In Praise of Serious Hats (TIME Magazine, April 1983)

[Story]

I searched to see if this article had been referenced before, but either my google-fu is too weak, it was a lost thread or was never posted. There are two passages worthy of note.

http://www.time.com/time/magazine/article/0,9171,923587,00.html

A hat has the effect of making the human head a kind of residence. It gives the brain a dome and porch roof, and a strange little portable sense of place. It is a wonderful spot to look out from under, a sort of individual estate. A man feels at home in a hat, established. But wearing a hat is also like having the FBI set you up with a new identity in a different city. It can change you.

...

The serious hat is not a masquerade, not a goof and not an announcement that while a man may look like a middle-aged New York City account executive, he harbors a West Texan in his soul, the real interior galoot made manifest in the feathered Stetson that sits on the bar. The serious hat is the opposite of a disguise. It is a working piece of clothes and an adjunct of character.

 

[billysmom]

Thanks!

 

[babs]

Pretty darn strong google-fu if I say so. Great article! Good read.. Thanks!

 

[Akubra]

The first rule should probably be: Never try to wear a hat that has more character than you do. —By Lance Morrow


MAYBE That is why I feel like I am playing dress up:cool2: in a "western" style hat like the two Stetsons I own, yet I feel very comfortable in my 3 Akubras.

Great article BTW... THANKS!!!

 

[Mr. Paladin]

Interesting reading and slow coming around (hats, not the article) since it was written in 1983.

 

[Fletch]

1983

That's the year I got my first Serious Hat (a grey Stetson with a C crown and narrow black band).

Things changed between then and now. I needn't go into the car roof issue. The generation of bankers and brokers who had worn them retired. In NY they became notable bus riders (the NYC bus is the refuge of those with too much time or too few faculties). Serious Hats became the property of those with serious religion, or serious dandyism.

My first hat would be vintage today - and wouldn't fit, either. I was a 7 3/8 at age 16 but I've since gotten a swelled head (and put on 70 lb!).

 

[Woodfluter]

Well, that was surely an interesting article!

It does seem kind of strange to me when folks like the author assume that everybody nowadays stays indoors nearly all the time and hats are just ornaments, or a part of some "image" you'd like to project. Apart from a few working cowboys.

"...except in a metaphysical sense, the hat is far less necessary than it once was. Men confront the elements only briefly, as they walk through the parking lot. So hats and hatters live at the mercy of fashion..."

I think it's probably true for a large part of our populace but I don't live like that! So hats are ornaments too, but in the same sense as shoes or pants. Hey, who needs pants! This is the 21st century after all.

- Bill

 

[gtdean48]

Well with more folks living in urban areas than rural & those then working in cities which has the majority of "inside" jobs, the generalization does hold some water. I for one maximize outside time because work calls for so much inside time. When hiking, camping, hunting, fishing, riding or doing chores, hats are a functional as right pair of boots & a sharp knife.

 

[tortswon]

Good find

Thanks for sharing that article! Interesting reading. Much appreciated. Best, Sam