Are We ???

[MAB1]

I have removed the offensive words from this thread. Please read the forum guidelines here--thanks! --AlanC

Are we truly people trying to keep hat making alive?

Or are we just a bunch of narcissistic ###### that like to look at ourselves in fine hattery?

I admit that my love for hats is way way way beyond the functional value, of the hat.

They are just too cool.

Narcissistic ######... I am.

<a href="http://s248.photobucket.com/albums/gg176/akaBruno4700/?action=view&current=Pics368.jpg" target="_blank"><img src="http://i248.photobucket.com/albums/gg176/akaBruno4700/Pics368.jpg" border="0" alt="Photobucket"></a>

 

[RBH]

N b ... I a.

 

[jake_fink]

It's Friday night. Shouldn't you young fellas be out on a jag?

 

[Rick Blaine]

Now that you mention it....

I have been thinking lately (too much, Mrs., Blaine claims) that we define ourselves here entirely too much by what it is we consume, not only at TFL of course, but it may be that it comes into sharper focus here given the relative rarity of the commodity we are discussing. Not to be a thread killer, but does this occur to anyone else? [huh]

 

[RBH]

It's Friday night. Shouldn't you young fellas be out on a jag?

Friday.. ### ...I thought it was still Thursday.

 

[MAB1]

Finally I posted a pic.

<a href="http://s248.photobucket.com/albums/gg176/akaBruno4700/?action=view&current=Pics368.jpg" target="_blank"><img src="http://i248.photobucket.com/albums/gg176/akaBruno4700/Pics368.jpg" border="0" alt="Photobucket"></a>

That's my Dad's OR. And I was drunk and cryin all day after a funeral. My cousin who was my lil bro had died.

I'm pretty rough lookin but it was a bad day.

 

[RBH]

Great fedora...
Even bad days have their good parts...

 

[DrQuest]

It's Friday night. Shouldn't you young fellas be out on a jag?

Those of you who are of the unmarried persuasion may have shed the 9-5 office attire for the weekend and put on their best Friday night attire for a night of "juking", but we family men have an image to keep up.

 

[K.D. Lightner]

We are both....

karol

 

[DOUGLAS]

A bit of narcissism is not a totally bad characteristic especially when one gets that approving nod from a stranger as they pass by. I am guiltless and unashamed seeing photos of myself in fine head wear. I have many pics posted here to prove it.

 

[MAB1]

As is so often true ... And too true...

The accuser is guilty of the same.

 

[MAB1]

See why I like wide brims?

The first pic is my ADAM Executive.

The second is my $13 canvas oilskin from Outback Outlet.

 

[The Outlaw Kyle]

I have been thinking lately (too much, Mrs., Blaine claims) that we define ourselves here entirely too much by what it is we consume, not only at TFL of course, but it may be that it comes into sharper focus here given the relative rarity of the commodity we are discussing. Not to be a thread killer, but does this occur to anyone else? [huh]

I too have been thinking the same thing lately. I think we (in the general sense) have a tendency to think that owning the same stuff that cool/heroic/famous people do makes us the same as them. I'm as much to blame as anyone. When, in fact, it's the actions these people take that make them what they are. The example that springs to mind is people who buy a $700 gun, one box of ammo, and say "There, now I am safe and protected". They would have better off buying a $200 dollar gun and getting $500 worth of training. But, training you can't show off to your buddies. I digress, but I think I made my point.

Nice hats MAB1. Nothing wrong with looking good!

 

[MAB1]

I too have been thinking the same thing lately. I think we (in the general sense) have a tendency to think that owning the same stuff that cool/heroic/famous people do makes us the same as them. I'm as much to blame as anyone. When, in fact, it's the actions these people take that make them what they are. The example that springs to mind is people who buy a $700 gun, one box of ammo, and say "There, now I am safe and protected". They would have better off buying a $200 dollar gun and getting $500 worth of training. But, training you can't show off to your buddies. I digress, but I think I made my point.

Nice hats MAB1. Nothing wrong with looking good!

Thanks...

I definitely hear you bout guns.

[snip]

Good for a laugh.

