Cannot wear stingies anymore?

[Dr Doran]

After wearing only fedoras with a fairly wide brim, I find that I cannot go outside with my old stingy brims. It makes me feel funny. For example, my stingy brown velvet homburg, my stingy black straw, my grey tweed stingy fedora. They just don't look right. Do you all feel the same? Do you mix and match stingies with wide brims?

 

[Anders]

I have a similar issue (though my 'wide brims' aren't exactly that wide). I find that if I switch back to a stingy, even if just for a day, then it's my wider brims that feel out of place. It's just whatever I'm used to seeing in the mirror that sticks in my mind, and anything else looks weird.

 

[J.T.Marcus]

It's just whatever I'm used to seeing in the mirror that sticks in my mind, and anything else looks weird.

It works both ways. I recently wore several hats in the 2"-2 1/4" range. When I went back to a hat with a 2 5/8" brim, it looked like I had wings on my head!

 

[J. M. Stovall]

I go back and forth. I guess that makes me a flip-flopper.

 

[feltfan]

I cannot wear modern stingies.
But I can wear a full crowned stingy,
such as a Borsalino or Mallory or something.
As long as it's a stingy hat with classic
proportions...

 

[Twitch]

I like 2 1/4- 2 1/2 as in my Hughes avatar. Most often when I wear anything less than that I turn the brim down all the way around for a completely different look.

 

[pgoat]

I agree it's whatever you're used to that seems most comfy but it also relates to clothing, as often mentioned here at FL. I find a stingy looks much better with casual clothes or a very 60s suit with narrow lapels and tie.

Much is made of Bogie's wonderful fedoras in thbe 40s but also check his suit jacket and raincoat lapels - they are very much in harmony with the brim of his hat which I imagine was around the 2 1/4 - 2 3/8" mark or so.

 

[Chad Sanborn]

I think you should wear what looks best on your body and head type. A person who is larger in stature, should wear a larger brim. On them, a stingy brim would look as if the hats too small.
A smaller statured person, such as myself, should wear a stingy brim. I find that a regular sized fedora brim tends to look like a cowboy hat on me. Not quite the look I am trying to convey.

Chad

 

[Johnnysan]

I cannot wear modern stingies. But I can wear a full crowned stingy, such as a Borsalino or Mallory or something. As long as it's a stingy hat with classic proportions...

I'm in the same league...most of my stingies have fallen out of favor. Given my size, they seem out of proportion. But, like feltfan, I can still make one work if the crown is high.

 

[hargist]

Yep, I have the same problem. When I first started wearing hats, I used to wear stingy brims all the time. Then I began wearing wider brims. Ever since that, the stingy brims don't seem right anymore.

 

[Sefton]

I have no problem wearing a stingy one day and a wide the next. Sometimes if I'm wearing a wide and if I watch a 60's movie with good stingies in it I'll wear one the next (or same) day. I guess my viewing (and maybe listening)habits have control over my hat wearing.

 

[Fantômas]

My guess is that the bulk of the "stingy market" is aimed at hepkats who mostly wear their hats perched on the back of their pates.

Fedoras and other wide-brimmed hats tie into the head silhouette and offer more sun protection. So having the more low-slung narrow-brimmed hat helps tie it into your head and by getting the brim down closer to the eyes, offers a modicum more shade.

Makin Hats make a variety of ?ºber hip stingies that sit fairly low on the skull and thus, unify with the head more than a typical stingy.

You can't do this with a stingy porkpie, but they just reek of jazz and practicality ain't the point.

 

[Dietzatron]

I usually switch between an Open Road, an Akubra Stylemaster, and a Royal DeLuxe. Yesterday, I wore a porkpie I hadn't had on in a while and was uncomfortable and uneasy all day.

 

[Tomasso]

Makin Hats make a variety of ?ºber hip stingies that sit fairly low on the skull and thus, unify with the head more than a typical stingy.

I bought a Makin straw stingy a few years ago and while it's the best looking stingy I've tried, it still gathers dust. People say it looks great but it looks off, to my eye. I need more brim.[huh]

 

[Dr Doran]

I think you should wear what looks best on your body and head type. A person who is larger in stature, should wear a larger brim. On them, a stingy brim would look as if the hats too small.
A smaller statured person, such as myself, should wear a stingy brim. I find that a regular sized fedora brim tends to look like a cowboy hat on me. Not quite the look I am trying to convey.

Chad

Perhaps that's right. I am 6' 2" and when I went to the 50-year old hat store in San Leandro owned by a husband and wife (FedoraGent brought me there) the man said "tall guys like you should wear wide brims."

 

[The Wingnut]

After being stuck with a USAF standard issue utility cap for 4 1/2 months while in training, coming back home to my fedoras was a strange experience. I felt like a clown with one on. The stranger in the mirror was an odd sight.

Your self-perception is a fragile thing.

 

[indycop]

I go back and forth. I guess that makes me a flip-flopper.

lol lol lol lol lol Not a politician are you?lol lol lol

 

[Sefton]

I forgot to add that the only stingy I own was made by Art. It's got a decent crown height like the vintage ones. I don't own a porkpie although I'm hoping to get one made someday.

 

[jamespowers]

Perhaps that's right. I am 6' 2" and when I went to the 50-year old hat store in San Leandro owned by a husband and wife (FedoraGent brought me there) the man said "tall guys like you should wear wide brims."

Yeah but that guy is a real pain in the neck---if he can still see right.

 

[RBH]

I do not wear stingies.
But I have found that after wearing my TVA, Adventurebilt and Akubra Federation and Campdarft that the small crowns of the rest of my hats looked so out of place that I sold them. [and I might add most were vintage, i.e Open Road,] So I truly can understand what you mean!