Cowboy hats - opinions?

[Samsa]

I'll put in a vote for the cowboy hat. I would wear one, but it doesn't quite suit my wardrobe, or my locale (suburban Detroit). I have actually been thinking about acquiring one, for the days when I am wont to wear jeans and a flannel.

 

[Bebop]

All you really have to do is travel around the country into towns and cities that you usually don't visit and you will see that the cowboy hat and that music you don't really like too much, are far more popular than us west-coasters and you east-coasters think. It is very typical human behaviour to not understand the life style, which would include cowboy hats and country music, of other people until confronted with it on a daily basis for quite a while. I felt how you describe until I traveled cross country in my motorhome a few times. I really didn't get it until my 4th or 5th cross country trip, that us city slickers are the minority. It's almost like not understanding how someone could communicate in any other language but the one you speak. I have a few cowboy hats that I love but would look "out of place" wearing them in San Francisco. To a lesser degree, my fedoras and suits would make me look "out of place" when visiting my relatives in the boonies of Arkansas.

 

[Bud-n-Texas]

I have posted this before, it is a photo of my great grandfather on the right and a pair of his friends. This is mid to late 1800's, you will note that these are wide brims.

 

[Topper]

Dont want to rain on your parade, but do bear in mind the 'Stetson' hat was actually first designed by Christys' England. He mearly copied the design.

pip-pip
Doug

 

[Bart]

To each his own, is right!

I have seen cowboy hats and western styles that I had to have.I would love to have some of the hats from the old cowboy films. For me it is just another style of hat. I have many cowboy hats some of which are stiff and others that are not.I don't feel as if I am wearing a costume given the right clothing they look great just like any other hat. I would much rather have a cowboy hat in the desert than a stingy brimmed fedora.
Check out GoneSolo's Stetson Open Road with the cattleman crease, It looks fantastic!

Looks like there's a cowboy hat wearer in your neighborhood, Dumbjaw. And he looks real good in it. Good luck Douglas!:eusa_clap

 

[MattJH]

Dont want to rain on your parade, but do bear in mind the 'Stetson' hat was actually first designed by Christys' England. He mearly copied the design.

pip-pip
Doug

No parade here, just questions and observations! I didn't know about the Christys' bit at all. Thanks. Every account I've read has Mr. Stetson entertaining his travelling crew by making one of these hats by hand using fur and water, and folks liking it so much that he began to make and sell them.

 

[Duck]

Around the south, southern mid-west, and southwest a cowboy hat is just concidered a hat. In this part of the country, people see these as just a hat. Just like cowboy boots are just boots. People here wear cowboy boots with suits every day, so western hats with suits raise no eyebrows here. you will get stranger looks wearing a fedora than a cowboy hat.
There is a large rural element of the population here, lots of small farms with cattle and horses. People wear cowboy hats because the hat works for working outside.
Also, the sport of Cowboy Action Shooting has rejuvenated the "old style" western wear.

 

[K.D. Lightner]

Not only are there working cowboys, there are also rodeo cowboys, lots of them, rodeo fans, country/western fans and performers, re-enactors, and more than a few of us who just love a good cowboy hat.

I have a silverbelly Stetson "Gus" (named after the Lonesome Dove character that Duval played). It has a high, rounded crown and is also sometimes called and "old west" hat, though I think it harkens back, not to the Boss of the Plains cowboys, but the early western movies.

Also, I have a black stetson, typical rodeo crease, and to dress it up, I have a rhinestone hat band (I enjoy being a girl).

And I have a Boss of the Plains style which is in storage, something I would display more than wear. Also, I have the Aussie cowboy hat, Snowy River, in white.

I also had a Mexican sombrero, which I mostly put up on my wall. Try wearing one of those things. Holy cow! I now have a big Tom Mix type hat that will probably not grace my head unless I go to a rodeo. It is unshaped, but I want to give it a good Tom Mix crease and keep the long brim. There's a western store here that will crease it for me and shape the brim.

Do I wear them out around here in Des Moines, Iowa. Very seldom, and I rarely wear my beloved fedoras. It is pretty provinchial here and there are bare-headed people here (in zero degrees weather) who will stare at you if you wear anything different than a ballcap. I wouldn't hesitate, however, to wear a cowboy hat to a rodeo function, or the state fair, or out in the sticks.

More protection -- and they do look cool.

karol

 

[Mark George]

Well, I have been a lurker around here for a long time, but thought I might as well jump in on this one. I am from Oklahoma City (temporarily exiled to northern VA), and here is how I see it: Western/cowboy duds are simply a style of dress, not an indicator of a particular occupation or a desire to emulate the cowpokes of yesteryear.

