Art Fawcett VS Hall of Fame

[Short Balding Guy]

Eric - Thank you for the help, I will definitely be getting in touch with Art soon and getting his take on it. As memphislawyer stated, Nik's dove looks great, is yours you posted dove as well?

Yes it is dove in the dress weight felt. I love this color. Brown, black, and light shades woerk for my casual-like dove fedoras. Each of us are vastly different. I wear my hats in much more casual circumstances than many folks on this thread and the dove fits my more conservative, casual needs. The style of hat, color of felt and ribbon options are a lot of items to consider in your first custom hat choice. I benefited from letting Art guide me. I keep a folder on my laptop with hat pics that I like and use those to help provide clarity in details for future hats.

 

[Rabbit]

I'm in a bit of a pickle, I am trying to decide on what felt color to go with for my first custom. I would really like a color that will go with any color clothing I will wear. Anyone have suggestions? Silverbelly, dove, blue smoke, granite, ivory?

Jonny, I was wondering the same. The more I thought, the more I leaned to the dove and silverbelly or silvermist. Blue smoke and granite are darker and would work with more dress stuff, but to me would be a bit more noticeable or standoutish or severe with lighter colored shirts. That is not true with the three I lean to, and that is shown by Rabbit's pics. He can dress the dove color up nicely and yet, if he had on a linen shirt in say 60 degree weather, I think that color goes great. I am leaning to a thinner ribbon and a more casual look in silverbelly which to me gives me a thought it will be more versatile

First, I have to apologize for the miserable lighting in these last collages...

In my opinion there are four answers to your question, Jonny - definitely, absolutely, certainly and wholeheartedly Dove is the most versatile color for someone with a suit wardrobe, assuming we're talking about the usual fabric colors (greys, blues, browns, and tans) for the suitings. I thoroughly recommend a Dove felt with black ribbon, or if you prefer a charcoal ribbon. A matching ribbon is a wonderful option as well, but perhaps not for your only/first VS.

For casual outfits, it really depends on what you're wearing but even there you can hardly go wrong with Dove.
Other versatile colors would be:

Blue Smoke - doesn't work with all earthtones while Dove does.
Silverbelly - works with everything just like Dove, but due to the very light color it is a bit more conspicuous and therefore less understated. However, I hasten to add that I love wearing it with nearly every suiting.
Dark Moss - a surprisingly versatile color that works well with all the basic suit colors (greys, blues, browns, and tans). It also has the interesting property of bringing out the best in black if you handle it with care - that is to say, I'm not talking about an all-black outfit, but rather some black element like a pair of black brogues, or a black knitted tie.

My personal favorites for wear with casual attire are Dove, Granite, Dark Moss, and Silverbelly, in no particular order.

Other colors that were mentioned in your posts:
Silvermist is a bit too light to be a truthfully versatile hat, but it works wonderfully with lighter greys, especially.
Granite is also quite versatile, but it doesn't work with every shade of grey due to its warm, ever so slightly brownish undertone.

It's a very good idea to start with the most versatile colors, applying the same principle as you would do with a suit wardrobe and what goes with it. Ideally, it should be possible to combine any item with nearly every other item in your wardrobe and come out with a proper outfit.

The ingenious thing about the Dove felt is that it is basically a cool lighter grey, but with slight violet undertones which add a warm cast to it (violet in turn being a combination of blue and red) without giving it a brownish tint.

For the record, the Dove works very well with all my suitings and nearly every combination resulting from my wardrobe, including the overcoats. The suits are a solid light grey flannel, solid darker mid grey flannel, black-and-white Prince-of-Wales check flannel, grey chalkstripe flannel, dark navy chalkstripe flannel, mottled brown wool with cashmere, grey herringbone Harris tweed, green herringbone Harris tweed (yes a suit), french navy linen, tan wool gabardine. Plus a pair of black-and-white houndstooth trousers to combine with the mid grey or the brown jacket.

 

[JonnyO]

Nik, thank you very much for such a great and extensive response, this has helped very much. For the most part, when dressing casual, I wear blue jeans and button down shirts in blues and browns. When it comes to dress wear, I have suits in charcoal, black, dark blue, and grey. You and Eric have me leaning towards dove, will dove work in my situation?

 

[Alucard73]

My newest VS is on its way and I have no idea what color it is or style! I gave Art total carte blanche on this one. I am very excited.

 

[Rabbit]

Nik, thank you very much for such a great and extensive response, this has helped very much. For the most part, when dressing casual, I wear blue jeans and button down shirts in blues and browns. When it comes to dress wear, I have suits in charcoal, black, dark blue, and grey. You and Eric have me leaning towards dove, will dove work in my situation?

