THE LEAGUE OF THE RAT PACK BRIM: Stingy Lids Unite!

[Visigoth]

(I've copied this over from the Biltmore thread.)

I feel slighted as a partisan of the stingy brim. We are an underappreciated minority: the untouchable class of hat society. I think this has something to do with postmodern fedora culture deriving mostly from the Indy subcult.

Time to assert our rights! If the Open Road can have its Guild, then why should not we outsiders form the League of the Rat Pack Brim?

 

[Tony in Tarzana]

I'd love to have one, but take a look at that coconut over there. Anybody have any ideas?

 

[Visigoth]

Interesting problem. Do you have to be a "skinny kid from Hoboken" to wear a Sinatra lid?

I'm doing an image search now for Big Guys with Small Brims...



And: voila! Tony, your role models should be the early tenor sax giants: Coleman Hawkins and Ben Webster. Neither of them particularly skinny, and both very much part of the League. In fact, the cover of "Coleman Hawkins Encounters Ben Webster" shows them both in stingy brims:

http://www.apoloybaco.com/colemanhawkinswebster.htm

 

[Visigoth]

Meanwhile, in my search, I also found this lovely quiz:

<a href="http://quizilla.com/users/moderndrunkard/quizzes/Which%20Rat%20Pack%20Member%20Are%20You">Which Rat Pack Member Are You?</a>

Note: I'm not suggesting that the Stingy Brim limits you to the culture of the sixties. Wikipedia points out that the original "Rat Pack," dating from the fifties, included Bogart (and was perhaps given that name by Lauren Bacall).

And as many have pointed out: Bogart's brim was probably, at the very largest, 2 1/4".

So, we too can lay claim to The Golden Era. (Since Bogart's fedora, which he carried into the fifties, had a long forties pedigree.)

 

[Bart]

Stingy Lids

Sometimes there is a "Fashion Mistake". Stingy lids is just that....not 30's, 40's or 50's. The rat Pack had their day..but their skinny pants, narrow lapels, and ties along with their Anchor Weight Brogans, thankfully died with them.

 

[Visigoth]

See? We get no respect. That said: they had their day, and it is:

NOW.

Go to http://men.style.com/fashion

Check out the recent runway shows. Paul Smith is a good start. Skinny pants, narrow lapels, etc... whether or not you care what's current, the fact remains: this *is*. Cutting edge, even.

Oh, and on that same page -- courtesy of Dior Homme -- is a stingy brim.

 

[Magus]

As I said...sign me up, I have 4 or 5 Stingies (one for sale too!) But I reserve the right to wear my big brimmed 30's hats too! lol
M

 

[Magus]

Meanwhile, in my search, I also found this lovely quiz:

<a href="http://quizilla.com/users/moderndrunkard/quizzes/Which%20Rat%20Pack%20Member%20Are%20You">Which Rat Pack Member Are You?</a>

Note: I'm not suggesting that the Stingy Brim limits you to the culture of the sixties. Wikipedia points out that the original "Rat Pack," dating from the fifties, included Bogart (and was perhaps given that name by Lauren Bacall).

And as many have pointed out: Bogart's brim was probably, at the very largest, 2 1/4".

So, we too can lay claim to The Golden Era. (Since Bogart's fedora, which he carried into the fifties, had a long forties pedigree.)

Ok...First I have to tell ya...I was just going to Say "Deano..." right off the bat. But I thought well I'll take the test...see what happens. So I answer all the questions..click here dot there...and end up...Deano. lol

Now...where's my martini?

M

 

[Senator Jack]

We had a long thread about this a few months back. You can find it here:

http://www.thefedoralounge.net/showthread.php?t=6723

The way I figure it, if I were around back then, I would have lived through all these styles, 20s - 60s, and that's why I wear them all. What people have against the pegged leg, stingy hat, narrow tie look is beyond me - I suppose they just don't get it. It's a sharp look, and it is because of that look that I got into vintage in the first place. But after twenty-five years I am getting tired of the Rat Pack comments. If you see pictures of guys back then, ordinary businessmen, you can see it was just a popular style. The Rat Pack didn't invent it. They just had the money to buy the top notch merchandise to make them look like they invented it. I have to explain this whenever some smart aleck asks me if I think I'm Sinatra.

