In the day, how many hats? What color?

[ScottyBlues]

Back when hats were the norm and not the exception, was it typical for people to own hats in a variety of colors? Or was it more common to have your normal hat and that's what you wore?

Does anyone know what the most popular color was back then? Did most people wear brown, black, or grey?

 

[K.D. Lightner]

I asked my 88-year-old mother how many hats my father had when he was younger. She said that the men she knew didn't have so many hats, and she doesn't think father had more than two at most. They were in neutral colors so they would go with most everything. I recall a grayish fedora, and I think a dark tan or brownish color. When he was a teenager, he also had a newboy cap that he wore.

He did not ever wear a straw or panama hat, mother says she does not remember most men wearing any hat in the warmer months.

Please know that my parents were lower middle class, working-class people who did not have a lot of disposable income.

My grandfather wore a black hat, probably of good quality because he shopped at the Salvation Army. In those days, it was common for "rich people" to donate their clothes to the Salvation Army when someone died or when they were tired of their wardrobes, so you could go there and get all sorts of decent clothes and (we would probably drool today) and fedoras.

I would imagine there were men, then, who had the income and style to have a goodly number of fedoras, including nice straws in warmer months. But not so much in the working class.

karol

 

[NonEntity]

My dad, born 1923, and granddad, born 1900, are now both deceased, but they lived during the every-man-wears-a-hat era. Working class folks, they only had a couple of dress hats at any one time, and they were always gray or black ones that went with anything.

Neither of them wore a dress hat in the stifling heat and humidity of Southern summers, but when working outdoors doing yardwork and such, my dad wore a ball cap, and my granddad wore a stiff, inexpensive straw hat.

Dad was a machinist who worked indoors, so he had no need to wear a hat at work, but Granddad, in his later years, had worked his way up to captain of a Mississippi River dredge boat, where he wore, of course, a garrison style captain's hat with 'scrambled eggs' on the bill.

 

[Pat_H]

Not addressed specifically at hats, but clothing in general, it seems to be the case that prior to the 60s or 70s, and certainly prior to the mid 50s, the standard of clothing both in quality and what people were expected to wear was higher, but people had less of it.

An example of that might be suits. I have two jobs, one an outdoor agricultural one, and one a an indoors professional job. In my indoors professional job, in my region, which is rural, men who practiced the profession wore suit and tie every day at least up until the mid 60s. It's nearly impossible to find a photo of any of these folks, some of whom I know today, who are not so dressed. Today, the majority of them do not wear a suit every day, and most don't wear a tie either. Indeed, on a lot of days, quite a few of them are as dressed down as anyone I meet in my agricultural job.

But, as an aspect of that, it turns out, when you investigate it, that these folks had relatively few suits. Men's suits often came with two pairs of pants, so that you could wear the suit clean and pressed more often. Generally, people were repeating the same clothing often.

On hats, in looking back at family photos, I notice that the men in my family typically wore the same hat in nearly any photo in which they were wearing a hat. They're dress hats, but they show up repeatedly. I suspect that the habit was very similar to that currently exhibited in rural areas here, in which a person has a "work" (ie., worn) hat, and a dress hat. When the dress hat becomes worn, it is the work hat. That is, I suspect they owned about one or two hats.

 

[Feraud]

On a similar note, I read a biography of Churchhill that showed pictures of Winston throughout his life.
I noticed the same watch chain in two photos that were decades apart!

 

[Pat_H]

On a similar note, I read a biography of Churchhill that showed pictures of Winston throughout his life.
I noticed the same watch chain in two photos that were decades apart!

I wonder how long Truman's hat (Open Road?) shows up repeatedly, over a long period of time?

 

[Stan]

Hi,

Well, my dad whoe also lived in the Hat Era (1923-1995) only had two hats. One was the brown fedora that I wound up wearing to it's disintegration. The other was a straw hat he wore when working around the farm.

