube;iedbJyzGAjo]http://www.youtube.com/watch?feature=player_embedded&v=iedbJyzGAjo[/video]

hats are more personal style than in days of old.

 

[Alex Oviatt]

I think that there are more hats on the street in Los Angeles, and whenever I go to a hat store (very few and far between here in LA) I see a lot of trying and buying. I was just in the Hollywood Hattery and trade was brisk--yes, much of what is sold are the less expensive "fashion" hats, but there are some serious hats in the mix as well.

 

[Lastmohecken]

I think that there are more hats on the street in Los Angeles, and whenever I go to a hat store (very few and far between here in LA) I see a lot of trying and buying. I was just in the Hollywood Hattery and trade was brisk--yes, much of what is sold are the less expensive "fashion" hats, but there are some serious hats in the mix as well.

I wish we had some good hat shops around here, but the only one I know of is Cavenders western store, and it's not that great. No one else stocks anything but cheap walmart grade hats, as far as I know.

 

[bernai]

Hey All,

In Central California its a bit of a fashion wasteland but now having made a transition from caps to Fedoras about 4 weeks ago I get a lot of looks and many compliments. No snide remarks yet but I am sure it will come. I have a job that puts me in a lot of suits and ties so the fedora look fits like a glove and it causes others to take me a bit more seriously. Others I have seen with Fedoras on fit one of two groups - Men over the age of 60 (I am early 40's) and youger fellas looking for the stingy brim gangster look. Every other hat around here is a cowboy hat

Bernai

 

[Seth Hawkins]

My first thought after watching that GQ video - Everything old is new again.

I see fedoras as hats with a timeless style. The shape can endure thru any fashion trend. What will change with the times is the materials & colors.

 

[Rick Blaine]

Thin ribbon

Hey All,

In Central California its a bit of a fashion wasteland but now having made a transition from caps to Fedoras about 4 weeks ago I get a lot of looks and many compliments. No snide remarks yet but I am sure it will come. I have a job that puts me in a lot of suits and ties so the fedora look fits like a glove and it causes others to take me a bit more seriously. Others I have seen with Fedoras on fit one of two groups - Men over the age of 60 (I am early 40's) and youger fellas looking for the stingy brim gangster look. Every other hat around here is a cowboy hat

Bernai

Dunno what you wear but way out west maybe a thin ribbon fedora would be in order, eh? You know an Open Road or its' clone w/ a fedora crease & brim. A classic Western look.

 

[Dasmoeturhead]

On the same premise of hats making a comeback, I also find it kind of unique, that when you come in close contact with another person wearing a hat you get the nod of hey I'm a hat wearer to.

 

[The Good]

I hope hats are coming back a bit more. Maybe if we saw more movies made with modern men wearing hats, it might help. However, I believe it's maybe a regional thing, as we still wear a lot of hats around here, but it's more rural, and unfortunately the ball cap rules and has for 30yrs, but the cowboy hat is still seen some.

I enjoyed the article, but I see hat etiquette a little different.
This is the way it's mostly done around here. Maybe it more Cowboy Etiquette, but it's also more practical.

Remove your hat when visiting people in their home, unless it relatives, then use your own judgement, and if a lot of small kids are around, it just might be the better part of valor to keep it on your head and out of harm's way.

Always remove you hat in church, or anytime there is a prayer being said.

Always stand and remove you hat for the National Anthem or when the stars and strips pass by you, such as at a Rodeo, where a horseman will ride by in the Grand Entry carrying a flag.

Remove your hat when mentioning someone who has passed on.

Remove you hat in front of lady if you think she deserves it, but don't go taking it off every time you pass a woman in the isle at Walmart.

We do not remove our hats, when going into a business, or eating out, as there is no safe place for it, and I don't want to take it off anyway, and it is not generally the custom anymore, unless it's with very important company and a really nice eating place.

Do take your hat off at the movies, although nowdays, with statium seating, it's not really an issue, like it was in the past, when the seating was at a much more gentle slope.

