Retread

My hat history:
18 months: There is a photo of me in a white and red beanie cap with a short bill, almost like an old Cub Scout cap.
Age 3? to 7?
Black felt cowboy hat for play time.
White "sailor" cap that I wore on boat outings.
Age 8 to 16:
Cub Scout beanie cap
Boy Scout flat garrison cap
Boy Scout red beret (I hated them at first)
Cheap straw sun hat for mowing the yard and working in the horse paddock
A trucker style insulated ball cap with the logo of my Dad's employer.
Age 20 to 24 (and 27):
Army BDU cap
Army garrison cap (I wore it two or three times)
Army (Haas) field grade officer's cap
Army Dress Blue cap
Army maroon beret (I loved it then)
(Do steel pots and Kevlar helmets count?)
One inexpensive (but nice) vaguely fedora style crusher fur felt hat that I destroyed by treating it like a military beret (soaking in hot water and shaping to my head...bad).
I liked the style but was uncomfortably aware that some friends and family felt like I was trying to look like that certain fictional character.

Time passed...dotted with a couple of booney hats for camping or beach use, a couple of rather nice military style civilian berets, and assorted canvas patrol style caps. Oh, and one motorcycle helmet. (A friend told me I had bought the wrong kind of helmet. I owned a cruiser bike. He explained that I had a helmet for a street bike. I explained that it was a helmet to protect my head, not the bike.)
More time passed:
My hair began thinning and receding. Family counseled me that sometimes...less is more.
Shortly after getting a nicely burned scalp from working on an old porch glider in the sun, I determined to buy a "hat"; not a ball cap, not a cheap straw sun hat. By now it is Covid-19 days.
I wanted a "timex watch". I wanted a hat that kept the sun from my eyes, my scalp and the back of my neck. I wanted it to be durable, sweat accepting (not "tolerant"), somewhat breathable and cool, and with a bit of style. I wanted it to be suitable for wearing while cutting grass, cleaning the pool, pruning trees, going for a long walk, or going to the store. I wanted to be able to wear it as a hat with some small degree of style.
I ended up with a Henschel Safari Breezer fabric hat. I didn't want to spend a lot of money on something that might not fit, or might be trash, or might not be what I expected.
I actually got the timex watch I wanted!
I also ended up wanting something else.
I still want that look like that certain fictional character had in the closing scene of the first movie. Not the exact period style from head to toe, but that same degree of sharpness; dressed up, not down and finished with a stylish hat.
Please, no feathers unless we're in the Alps.

A hat story, dressed up, not down, Army dress blue cap:
1986, Division "Dining Out" event: I was walking across a parking lot. I saw a senior NCO unpacking his family from his car. I tried to steer away because I didn't want to force him to salute. I was blocked by traffic.
His small son, perhaps three or four, was wearing his father's dress blue cap.
His son saw me and locked eyes. He straightened to attention and saluted.
I was in awe. It spoke volumes about his respect and love for his father.
I snapped the sharpest salute I had ever done. No senior officer ever got a better one.
His father was aware immediately.
He saw me, his son, and the sincerity and respect in the salute I returned. His son's face shone like the sun.
The sergeant went from alarmed to honored in a flash.