Dad had all of one suit, a brown one, which rather explains the brown fedora. He rarely wore it, since he was a machinist by trade and our family business was a John Deere dealership. Dad usually wore grey poplin pants with a white tee shirt and often times a flannel shirt over that.

He also had only one pair of brown oxfords (went with the suit and hat). His usual shoe was a standard black work boot. These followed the progression of 'new' to 'shop work' to 'outdoor work' as they aged, so he always had three pair and when the oldest fell apart, it was time to get a new pair. I do the same exact thing, actually.

Mom was never into hats, which seems rather odd. Well, maybe not so odd. I can't recall any of the women in my family wearing hats. Most of the men were like dad, had one or maybe two suits, shoes and hats. As I recall brown and grey were the usual colors.

I'm rather like dad. I'm an engineer and it's been a long while since anyone has worn suits to work. Most folks wear blue jeans and golf shirts around here. I used to wear dress slacks and shirts but was so in the minority that I gave it up. Besides jeans and golf shirts are a lot more comfy.

Most of the photos I have of dad are with him in his racing gear or in a white tee shirt with that ratty old straw fedora sitting on his favorite thing in the whole world, a 1958 John Deere 420 crawler/dozer (small bulldozer).

You know, I still have that bulldozer and I have my own ratty straw fedora. I just had a great idea for an avatar photo for here!

Later!

Stan

 

[jdbenson]

About two to four...

Both my grandfathers were dedicated hat wearers. My folks are from a small town in N. Dakota, and were born in the depression. Nobody had a lot of money, so no one had a great amount of clothes or hats. My Mom grew up on a farm and her Dad wore exclusively cowboy hats. As I remember he usually had about 4 Stetsons: a good/dress felt and a work felt that he wore in fall/winter, and a good/dress straw and a work straw that he wore in spring summer.

My Dad lived in town and his Papa ran a grocery store and wore fedoras. The closest he came to a western hat was an OR but that was bashed into a fedora shape. In fact, I inherited that OR, a stingy brim black beaver Stetson and a stingy brim black straw Stetson from Papa. Tragically, both my granfathers had small heads (6 3/8 to 7), while I am a 7 3/8 to 7 1/2). I still have the black beaver stingy brim, but the OR and the straw have dissappeared.

 

[Feraud]

I wonder how long Truman's hat (Open Road?) shows up repeatedly, over a long period of time?

That is a good question. I wonder how many he owned and if he had a favorite or two that were kept for very long periods of time.

 

[Warbaby]

My grandfather always wore a hat. I remember quite clearly from my childhood with him that he had four hats - two grey fedoras that he wore in the fall and winter, a straw or panama of the same style as the felts that he wore in the summer, and a beater fedora that he wore when he was working in the garden.

 

[carldelo]

Harry's Hats

That is a good question. I wonder how many he owned and if he had a favorite or two that were kept for very long periods of time.

I found this site while looking into Art Fawcett's special editions H.S.T. (Harry S. Truman) hat. The president's hat collection is in the hands of the National Park Service:

http://www.nps.gov/archive/hstr/exhibits/hats/hats.htm

There's more info here, with some hat photos in the image gallery:

http://www.nps.gov/history/museum/exhibits/hstr/overview.html

When my maternal grandfather died, he left half a dozen Stetson in size 7 - way too small. My paternal grandfather rarely wore a hat, and my dad favored English driving hats, also too small. The curse of a big noggin...

 

[Feraud]

I found this site while looking into Art Fawcett's special editions H.S.T. (Harry S. Truman) hat. The president's hat collection is in the hands of the National Park Service:

http://www.nps.gov/archive/hstr/exhibits/hats/hats.htm

There's more info here, with some hat photos in the image gallery:

http://www.nps.gov/history/museum/exhibits/hstr/overview.html

When my maternal grandfather died, he left half a dozen Stetson in size 7 - way too small. My paternal grandfather rarely wore a hat, and my dad favored English driving hats, also too small. The curse of a big noggin...

Thanks for the info!

