Can Anyone Pull Off a Wide-brim Fedora?

[Dick Ireland]

I wear a hat everyday. Five days a week its a fedora with a suit. I have a black hat, a gray hat, and a straw hat, and I'm currently looking for a brown fur hat to better match my brown suits, and I'm drawn to the idea of getting a 2.5" to 3" wide brim, but I don't want to look like I'm wearing a costume. All of my fedora have a 1 7/8" brim and I can pull them off at work, church, whatever. How do you know if you can pull off a wide brim in these days of stingy hats?

 

[The Good]

There are actually a lot of people here that pull wider brims. I think you may consider getting a hat in a moderate brim like 2 to 2 3/8 inches if it would make you more comfortable. My favorite fedora is 2 1/8 inches wide. Three inches is actually a wide hat, but there are lots of people here that look good in 2 1/2 brims.

 

[BR Gordon]

For me the perfect brim width is 2 5/8". I don't like brims less than 2 1/2". If you were to post a photo of yourself with one of your current hats, we'd have a better idea.

 

[Jedwbpm]

Yes

 

[St. Valentine]

For me a hat must still retain it´s function, which is to protect you from sun or rain. I see no sense in wearing a stingy other than fashion aspects.

 

[The Wiser Hatter]

It is a perception thing you just have never tried a larger brim hat on.
I would move up to 2 1/2 inch. Once there you will find your 1 7/8 brim real small
after a short period of time.

 

[kaosharper1]

Depends on the shape of your face. I can't wear anything stingier than 2 1/4" but the brim width also depends on the crown height. A wide brim and low crown will make you look like that zoot suited wolf in the cartoons.

 

[Stanley Doble]

A lot depends on your face and figure. If you are heavy and have a round face you can wear a wider brim and shorter crown hat. If you are thin with a long face it is apt to look cartoony.

 

[Widebrim]

What? Other Loungers are wearing my hats?! :eeek:

Anyway, look at my avatar and judge for yourselves...In actuality, I don't wear that particular Borsalino very often, but I 've gotten compliments when I have.

 

[Feraud]

Here is one guide to complimenting a face with certain hat styles.
http://www.villagehatshop.com/facts_faces.html

 

[Short Balding Guy]

Dick; I am a short fellow, 5'3", and my fav brim width is 2.5". I have been known to pull out and wear one of my 3" Stetson OR hats. Many a time I pull out a stingier 2" or even a 1 7/8" when I am wearing my daily "coach" attire back and forth from the gym.

I wear the brims widths on whim. If the hat color generally coordinates and the style works for my uses of the moment - the hat is chosen for that part of the day.

See what you think sir in the pics below. Choice is personal. Imagine yourself in the brim and the situation. In my case, I can imagine the use.

3" Panama Bob hat

3" Adam Executive

2.5" VS fedoras

2.25" Stetson Felt

1 7/8" brim milan

1 7/8 Stetson Whippet (Australian make)

I hope the pics assist. IMO, much better having many choices to fit the day, weather, occasion and even whim.

Best, Eric -

 

[jlee562]

I'm about 5'7" and wear anywhere from 1 3/4 to 2 7/8 brims. IMHO, the key to not looking like you're wearing a costume, is the rest of the outfit, not the hat. If you step out in a vintage suit, which is cut and tailored differently than a modern suit, you're going to look like you're wearing a costume. Which is not a judgment of those who want to dress this way; but, that style of dress will simply stand out. As long as the hat is well proportioned to your face and compliments the rest of your outfit, you'll be golden.

 

[Bruce Wayne]

To be honest, I don't go stinier than 2 5/8 in on the brim on any of my hats.

 

[Thunderball]

My fat face looks like a basketball if I wear a stingy brim. I try to keep them no less than2-1/2 inches.

 

[ShadedDude]

2 1/4" is my smallest brim, 2 3/4" is my widest.

I like the midrange of wide

 

[tealseal]

I wear a hat everyday. Five days a week its a fedora with a suit. I have a black hat, a gray hat, and a straw hat, and I'm currently looking for a brown fur hat to better match my brown suits, and I'm drawn to the idea of getting a 2.5" to 3" wide brim, but I don't want to look like I'm wearing a costume. All of my fedora have a 1 7/8" brim and I can pull them off at work, church, whatever. How do you know if you can pull off a wide brim in these days of stingy hats?