One should take a hat off in a meeting, however, I seldom remove a ball cap, in meetings, unless I am in a very formal one, and people that know me, expect that.

That's hat etiquette You can live with, and is generally the way it's done in my part of the world.

OH! and one other thing, never touch another man's hat, espacally if it's on his head at the time. Of course you can ask to see another man's hat if you like it and want to examine it, assuming you are good friends, and you know he won't mind.

And never yell or call out to someone, with the exclamation "Hey Cowboy!" just because they are wearing a hat, unless you wish to agrivate them, of course women can usually get away with it, espacally if they are pretty.

Not bad! That just about describes the way I see hat etiquette working for myself, maybe with the exception of that elevator bit, I don't personally see much of a reason to remove one's hat as a general rule in there, it may seen more affected, if anything.

 

[AtomicEraTom]

I wasn't aware that western hats were very common in California.

Hey All,

In Central California its a bit of a fashion wasteland but now having made a transition from caps to Fedoras about 4 weeks ago I get a lot of looks and many compliments. No snide remarks yet but I am sure it will come. I have a job that puts me in a lot of suits and ties so the fedora look fits like a glove and it causes others to take me a bit more seriously. Others I have seen with Fedoras on fit one of two groups - Men over the age of 60 (I am early 40's) and youger fellas looking for the stingy brim gangster look. Every other hat around here is a cowboy hat

Bernai

 

[frussell]

There's lots of working cattle ranches all over California, not to mention the rich horse culture that goes back to Spanish colonial times. Even in the desert, we've got ropers, team penners, trail riders, polo players, etc..., all usually sporting cowboy hats. Frank

 

[fmw]

Hmmm. Polo players with cowboy hats. Haven't seen that one. Around here they go bareheaded or wear fox hunting caps.

 

[Iwan Plomp]

In Holland people almost fal over from shock when you wear a (Proper) hat

so i wear a AKUBRA Sombrero. hahaha.

 

[frussell]

fmw - Lots of polo players out here wear a cowboy hat when off the polo field. Sorry if that was confusing, I didn't mean while actually playing polo.

 

[John in Covina]

My first thought after watching that GQ video - Everything old is new again.
I see fedoras as hats with a timeless style. The shape can endure thru any fashion trend. What will change with the times is the materials & colors.

Fashion as an industry rarely seems to come up with anything new. They often go back to an earlier look and then give it a twist so it has a little bit different flavor much like college kids using some one else's paper as the basis of their own. These days the industry seeks out the people on the street to see what they are putting together.

 

[jlee562]

I don't think it's not so much that they don't come up with anything new so much as it is that fashion is somewhat cyclical.

 

[EggHead]

Just about everything in nature is cyclical
Hats styles, pulsars, even bicyclists.

 

[John in Covina]

I don't think it's not so much that they don't come up with anything new so much as it is that fashion is somewhat cyclical.

That is true. Sometimes I look at what is being pushed in advertisement or worn by celebs for TV as current fashion and say "Don't you realize that the people that designed that and made that and want you to wear that are actively making you look like a fool?"

Ask anyone that was in high school and college in the 1970's to show you their photos. Most people realize now just how silly some of it looked and are embarrassed by some of those pictures.

The industry often takes an idea like wide lapels and then takes it to an extreme so that the clothing becomes a parody of style. You see today the GQ pictures where the young guys are wearing suits and jackets that are too tight and too short in the sleeves like they had a growth spurt and are trying on last years clothes. Ridiculous! Some times a trend is spotted as so ridiculous it never really catches on but it is captured by celebs. Back in the 80's there was this push for celeb men to wear a dress shirt sans tie and have one collar pointed up ad the other down. That lasted shorter than Neru jackets.

 

[EggHead]

I was browsing through a Macy's catalog during winter and saw a model wearing a fedora that was 2 sizes too big for him. Half of his ears were covered.

 

[John in Covina]

I was browsing through a Macy's catalog during winter and saw a model wearing a fedora that was 2 sizes too big for him. Half of his ears were covered.

Probably a designer trying to start a new trend offsetting the too tight suit look.