Btw, good to see another Astoria resident checking in.
:cheers1:

 

[Brad Bowers]

I found this site while looking into Art Fawcett's special editions H.S.T. (Harry S. Truman) hat. The president's hat collection is in the hands of the National Park Service:

http://www.nps.gov/archive/hstr/exhibits/hats/hats.htm

Anybody else feel like they were on eBay, seeing the Stetson 100 labelled as a "Homberg," misspelling and all?lol

I'm glad they've saved the hats, though, no matter what they call them.

Brad

 

[Dinerman]

Yep, on on the sovereign how they say, "cord broken", but it looks like they just don't have it looped.

 

[carldelo]

Thanks for the info!

Btw, good to see another Astoria resident checking in.
:cheers1:

Glad to be aboard - that guy driving by too fast in a blue Mini with a hat on is me, late for class again....

 

[Vardeman Sneed]

I'm an engineer and it's been a long while since anyone has worn suits to work. Most folks wear blue jeans and golf shirts around here. I used to wear dress slacks and shirts but was so in the minority that I gave it up. Besides jeans and golf shirts are a lot more comfy.

NO DON'T GIVE IN!!!

I am in the same situation, however, I get perverse satisfaction from making my fellow Engineers uncomfortable with my attire. Although I don't wear a suit, I do try to dress nicely, sometimes including a tie. Yesterday my boss, who I don't see often, asked me why I was wearing a tie, my response - "Because I'm trying to look professional." That left him bewildered.

 

[AlanC]

^Khakis are at least as comfortable as jeans; I think more so.

In those days, it was common for "rich people" to donate their clothes to the Salvation Army when someone died or when they were tired of their wardrobes, so you could go there and get all sorts of decent clothes and (we would probably drool today) and fedoras.

Some rich folks still do that, which is why I often shop at the SA. And am well rewarded for doing so.

 

[Pat_H]

I found this site while looking into Art Fawcett's special editions H.S.T. (Harry S. Truman) hat. The president's hat collection is in the hands of the National Park Service:

http://www.nps.gov/archive/hstr/exhibits/hats/hats.htm

There's more info here, with some hat photos in the image gallery:

http://www.nps.gov/history/museum/exhibits/hstr/overview.html

When my maternal grandfather died, he left half a dozen Stetson in size 7 - way too small. My paternal grandfather rarely wore a hat, and my dad favored English driving hats, also too small. The curse of a big noggin...

Thanks, very interesting.

I see that the Open Road was his favorite hat.

I found the comment that he was known as a "dapper dresser" a bit odd. He appears to have dressed about like everyone else in business or politics at the time, and I woudln't have regarded him as dapper.

 

[Stan]

NO DON'T GIVE IN!!!

I am in the same situation, however, I get perverse satisfaction from making my fellow Engineers uncomfortable with my attire.

Well, I gave in. I wasn't here six months before I went the jeans and golf shirt route. That was 13 years ago. I'm just so much more comfortable, especially working in an R&D lab. I never liked wearing a tie, either. I can't really stand to have one around my neck. I actually become rather mean natured while wearing one.

I'm happiest with the blue jeans, golf shirt, work boots, leather jacket and a wide brim fedora for a hat. I know, I know. Ever since 'Raiders' this has been the 'Indy' look. Well, I had it already long before 'Raiders', in fact about the time the first 'Star Wars' was first released.

As far the looking professional goes, this actually *is* the professional look around here. At least for the American engineers. The European ones wear cargo shorts, tee shirts and sneakers. The Japanese ones still wear full suits, at least on the first day or two when they first come. After that, they switch to the jeans and golf shirts as well. As you might have guessed, we're a worldwide company and have a lot of exchange opportunities.

Even the upper management folks dress down, although they prefer the Dockers to the jeans, but thay also wear golf shirts.

Just so you know, I'm not in any way trying to say that dressing up is no longer worthwhile. It is. If I felt comfortable, I'd do it, too!

Later!

Stan