All You Need to Know About Hat Etiquette

[majormoore]

I take mine off in two places, a church and a barbershop

 

[adamgottschalk]

Hat-wearing etiquette

Searched archives and didn't find a thread on the subject; I'm sure it's been discussed before, but how about let's lay it out plain and simple for the simpletons in the audience like me:

1. Wear your hat in public places. An elevator counts as a public space...until a lady walks in, at which point a gentleman takes off his hat. Does a bar count as a public space? I assume when arriving at a restaurant (a public space, but with intimacy at the table) the right thing to do is to take off one's hat, and coat, when arriving, preferably leaving it at coat check if available?

2. When greeting a male friend on the street, a slight tip of the hat is appropriate. When greeting a female acquaintance on the street, more of a "bow" with the hat is needed. The bow being different from a "slight tip" in what ways exactly?

To what extent do you follow either or both of those "rules"? How do those rules apply to a woman wearing a woman's hat? How about a woman wearing a fedora? What other rules of etiquette should a person be aware of?

 

[Andykev]

Did you use the advanced search feature?

This is a topic that has been discussed at length...with postings of clipped articles from various vintage publications. You can google Hat etiquette and get a lot also.

 

[Nathan Flowers]

.

http://thefedoralounge.com/showthread.php?t=5943&highlight=hat+etiquette

http://thefedoralounge.com/showthread.php?t=4830&highlight=hat+etiquette

http://www.thefedoralounge.com/showthread.php?t=4435

http://thefedoralounge.com/showthread.php?t=3531&highlight=hat+etiquette

http://thefedoralounge.com/showthread.php?t=2550&highlight=hat+etiquette

http://thefedoralounge.com/showthread.php?t=965&highlight=hat+etiquette

To answer your questions, I take mine off when I get inside an office, but don't take it off on the elevator, unless there is a lady on, then I will lift it off the head, and then put it back on... sort of a "doffing".

 

[Big Joe]

Dames can do what ever they damn well please with their hat. Sez me!

Big Joe

 

[jake_fink]

Zohar said:
To answer your questions, I take mine off when I get inside an office, but don't take it off on the elevator, unless there is a lady on, then I will lift it off the head, and then put it back on... sort of a "doffing".

Is that just to let her know you aren't concealing anything threatening beneath it?

 

[D. Hats]

I have been meaning to...

look up past threads on this subject.

My main question has to do with wearing a hat into a restaurant. Most restaurants now-a-days do not have a place to check your hat and coat. The last thing I want to do is get a grub stain on my hat or have it fall on the floor and get stepped on... feeling that it is impolite to wear it while sitting at the table I end up leaving it in the car.
On one hand I want to wear it, on the other I'm worried about what to do with it.
In the car it sits !!

 

[SHARPETOYS]

I ask for a chair for my hat!!

 

[Vladimir Berkov]

1. Wear your hat in public places. An elevator counts as a public space...until a lady walks in, at which point a gentleman takes off his hat.

An elevator is sort of a grey area. It is not improper to remove your hat in an elevator. If a lady is present that it is probably better to remove it.

Does a bar count as a public space? I assume when arriving at a restaurant (a public space, but with intimacy at the table) the right thing to do is to take off one's hat, and coat, when arriving, preferably leaving it at coat check if available?

It depends on whether the bar has tables like a restaurant or is more like a lunch counter with barstools. If the former then I would say remove the hat when seated at the table (especially if food is served) if the latter keep the hat on.

2. When greeting a male friend on the street, a slight tip of the hat is appropriate. When greeting a female acquaintance on the street, more of a "bow" with the hat is needed. The bow being different from a "slight tip" in what ways exactly?

When greeting a male friend there is no necessity of raising or tipping the hat. In general raising the hat is preferable to tipping. Tipping is to raising as saying "Hey!" is to saying "Hello!" You raise your hat to males of distinction (clergy, your boss, elderly gentlemen) but not really to your equals. You raise your hat to ladies, but it is the lady's courtesy to bow first. After this you bow. Otherwise the duty to bow is encumbent on the younger man to the older man, (and older woman to the older woman.)

To what extent do you follow either or both of those "rules"? How do those rules apply to a woman wearing a woman's hat? How about a woman wearing a fedora? What other rules of etiquette should a person be aware of?

Ladies wearing women's hats don't follow male rules of hat etiquette. They don't tip, raise or remove their hats. Women wearing mens hats such as fedoras and ball-caps are not ladies and thus etiquette really doesn't apply. Whether to remove the hat/cap would depend on the whim of the woman.