Yes, I think it will work very well. For comparison, below is a shot of humble self wearing a VS Dove with 19 ligne black ribbon (two pics to the left), and a VS Blue Smoke with 17 ligne black ribbon (two pics to the right). Due to the dreadful picture quality, the felt color is washed out a bit, though. The point is that both Dove and Blue Smoke are very much recommended; the Blue Smoke goes with many casual outfits but not with everything. The cool shade of grey that Blue Smoke is doesn't mean that you can't wear it with earthtones, but it has its limits. For an everyday hat, the Dove would be a smart choice. The Blue Smoke is a close second, though.

Full resolution image

The suit is the french navy linen (on the right, worn as an odd jacket). The leather jacket to the left is a darker mid brown goatskin, the one to the right is a greyish heavy calf leather. As you can see, I hate to leave the house without having something wrapped around my neck

 

[Landman]

Here's another shot of the Featherweight Black Cherry Whippet:

Great looking hat, Jason! I have a thin ribbon Black Cherry and love it. The wide ribbon on yours looks fantastic.

 

[kaosharper1]

I'm in a bit of a pickle, I am trying to decide on what felt color to go with for my first custom. I would really like a color that will go with any color clothing I will wear. Anyone have suggestions? Silverbelly, dove, blue smoke, granite, ivory?

Silverbelly goes with almost anything. My first VS was silverbelly with a silver band and a golden kakhi colored binding. Granite doesn't go that well with blue, but is otherwise very versatile.

 

[MikeP]

Landman, I'm pretty new at this but, I wear a late 50's OR that I inherited many years ago. Is your new BC an OR style? I'm considering a new OR from Art and thinking about a BC, but not sure of the color for ribbon and binding. Any thoughts would be appreciated.

 

[gtdean48]

Landman, I'm pretty new at this but, I wear a late 50's OR that I inherited many years ago. Is your new BC an OR style? I'm considering a new OR from Art and thinking about a BC, but not sure of the color for ribbon and binding. Any thoughts would be appreciated.

Tell Art what you want & trust him to take care of the ribbon color. It is what he does...

 

[MikeP]

Thanks

 

[JonnyO]

Eric & Nik - I can't thank the both of you enough for your help yesterday, I ended up deciding on dove for my first.

 

[Landman]

Landman, I'm pretty new at this but, I wear a late 50's OR that I inherited many years ago. Is your new BC an OR style? I'm considering a new OR from Art and thinking about a BC, but not sure of the color for ribbon and binding. Any thoughts would be appreciated.

MikeP,

My Black Cherry has the same bow and dimensions as an Open Road except that Art added a maroon colored ribbon for the knot of the ribbon bow. Just this little addition really helps to bring out the Black Cherry color. Like Tom mentioned, let Art help you with the ribbon color. The addition of the little bit of maroon in the ribbon was his idea and made the hat really stand out. I never would have thought of doing something like that but am glad he did.

Below is a picture of it before I creased it. I have since put a cattleman's crease in it but don't have any pictures of it with the crease. It is a beautiful hat and I think you will like it if you are looking for an Open Road style hat in an unique color.

 

[Alucard73]

That is a beautiful hat Landman!!

 

[hatophile]

That is a beautiful hat Landman!!

That is nice, I'd love to see pics creased and on the head!

 

[Landman]

That is nice, I'd love to see pics creased and on the head!

Thanks guys. I really like the subtle look of the ribbon bow. Art has been trying to get me to be a little more adventurous with my hats. He actually did that as a surprise for me and I'm very glad he did.

I'll try to take some more pictures of it creased. I hate to ruin the pictures with me in them though

 

[hatophile]

Thanks guys. I really like the subtle look of the ribbon bow. Art has been trying to get me to be a little more adventurous with my hats. He actually did that as a surprise for me and I'm very glad he did.

I'll try to take some more pictures of it creased. I hate to ruin the pictures with me in them though

Don't worry, most of the rest of us aren't that pretty ourselves

 

[MikeP]

Landman,
Thanks! That is a beautiful look and helps me greatly!
Mike

 

[randooch]

Don't worry, most of the rest of us aren't that pretty ourselves

Hey, I resemble that remark!

 

[suitedcboy]

My newest VS is on its way and I have no idea what color it is or style! I gave Art total carte blanche on this one. I am very excited.

You obviously don't have OCD or any other issues with control as an element. I can't imagine handing off the WHOLE decision process!!

I guess Art's fantastic tastes and track record would make this a lot less of an issue, even for those similarly squirrelly as me.

 

[Landman]

VS Black Cherry

Here is a quick indoor shot of my VS Black Cherry with a cattleman's crease. I'll have to get somebody to take a picture of me wearing it. My self portrait shots are pretty poor and don't do the hat justice.