You'll find a lot of folks here on the Lounge are keen on the wider "Golden Era" brims. My first hat was a 1 1/2" Kangol stingy. Then I moved to a 2" Stetson Saxon, followed shortly by an Akubra Federation (2 1/2" x 2 3/4" dimensional), a slight regression to the Stetson Lamont (2 1/8"), a 2" grey Cervo, a modern Open Road (2 3/4"), and my first custom in the works that will have 3". I"m about to start a project with Art Fawcett that will be in the 2 1/2 - 2 3/4 range.
It is absolutely correct that the hat has to fit your proportions, but also your attitude and purpose. My Federation is my hiking hat, I wear the OR as my daily driver because the brim is ideal for keeping the Arizona sun off of me. For dress, I go with my grey Cervo. If I'll be going out with friends in the evening, I'll likely go with the Lamont.
The trick is to not feel like you're wearing a costume hat. If you are comfortable with the hat, that will show, and nobody will think it's a costume. I felt funny in the Fed the first time I wore it (it wasn't always a beater) because it was so huge. Eventually though, I felt funny in the stingier ones lol

 

[Hoyt Clagwell]

It is a perception thing you just have never tried a larger brim hat on.
I would move up to 2 1/2 inch. Once there you will find your 1 7/8 brim real small
after a short period of time.

These words are very true! (But I do like that Whippet Eric!)

 

[skyvue]

If you step out in a vintage suit, which is cut and tailored differently than a modern suit, you're going to look like you're wearing a costume. Which is not a judgment of those who want to dress this way; but, that style of dress will simply stand out.

Funny, sure sounded like one. You're entitled to feel any way you like, of course, but describing a clothing choice as a costume is inherently a judgement.

I wear nothing but vintage. Every day. And yet, I walk the streets and people don't point and stare. I do occasionally get comments from strangers, but they are invariably positive. Invariably.

Whoever said "standing out" was necessarily a bad thing? I can tell you that before I started dressing in my vintage suits and sportscoats and wearing fedoras on a daily basis, I went some thirty-plus years without a single compliment from a stranger; now I get probably three or four a month. That's not so many, but then, I'm 54 and no great shakes in the looks department. Three or four positive remarks in the course of a month, compared to zero over the course of a lifetime, is not too shabby.

Were I to wear a Robin Hood outfit or a Darth Vader mask -- y'know, actual costumes -- I might receive even more comments, but I suspect few of them would be complimentary.

All that said, blend in if that's your preference -- I won't judge you for it. Me, I opt to wear sharp, well-made vintage clothing that fits me pretty darned well, and plenty of people let me know they appreciate it -- especially my thirty-year-old wife (that's right, I'm shamelessly bragging about being married to a much younger woman), who probably wouldn't have been inclined to propose (more bragging!) to a man who wore costumes on a daily basis but appreciates a man who marches to the beat of a different sartorial drummer.

This post probably sounds as if I'm angry or offended, but I'm not, truly. I did have fun composing it, though.

 

[tealseal]

Funny, sure sounded like one. You're entitled to feel any way you like, of course, but describing a clothing choice as a costume is inherently a judgement
...

All that said, blend in if that's your preference -- I won't judge you for it. Me, I opt to wear sharp, well-made vintage clothing that fits me pretty darned well, and plenty of people let me know they appreciate it -- especially my thirty-year-old wife (that's right, I'm shamelessly bragging about being married to a much younger woman), who probably wouldn't have been inclined to propose (more bragging!) to a man who wore costumes on a daily basis but appreciates a man who marches to the beat of a different sartorial drummer.

This post probably sounds as if I'm angry or offended, but I'm not, truly. I did have fun composing it, though.

I'm sure that you have seen some of jlee's hats (and how he wears them) around the forum. This is not a gentleman that strikes me as keen to "blend in."
I don't "blend in" either. I don't think that wearing anything but vintage suits is "blending in". I wear my hats, and often dress a bit more formally than other people my age (a tie, or bow tie, or ascot; braces, dress shoes, blazers). I can say with 100% certainty that if my 25 year old self dressed up in a 100% vintage three-piece suit with all the trimmings I would feel like I was wearing a costume. I'm pretty sure many other people would regard me that way as well (heck, I'm sure that some do even with the choices I do make!)

 

[Short Balding Guy]

These words are very true! (But I do like that Whippet Eric!)

Thanks Hoyt. Stetson licensed the "Whippet" to Akubra and they made this small brimed version. I look at it and think of trilby - more like what I saw on James Bond wearing (very early movies).

Eric -


On with the topic folks...