 

[J. M. Stovall]

I was just thinking of the Hopper painting "Nighthawks", painted in the 30's. Guys at counter all wearing hats, even in the presence of a lady? Do we really know what was common practice back then?

 

[Senator Jack]

There are plenty of scenes in films where guys are at a diner or the automat (Damn I miss that automat!) and they're eating at the counter with their hats on. I think it was a lot more common than we think. I think if one sits at a table or a booth, however, the hat must be removed. I would never sit in a restaurant with my hat on. A counter at a burger joint, yes, if there's no where to put it,but never at a table.

I don't think much about the elevator. If more than two people are on it, I remove it for space. If a woman is over 60, let's say, I remove it because she will appreciate the gesture. Younger women won't sappreciate it, so if it's just me and her, she'll have to deal with it. Chances are she's probably playing crappy techno music on her Ipod anyway, blasting it at full volume, so she won't notice anyway.

At the bar I hang out at, sometimes I wear it, sometimes I don't. The more crowded it is, the more I tend to wear it because I don't want someone spilling a drink on it. If I'm at in a booth at a bar, I take it off. Booth/table rules applying.

Regards,

Senator Jack

 

[John in Covina]

(I miss that automat!) Senator Jack

***

I remember going to Horn & Hardart (?) during a trip into NYC and having a great meal with my parents there, I think I was about 8-10 y.o.
I think there were hats on the heads of people.

 

[Senator Jack]

Yep, the Horn and Hardart on 51st. They tore that down in the late 80s? Early 90s? God, my history is a blur. It was an incredibly beautiful place. More bloodshed on developers' hands.

Regards,

Senator Jack

 

[Big Joe]

Automat

Here's a little nostalgia. I remember Horn and Hardart as a kid. Going there was somthing special and Mom made sure we knew it.
As best I can recall, we ate in automats in both Philadelphia and Atlantic City (pre-casino AC)

http://www.theautomat.net/

Big Joe

 

[Absinthe_1900]

My family is from Phila. and I still remember going to the automat when I was small, it was a real novelty for a kid born in Houston.
Popping coins in the slots and getting food out of the little doors was kids dream meal.

I believe Horn & Hardart also ran a few cafeterias in the Philly area for awhile after the decline of the automats, I remember going to one with my Grandmother in the late 70's. (I think it was around then, may have been early 80's)

 

[mjbrekke]

I've never been one for rules of etiquette--I grew up in the late 60's and early 70's when the only rules were to break the rules. During that period of time, my women friends were usually offended if we men tried to show them extra courtesies. They took it as condescending and demeaning.

Comfort often dictates whether I wear a hat indoors. If it's cold or drafty, my hat goes on whether it's a restaurant or a business meeting or church. Some of my clients have told me that they interpret my hat going on as the first indicator that the heat has been turned off. If they ignore the warning sign, pretty soon everybody is putting sweaters and coats on, so they have learned to look for it. I just think of it as a "value add" that my business provides.

 

[koopkooper]

At work I brought my own hook that I put up next to my desk and now I have my own hat hook so that solves any problem I have with putting down my hat!

 

[Paisley]

Having been in the military, I hate to see a man wearing a hat indoors, especially in a nice restaurant. (I've noticed that people from the southeastern U.S. tend to know and abide by this rule.) A decent hat indoors is not so bad to my sensibilities, though, as a baseball cap is. And I'll be more understanding now if the man is in a crowded place. But, don't men find that a hat gets in the ways when they're dancing--or that it gets hot? I've even had large hair clips get in the way.

Even though it's generally acceptable for a lady to wear a hat indoors, I typically remove mine when I take off my coat or sunglasses. It's a habit that's never died.

 

[Cruiser]

Hat off indoors?

From "Etiquette," Emily Post, Funk & Wagnall's Company, 1922 and 1927, and purloined from the CavHooah.com site.

WHEN A GENTLEMAN TAKES OFF HIS HAT

...A public corridor is like the street, but an elevator is suggestive of a room, and a gentleman does not keep his Hat on in the presence of ladies in a house.

This is the rule in elevators in hotels, clubs and apartments. In office buildings and stores the elevator is considered as public a place as the corridor...

My understanding has always been that you should take off your hat if you are indoors in private living space, such as in the parlor of a house, but that you need not do so in public, such as in an office building or a department store (unless other rules apply, such as that you are addressing a lady). The above quote from the old Emily Post book seems to support that logic. Anyone have any other views?

 

[scotrace]

Your understanding is correct.