 

[Mr. Lucky]

I have been thinking lately (too much, Mrs., Blaine claims) that we define ourselves here entirely too much by what it is we consume, not only at TFL of course, but it may be that it comes into sharper focus here given the relative rarity of the commodity we are discussing. Not to be a thread killer, but does this occur to anyone else? [huh]

I don't think that it's all about WHAT we consume - to me it's more about WHY! Why do I love hats? Is it because certain icons and those that I admire wear them? Is it to differentiate myself from the 'Regular Joes'? Is it in my genes? I have no idea! And, yes, I do have an idea! It's a little bit of all, and none of the above. In other words, everything that I am, everything I have experienced, everything that I wish to be, or NOT to be, adds to the mix - a mix which results in my, as appropriate in this venue, love of hats! Part narcissism? Absolutely! Ego and vanity are part of what allows us to scrape off the mud at the end of the day - they are necessary aspects of our makeup. And when I am complimented by a stranger, I feel a sense of camaraderie, yet another need of this human being filled - being 'part of', yet 'different from'.

I guess what I am trying to say here is that, when I wear a hat, it doesn't define me as a singular entity - it enhances and helps to complete how I define myself.

 

[HungaryTom]

I am…

A fool who fell in love with fine hats when I saw one Montecristi hat live in Budapest in 2006.
Then I kept on browsing for them and found the website of Brent Black with exquisite hats, just to name the Gatsby.
Than I found the website of Panamabob with an even more exquisite hat, later it turned out that it was called the Bogey.
And some very nice other styles...for prices that looked more like my range.
I learned later that those were done by Art Fawcett and Gary White.
I knew only that I coveted some of them and decided to hunt them down one by one. Like trophies.
Than Robert Weber introduced me to this forum and ever since I spend unreasonable amont of my time here than elsewhere on the web.
I know the other fashion forums but the Lounge is something special.
And yes I spend unreasonably much more time and effort on hats in real life (than I used to do before-literally nothing) when I earn the bucks for my sporadic orders.
The hats I purchased and plan to purchase have indeed much more than just a functional value since rain protection can be resolved by the hood of your jacket or a few dollars black wool knit cap.
Baseball caps, later a straw hat and once even a cotton T-shirt folded as a turban worked perfectly for me as sun protectors in the hot summers.
Functionally there is no need for Montecristi finos neither for pure beaver felt hats-those are things you don’t need but you must have!!!!

So if you are a guy who lurks and/or posts here you are a buyer, hunter, a maniac of hats. Narcism? Yes. Compulsive communicator? Yes.

 

[J.T.Marcus]

Quote: Or are we just a bunch of narcissistic ######...

You've been peeking at my family tree!

 

[ideaguy]

something's not all tightened down, that's for sure; I'm reading this while sitting at my desk wearing a terrific dark,dark green Borsalino-and a long sleeve white T shirt... yeah, it's a bit much at times, obsessing over how we look-but when it turns into how we FEEL- then I find it healthy behaviour. If it makes us a bit looser, less obsessed with all the other aspects of contemporary life, and gives us some pride to help wash down the daily dose of life's castor oil, why not?[huh]

enjoy while you can-sometimes things sneak up on you, and life isn't so enjoyable as it used to be...when I write of having a "solid pair of boots,
a fine Fedora, and an attitude..." it's a tonic, simple and easy.

enjoy what we like? why not? I seem to remember being told that this isn't
a dress rehearsal...
___________________________________________________________________

"lifes' a banquet-and most poor suckers are starving." anon.

 

[surely]

Quote by MrLucky: I guess what I am trying to say here is that, when I wear a hat, it doesn't define me as a singular entity - it enhances and helps to complete how I define myself.


That sounds like a good reason for wearing a hat. When you knowingly define yourself, you can send conscious signals to people you happen to encounter. I've recently observed that when I see someone from a distance wearing a hat I instantly form some preliminary ideas of the type of person he may be. As we pass I may gain more info by an appreciative glance, but mostly still have only the impression he makes.

Knowing that I am able(try) to some degree manipulate the environment by sending signals, for example, on how I expect to be treated. If I want respect I may wear my Resistol one hundred with a cattlemen dent. If I want to be one of the guys at the local bar I might put on my stetson playboy.

By now

 

[Rick Blaine]

Thanks

Thank you Gentlemen for a series of very thoughtful replies.