What are the stereotypes associated with different hats?

[Rule17]

I wrote on my blog recently about how the picture of a young man in a top hat drew me to the advertising postcard for a play in Sydney. I speculated that the hat probably wasn't even in the production. Having now seen the play, I know that it wasn't.

Obviously the stylist for the shoot wanted to say something about the character and felt the top hat contributed to that. The question is what did s/he think it contributed?

Different hats come imbued with meaning to people who see someone wearing them. When you put on a hat, people will have a reaction or infer something about you based on what associations they come with to that style of.

That's on top of the base conclusion many people draw about hat wearers: he is wearing a hat, therefore he is eccentric/old-fashioned/Indiana Jones/trendy.

I am hoping to explore this, perhaps in an Open Crown podcast, and I wondered if you guys had any thoughts on what people bring to each style of hat. What specific associations might they be making when they see a flat cap/fedora/trilby/Panama and what conclusions are they making about its wearer?

 

[HatSoup]

If you wear a cowboy hat people will think you're a cowboy, if you wear a pink cowboy hat, people will think you're a gay cowboy.

 

[KY Gentleman]

If you wear a cowboy hat people will think you're a cowboy, if you wear a pink cowboy hat, people will think you're a gay cowboy.

And that about sums it up.

 

[High Pockets]

Ivy Cap......college-boy.

 

[Caity Lynn]

Pink cowgirl hat- well, it could be many things, women get *odder* stereotypes thrown at them.

Newsboy cap-artsy type

 

[KeyGrip]

Black or dark gray fedora; Jewish or Amish. Especially if you have a beard and are prone to wearing dark suit coats. To be honest, I don't know if these are common associations, but I have experienced them enough first hand to the point where I'm starting to think they are.

 

[jlagman]

I still kind of associate newsboy caps with the lower class...no offense. [huh]

 

[Marc Chevalier]

Newsboy cap - artsy type.

Newsboy cap - newsboy.



Red hat - http://www.redhatsociety.com/


.

 

[Tango Yankee]

Homburg: In my mind: banker, CEO, upper levels of business and government. In the general public's mind: The Godfather

 

[johnnycanuck]

If you wear a cowboy hat people will think you're a cowboy, if you wear a pink cowboy hat, people will think you're a gay cowboy.

Pink Cowboy hat = gay cowboy. Watch who you say that to. Wrangler has a "are you tough enough to wear pink" Breast cancer campaign. Most guy I know that participat ARE, and you do not want to mess with them.
http://www.wranglerwestern.com/ww_08pr_tetwp.php
http://www.toughenoughtowearpink.com/
One even got a custom pink cowboy hat made up, that turned into his daily wear hat. A Rig guy who lost his mother to the disease.
Johnny

 

[Nick D]

Bowler = banker. That's not how I see it, but it seems to be a common perception.

 

[Chiliarches]

Pink Cowboy hat = gay cowboy. Watch who you say that to. Wrangler has a "are you tough enough to wear pink" Breast cancer campaign. Most guy I know that participat ARE, and you do not want to mess with them.
http://www.wranglerwestern.com/ww_08pr_tetwp.php
http://www.toughenoughtowearpink.com/
One even got a custom pink cowboy hat made up, that turned into his daily wear hat. A Rig guy who lost his mother to the disease.
Johnny

ARE gay or ARE tough enough?

 

[ron521]

Baseball cap on backwards = IQ 20 points lower than average

Baseball cap on sideways = IQ 50 points lower than average

 

[Chiliarches]

Baseball cap on backwards = IQ 20 points lower than average

Baseball cap on sideways = IQ 50 points lower than average

:arated:

 

[Matt Deckard]

People that wear berets fake French accents

 

[Fletch]

A nonblack, non-Indy fedora means, essentially, "I am this guy."

"I am an urbanite, a son of the pavements. If I am not Black, Italian or over the age 75, I wish I was. I am a bundle of neuroses held together by coffee, cigarettes, and obsessive-compulsion. Not only that, I can't get to sleep without horns honking, I gag on air without diesel fumes in it and the sight of grass and trees makes me itch."

 

[Inusuit]

ARE gay or ARE tough enough?

Some are both.

 

[HatSoup]

Top hat = Monopoly guy.

 

[Tango Yankee]

Bowler = English (at least, to those of us on this side of the pond! )

I think that's because it seems that the English continued wearing them long after they went out of style in the US. Despite our history I don't think many people associate the bowler (or derby) with being a something that was worn in great numbers here. Might have something to do with what they see in the movies.

Cheers,
Tom

 

[awest84532]

If you wear a cowboy hat people will think you're a cowboy, if you wear a pink cowboy hat, people will think you're a gay cowboy.

I live in cowboy country and most of the cowboys wear ball caps (unless it's rodeo time). It's the tourists who wear the cowboy hats and the European tourists who wear Speedos and cowboy boots with a duster and a cowboy hat; sometimes pink.