Why fedora-wearing IS coming back in style

[Mr_Misanthropy]

Yeah, that's right.. I'll become a mild mannered reporter and everything.

I find it more shocking that a hat and trench coat disguised the Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles... come on now... they're anthropomorphic turtles.

 

[John in Covina]

I wouldn't be so quick to equate fedora-wearing with better societies. The age of the Borgias was a hat-wearing one. In Nazi Germany, practically all men, including Hitler, wore fedoras. (Hitler was especially fond of wearing brown fedoras with grey suits.) And in the former Soviet Union, leaders as recent as Gorbachev wore fedoras in public.

**************
I did say bad also.

They wore them to look respectable, they could claim to be just businessmen.

In both Communist and Fascist countries what wasn't forbidden was often compulsary.

Put on the Fedora!
No!
Put on the Fedora!
No!
Put on the Fedora!
No!
One last time, put on the Fedora!
No!
Gunshot.
Make sure you get a signed confession.

 

[scotrace]

 

[thefedorastore]

Coat Checks in Chicago!

Well, I guess there are still a FEW places, like in the loop, etc. But for the most part the hat checks and hooks are gone. Don't venture to the 'burbs unless you like wearing your hat inside or in your lap. Then, I guess it's a matter of social circles. At the Union League Club, you would be surprised how many hats they can accomodate.

Anyhow, my "hat's off" to all of you. It doesn't matter why, how or where... just when, and I think it's time now. Together we will all be "Putting America Back in Hats!"

 

[thefedorastore]

Hmm, Bailey & Nike

Nah, it's possible... haven't you guys seen this one at Foot Locker?

:coffee:

-Jeremiah

Watch for our Godfather Sneakers coming soon! I was thinking about a nice Microsoft Gambler too.

 

[Slicksuit]

Branding could be incorporated into the hatband .. though I sincerely hope that it won't be.

Branded fedoras have been made for some time by Puma, to wit...

They have also sold black and brown fedoras in the past that had a more modest Puma cat on the brim, something that I even considered at one time.

 

[thefedorastore]

Kangol

Trilby's, Fedoras, Furgoras, etc... all with the Kangaroo or a Kangol emblem. No different than the Stetson or Bailey hat pins I guess.

 

[thefedorastore]

Balldora

How about a pinch front ballcap? Best make it a stingy bill too. No room for a crown and it's various creases, but a transitional hat until we can get everyone back into Fedoras. I bet someone could make a nice picture of that. I bet Art could design the transitional hat of the 21st century.

 

[Slicksuit]

Will fedoras come back? Only time will tell...

I have just recently finished the book Hatless Jack: The President, the Fedora, and the History of American Style. It was an interesting read, supporting some very good arguments about the forces that combined to erode hat-wearing among American men (cost of hats, comfort, individuality of personhood, hairstyles, etc.). He is very convincing that Kennedy did not kill hat wearing, but was simply a product of his time.

I doubt that fedoras will be worn in the way they were in the 1920's (the halcion of hat-wearing), but think that wearing one will become more acceptable in society. As much as I like hats, I wouldn't necessarily want to return to the time when wearing one was socially compulsatory, either. The afforementioned book notes that men were ridiculed, beat-up, and in some instances jailed for wearing a straw hat outside of the traditional May 15th thru Labor Day period.

On a side note, I was elated to see the actor Eric Balfour in a pic with a fedora just today:

 

[tonyb]

It could be my imagination or faulty memory at work here, but hats DO seem more prevalent now than they were 20 and 30 years ago. Take this anecdote, for instance: This morning, in what has become something of a Friday ritual, I stopped by my favorite eatery for breakfast. Standing at the cashier's counter was the man with the Open Road-like hat (it's a Resistol, as it turns out) I saw there last week. Seated a couple of stools down from me was a middle-aged guy in a narrow-brimmed, kinda dirty and beat-up fedora with the brim turned down all around. The dishwasher came out of the kitchen to pick up a bus bin. He was in one of those wool tweed jobs. A man seated at a booth got up to leave and dropped a brown fedora on his head. So, including me, five of the dozen or so men in the place wore hats. It could well be that this "vintage" restaurant, which looks much as it did when it opened something like 70 years ago, attracts a disproportionate number of hat-wearing men. But still ...

