A few questions... shaping the brim and such....

[Der_Pinguin]

K, so im kinda new. Not only to the forums, but to wearing hats. any hats for that matter. ive never liked baseball caps or anything. But anyways, ive been wanting a fedora for a while, and finally got one. I finally had a reason, im doing this pioneer type dealy, and need a hat, so instead of a cowboy hat or something i got a fedora. it needed to be packable and what not, so i looked around the internet for a while till i stumbled upon this one:
The hat I bought
it looked pretty good for what i wanted (basicly just the center crease and small if any dents on the side, and not too big a brim).
So this is that hat i'll be using, and probably be wearing for most everything else.
Now, its strength is also its flaw. It retains its same basic shape. so u can crush it, turn it inside out, do whatever, and just shake it out and its back to normal. Only problem with this is, the shape of the brim was pretty plain, and i want to change it. but it retains its shape. after laying on the couch with the hat on, i have managed to curl the back end up. now i could continue on this way, moving around each segment of the brim and holding it there for a while, but theres probly a better way. I was kinda hoping it would lock in place, like my friend's fedora, where u could snap the brim up or down. i dont really know much, but this is probly what they mean when they say it has a snap brim. meh. K, so ive heard of a few methods, though i think they were for harder hats. Basicly steam the hat, bend it to the shape u want, then let it... dry... Actually i think this was more talking about altering the crown of the hat. im guessing another way would be to use water, then have it dry, possibly, but the hat is water... resisitant? or waterproof, i forgot. i think resistant. so not fully waterproof.
But anyways the crown is good i want to have the brim curl up mostly in the back, and have it dip down in the front, off to the side, pretty much over one eye, and kinda curl up everywhere else, or at least be flat. i dunno if that info was important, but oh well.

Sorry if im rambling, but i have another question. regarding feathers. I randomly found 6 good quality feathers. All of them the brownish fade to white tinge, cept for a random black one. there are 2 big ones, one of them the black one, bout the size of my hand, 3 smaller ones, kinda roundish and soft and shiny, and then 1 skinny one, with the bottom kinda frayed in a good way, and the, "stem" or whatever its called is actually black, whereas the others are white. This info may also not really be important, i dunno.
My main question is how i should wear the feathers, if i wear them at all. by feathers i mean just one. Either the soft smooth and shiny feathers that are brown that fades to white, or the other small feather with the jagged edges on the long side with the black stem. which is more of a dark brown. size in terms of relating to my hat, if u stick em straight up from the band they are about 1 1/2 inches above. in case yer wondering, the hat is just plain black so i want it add a little variety to it. So the question is, how to wear the feathers on the hat. Should i stick em straight up from the band? u know, where it has like... a small piece of the band going up or something.... or stick em so they go sideways flush with the hat? and to a lesser extent which feather. Though my friend did find a falcon feather in his backyard a while ago, i'll have to see what that looks like.


K, at least in the editor this looks long. so, ill sum up the quesions:
What should I do to shape the brim?
Should I put a feather on the hat?
Where should I put the feather?
Which feather should I use?

thanks for any help and what not. Oh, and i'll probly buy a dress hat, eventually, so if theres any good places or people i should go to, that would be helpful.

 

[Dave Keith]

First I must make the disclaimer on being nothing other than a fan of fedora hats. I am no expert.

I think you are on the right track in shaping the brim with steam. However, I would not go so far as to make the felt wet. The goal is more to warm and loosen the felt a little, not soak it. Persistence is also good in terms of not creating radical change in one try. Some of my hats have required repeat treatment to get the look I wanted.

The issue of a feather is completely subjective and a matter of personal taste. I, personally, am not a feather fan. If I were, I would wear a relatively small feather, or small group of feathers tucked behind the ribbon bow.

Color of said feathers is again a matter of taste. I seem to see bright colors on many vintage fedoras and I assume the idea is contrast. If the colors are a close match to the hat color they are not easily seen.

Utimately, no one can tell you what you like. To decide what you like is sometimes experimental. The great thing about feathers is that they are not a difficult element to alter or eliminate as you decide what you like.

All the above is simply one person's opinion. De gustibus non disputandum est.