"A Gentleman Does Not Wear a Straw Hat in the Metropolis, sir"

[mayserwegener]

Robert (RLK) wore one yesterday (What Hat Are You Wearing Today) with an Hawaiian Shirt and I thought it looked great. I just don't see the big deal.

 

[splintercellsz]

A hat is a functional accessory. I wear my felts in 95+ degree heat. Who cares what others want to wear? If they are enjoying it, then I am too.

 

[Two Types]

I know that FL member Anton AAK regularly wears a straw boater and he lives in a part of South London that I associate with gangsters, prostitution and cut-throat razor wielding postmen.
If he can wear a straw boater there, I don't think anyone else needs to worry.

 

[Rabbit]

The old rule "no straw in the metrop" originally applied to the business districts of London and New York, where the big money was made. It did not apply to the city as a whole, or to other large cities. Back in the day, a straw hat usually meant a Boater, not a Panama hat (that was a Panama hat). I'm not sure whether the old rule included Panamas...

Jeeves in Wodehouse's stories of course is supposed to be the antithesis of Wooster's expressions of dandification. Each of Wodehouse's juxtapositions of Jeeves high sense of appropriateness and Wooster's touch of dandification ultimately leads to situations where Wooster, from Jeeves point of view, is making a complete fool of himself. Consider the case of the mess jacket or the "Alpine Joe" hat in the Laurie/ Fry TV series.

 

[trebor]

A boater is a most jovial item of head ware, thus it is most often associated with recreational use, rather than the daily cut and thrust of the professional city gent going about his business. However if a chap finds himself abroad in the city and taking his ease on a summer day, then why not ?

 

[RBH]

I was making a joke...''where a boater''. I had one of the foam boaters when I was a kid , wore it all the time.

 

[wine65]

I do...perhaps I'm not a gentleman

 

[Shangas]

We're all cads, rakes, bedlamites and ne'er-do-wells around here. That's for sure.

 

[BR Gordon]

We're all cads, rakes, bedlamites and ne'er-do-wells around here. That's for sure.

And proud of it!

 

[HudsonHawk]

NH is covered by this rule as well.
I have a knice Knox boater (I bought it because it was cheap and I wondered if my head would touch the top) but I have never worn it outdoors and I don't expect to.

I hope that doesn't mean you've worn it indoors.

 

[Edward]

I have two boaters, love them both. Only reason I limit their wear in Summer is because of the relative fragility of the design, made worse by the propensity of inebriated lady-buffons to want to "try on your 'at" on the street.

Also would there not be a difference between what Americans and English would wear in a city?

Yes - I don't believe you ever had such particular nonsense as "no brown in town" (which only ever really seemed to actually apply - as noted above - to verfy specific working environments, and groups of upper class snobs trying to keep the proles out).

Boater hats fit in that class of clothing and accessories that was broadly referred to as "sport" wear, which were not thing worn to play sports but rather to watch. That's why a polo coat is called a polo coat and two-tone shoes are called spectators . . .

Pretty much the same here. They are very specifically associated with water sports here (stop sniggering at the back, Kurtz!), but that said I'm sure I remember seeing photos of the 1924 British Olympic team somewhere, and boaters were in their official uniform...

I'm not sure I entirely agree with this. The distinction between city and country was (is) definitely less about geographic boundaries and more about climate, social setting, time of day and frame of mind. I don't think you can say that "The City" only consisted (consists) of old City of London though.

In the UK, when someone speaks of "The City", the term very specifically means "The City of London", which is the Square Mile, not Greater London as whole (which, of course, has city status and is the capital city).

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/City_of_London

Yeah, I've been strangely drawn to the boater of late too - my biggest fear is that I might be mistaken for a member of a barbershop quartet, but based on how Johnny Depp pulled it off at the end of Public Enemies, I think you could get away with wearing it casually and not look like a loon. As for the question about Jeeves and Wooster, the impression I get, knowing the era, is that Jeeves would probably think a gentleman in the metropolis should only wear either a bowler or a Top hat. Any of those uncouth soft felt and straw hats would be out of the question.

Dillinger was a very naughty man, but he was guilty of no fashion crimes.

I know that FL member Anton AAK regularly wears a straw boater and he lives in a part of South London that I associate with gangsters, prostitution and cut-throat razor wielding postmen.
If he can wear a straw boater there, I don't think anyone else needs to worry.

Quite right. FWIW, in London I find if you want to wear something a little more flamboyant, one does tend to meet a more positive reception in areas with a larger black or Asian population. I've never delved into the for whys of that, but it's very much the case. Where I live in Whitechapel, if anyone extracts the urine on the street, it tends to be twenty-something whiteys; the teenage black kids, teenage Asian kids too (big Bangladeshi-roots population round my way) are often the first to sincerely compliment.

 

[HudsonHawk]

I have two boaters, love them both. Only reason I limit their wear in Summer is because of the relative fragility of the design, made worse by the propensity of inebriated lady-buffons to want to "try on your 'at" on the street.

You act like this is a bad thing. I can't remember the last time an inebriated lady wanted to try on anything of mine.

 

[AntonAAK]

I know that FL member Anton AAK regularly wears a straw boater and he lives in a part of South London that I associate with gangsters, prostitution and cut-throat razor wielding postmen.

They often compliment me on it actually.

 

[AntonAAK]

I know that FL member Anton AAK regularly wears a straw boater and he lives in a part of South London that I associate with gangsters, prostitution and cut-throat razor wielding postmen.
If he can wear a straw boater there, I don't think anyone else needs to worry.

Anyway, Streatham's not like that anymore. It's gone terribly upmarket. You can never find a prostitute when you want one.

 

[Two Types]

How Streatham has changed since my days of living there!

I'm sure you can still find a razor-wielding postman though?

(My mate was threatened with an open razor by a bloke in full postie uniform, at lunchtime, in one of those bar/restaurants that used to have the Elvis impersonators).

 

[fashion frank]

I wear a boater mostly with my seersucker suits and lighter colored and lighter weight summer suits .

As far as to where and when to wear one, wear it any where that's what they did back in the day and just about everyone wore them.

One rule for sure ,it's a summer hat and traditionally you don't wear one before the beginning of May and not after Labor Day.

 

[Dick Ireland]

Also would there not be a difference between what Americans and English would wear in a city?

I assumed there would be, but it sounds like in residential parts of London codes were more relaxed -- more "American," if you will.

Still, I'm sure this question hasn't been mined to its bottom yet.

 

[Edward]

You act like this is a bad thing. I can't remember the last time an inebriated lady wanted to try on anything of mine.

I'll take a decent hat over some tedious, drunken trollop any day of the week - and the same went when I was single, too.

 

[Dick Ireland]

I'm not sure I entirely agree with this. The distinction between city and country was (is) definitely less about geographic boundaries and more about climate, social setting, time of day and frame of mind. I don't think you can say that "The City" only consisted (consists) of old City of London though.

I get what you mean. I instinctively grasped that the boater was more of a leisure accessory.

Since May 15th I've been wearing my boater to church on Sundays (in central DC, so very much "town") but I don't feel right wearing it to work (just off downtown Baltimore) -- it feels too frivolous. I wear a light gray panama there during summertime, as it feels more serious.

Stilll, I dare not think what Jeeves would say of me! (Though seriously, watching that show I often wish I had that character's advice on what to wear.)

 

[Guttersnipe]