 

[Mike K.]

Hi everyone,
I'm still fairly new to the Fedora Lounge and couldn't agree more with the points made by many of you. The Fedora Lounge attracts people with a sense of style more than simply an eye for the latest fashion trends. It also appears to be a gathering for those with the principles and character of a more refined age. This is what attracted me to the Lounge. I'd like to add one observation to this thread. Teaching masses of college students, watching a bit of television, and flipping through countless magazine ads, one cannot help but see how fashion trends are changing. You may recall several years ago everything started going "retro." First on the scene was the 70s look. Bell-bottoms and loud paisleys were suddenly all the rage. In recent years, the "retro" look went further back into the sixties. What I am now seeing is a trend toward clothing that looks more at home in the late 50s to early 60s. I've even seen an increasing number of Hollywood celebs doing photo shoots mimicking the classic looks of the golden 30s-40s. Could it be that fashion will soon "retro" itself to our sense of style? Perhaps if more people wore fedoras, pinstripes, or saddle shoes we could hasten things a little. Here's a thought...how about giving a new fedora for that next birthday or holiday gift?! [huh]

 

[Mr_Misanthropy]

I agree 100%, Mike. I do think styles have been kind of going "backwards" through the decades as you mentioned, 70's, then 60's, etc. Looks like it's just starting to get into the 40's and 30's style. Like I mentioned before, more designers are using vintage style design and influence in their lines. It's a good sign. As for giving fedoras as gifts, I just gave one of my friends a nice black wool trilby for his birthday. He's a truck driver, so, I told him to wear it and be a hat ambassador in his travels.

 

[ArrowCollarMan]

I don't know about hats. Alot of people reconize me by my fedoras, "Is that...oh yeah, thats Quinn, hes wearing a hat!" Other than myself I havn't seen anyone my age actually wear anything aside from a baseball cap. Although I do kind of agree with the idea that styles are going "backwards". If you've noticed blazers among the younger generation are quite popular. I see them alot and also neckties seems to be something that people like to toy with. However, everything else is hoodies, t-shirts, jeans (JEANS GALORE!) and dickies. The idea of the fadora hat comming back in style might just be true. I just got a fodora hat at JC Penny yesterday!

Its the one on the left here and next to it is my old panama hat.

My panama hat was worn and sweaty so I had to get a new one that was more durable (plus, my girlfriend was complaing about the panama). Does this support that fedoras are commign back in style? Mayhap...

 

[Bruce Wayne]

I found this thread during a search & decieded it needed to be brought back to the front.

Thanx!!!
Charlie

 

[norton]

It also appears to be a gathering for those with the principles and character of a more refined age. [huh]

When people sense that their society is in decline they may idealize earlier times and bring back fashions associated with those times.

 

[marvelgoose]

What better way to be in style during a depression than with a Depression Era hat?

 

[AtomicEraTom]

You do see a lot more people wearing them than you used to. I love fedoras, but if I wore one, I'd be nearly the only one. I occasionally will wear a stingy brim one or one of my numerous trilby's. But I get a lot of guff, most of it from my own mother about my vintage style, and pop likes to chime in too. My compromise right now is an aussie style hat. Which I am rather fond of. I'm thinking of putting a fedora ribbon on it to class it up, but I digress.

I guess the point of this long-winded story that you didn't really need or care to read, is that I hope that this increase keeps going, because then I can proudly wear my fedora without feeling weird and if my folks have boo to say about it, I can tell them to go take a walk around Wal-Mart and count the fedoras on heads and on shelves.

 

[feltfan]

Plate of Shrimp

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=X4QKiYar9pI

Plus Emilio burns a sombrero...

 

[bbshriver]

I'd say they're coming back a tad. Not, maybe, traditional felt ones, but I have seen them at the Puma outlet, Wal-Mart and Lids. At least some variation of a fedora style hat.
I wear mine frequently and have yet to get any sort of negative remark. People either don't seem to notice/care, or will compliment me.