And by the way, Bart, do you really have anything constructive to say around here, or is it your goal to just flame the better class of members?

Regards,

Senator Jack

 

[dressed2the9's]

TO ME THE STINGY BRIMS LOOSESS THE ELEGANCE, CLASS, AND MYSTIQUE OF WHAT A FEDORA IS, AND I'M NO INDY FANNATIC. tHE STINGY BRIMS LOOK LIKE WHAT A SKATER OR JUSTIN TIMBERLAKE OR KEVIN FEATHERLINE WOULD WEAR, PLEASE LOTS STICK WITH THE CLASSICS CAUSE THE CLASSICS DONT GIVE IN TO TRENDS AND ALL TRENDS GO OUT EVEN IF THEY HAPPEN TO BE ON MENS STYLE.COM. NO OFFENSE BUT YOU CANT GO WRONG THE MOST NARROW OF FACES TO THE WIDEST OF FACES WHEN YOU GO WITH 2 1/2 TO 3 INCH BRIM.

 

[dressed2the9's]

I guess I just dont get it.

 

[RedPop4]

Joey Bishop.

 

[Senator Jack]

NO OFFENSE BUT YOU CANT GO WRONG THE MOST NARROW OF FACES TO THE WIDEST OF FACES WHEN YOU GO WITH 2 1/2 TO 3 INCH BRIM.

The above is just BAD advice. I wrote about this in the narrow brim thread but I see it bears repeating.

For a shorter or slim man a 2" wide brim IS a wide brim - period. Larger than that and he looks goofy because the hat overshadows the man. Should a large man wear a tight fishnet shirt because that's the style of the shirt? NO! Same goes for the hat.

Look, if you don't like the stingy, that's fine, but please don't be so presumptuous as to to say that it isn't a classic or that it was just a fad. And please don't compare us to the Justin Timberlake crowd, because that's just showing ignorance. That's like the drunk girl who once said of me 'Hey look, it's Michael Jackson' because I was wearing a hat. If you want to realize how ignorant that remark was, just look at my pic on your left.

Regards,

Senator Jack

 

[Mr_Misanthropy]

Looks like I'm Dean Martin.

Cool.

 

[dressed2the9's]

Please excuse my ignorance.

 

[Senator Jack]

That was fun test. Thanks for the link, Magus. But as I suspected, I came up as that lovable drunk, Dean Martin.

Regards,

Senator Jack

 

[johnnycanuck]

I enjoy a short brimmed hat. I have a few. Pork pie, bowler, stingy brimmed fedora. I hold off wearing them till the sun goes down. I prefer full protection during the day as I hate sunburns. The short brimmed hats I find are a lot more fun. You can play around with them a bit more and I found I got approached more with one on. Not important now that I am married but back in the day it was a nice ice breaker . Nice thread and I am looking forward to seeing some pictures.
Johnny

 

[Visigoth]

Sammy Davis Jr, here.

So, yeah: I just had dinner with a guy who's something of a scholar when it comes to Frank Sinatra. And I told him about the League. He himself is six foot eight, and looks odd in a stingy brim, but to him the suggestion that Sinatra's look was a "fashion error" was beyond blasphemy. Especially when I explained that the competing, preferred look seems to have been derived from *Indiana Jones.*

Now I happen to think that Harrison Ford is, in fact, a swank guy. But when I think of Ford, I don't think Indiana Jones -- I think Blade Runner. In which he plays a sort of Bogart figure. Which brings us back to the greatest argument ever for the stingy: The Maltese Falcon.

(I think we should define the outer limits of the stingy brim as whatever Bogart wore in MF and Casablanca. Which isn't so much a measurement in inches, but a size *relative to the wearer*.)

 

[Brad Bowers]

Actually, I think most here would consider Bogie's brims to be medium width. Anything 2 1/2" and above would be wide, and anything 2" and below would be stingy. However, some 2-inchers look good, when they have a 6" crown. Marc Chevalier and Wild Root both have hats from the 1930s with this style; it's a great style.

As for the Rat Pack quiz, we had a thread about it last year, so if you're curious how the rest of us turned out, click here. I'm Dino, too!

Brad

 

[TommySalieri]

Frank Sinatra, here.

I actually wouldn't mind wearing a stingy brim. I'm just a little concerned over how goofy i'd look. What with my big ears, and all.