While there are still plenty of people that make a living on horseback, most of the people that dress in Western clothes regularly do so because that’s how people around them have dressed all their lives. It is true that this seems to be fairly regional in its appeal. People in Oklahoma, Texas, and in general, the South, sport Western attire as a way of life – not as a costume (If fact, I would recommend against referring to Western garb as a costume when in the presence of someone so attired!).

The cowboy-type hat comes in a wide variety of styles, and just like fedoras, some I like, some I don’t. Have a look at all the variations, you just might find something you like. For example, an Open Road with a fedora bash straddles the fence nicely, and, judging from the frequency of mention on this website, the OR and clones are quite popular in all regions. From a strictly utilitarian perspective, the wide-brimmed cowboy hat has no equal, in my mind. It shades the eyes, blocks wind, and diverts rain (much like a firefighter’s helmet). And, depending on the felt, it can be quite warm. There are a few custom hatters out there (won’t mention names…) that are true artists with cowboy hats; in much the same way Mr. Fawcett is a magician with fedoras. That said, the hats I usually wear for my daily forays into DC, are vintage OR’s, Strats, a new Beaver Brand fedora, and the occasional Federation. Something with enough brim on it to be useful. Seems to get the job done, as I sit my trusty office chair.

So, in closing, let me say how much enjoyment I have gotten out of this website, and how much I have learned. I appreciate the enthusiasm and knowledge that the members provide so freely. If anybody happens to see a peculiar jaybird wearing boots and a silver belly hat on the VRE platform at L’Enfant Plaza, do say howdy.

Now, as I dart back into the shadows…

Mark

 

[jpdesign]

the highpoints in the history of the cowboy/western hat.

It would be fair to say the John Stetson "re-introduced", rather than invented, the wide brimmed hat. At that time the widest brims in general use were 3 inches, you might occasionally see something up to 3 1/2. the hat stetson made on the hunting trip was supposedly pushing 4 1/2 to 5 inches. The original hat was sold to a passer on horseback for a $5 gold piece(John B. Stetson, hubbard, 1911).

Brims stay fairly flat, or curled on one side, or the front. It was in the 1920's the the modern crease of the sides of the hat brim was created. I read once in Texas Monthly an interview with an old hat maker. He is the man credited with creating this crease. He claimed it was done to allow three cowboys to sit on the tailgate of a pickup with hitting their hats together. The standard equipment of the hat was modified to fit with the new equipment.

Hat demensions changed somewhat over the next few years, but the standard hat was still bought open crown and flat brimmed.

The machine creased hats were actually started with the straw hats. There were many different types of straw used for hats from the 40's through the 70's.

The next turning point, and the one that cemented the pre-creased crown, happened in 1980 with the release of "Urban Cowboy". Western wear in general exploded with the release of that film, disco's turned into western bars over night, and the most visible things in the film were the hats. You could put a hat on with your regular cloths and be western. The people going with the fad didn't know any better, they just bought what was on the racks, and that was the pre-creased hats.

Today we finally are starting to have a return to values. I am making more copys of hats from the 1860's to the 1950's than I am modern style hats. THe sloped, pinched, and telescope crowns are on the rise, thankfully (I hat seeing the same creases on everyone), and brims are finally being shaped more to a persons face rather then what is in style. This is not to say that the pre-creased hat in done, it is too prevelant and will not die easily. It is just to say that people are finding other options more then they have in the past.

Jimmy

 

[Art Fawcett]

Having lived all over the country but mainly in the San Francisco area all my life I would have agreed with you Dumbjaw, right up until I moved into "open Range" country a couple of years ago. I have to tell you, it's still alive. There isn't anymore "free range" but there certainly IS open range. ( there IS a difference)
Last fall, when the ranchers around here with "open range" rights ( the state issues permits) were gathering their cattle for winter housing I got to meet one personally. Apparently I had a break in one of my fences and was greeted one morning with two cows meandering through my pasture completely unaware they were on private property ( the NERVE) having spent the enitre summer up in the mountains behind me. What a comical few days!!! Imagine, a city slicker trying to figure out first, how to get them to go where I wanted, do what I wanted and NOT trample the work we had done. It took a few days of working with BLM to track down the owner but once I did I met one of the finest gentlmen I have ever known. He showed up with his dirty misshaped, well used western hat in a pickup truck that MUST have seen at least one demolition derby, hay draped from everywhere, worn boots, and a smile to greet me. By this time I had grown to actually LIKE his cows and wasn't anxcious to see them leave so I not only had bovine guests, but met a gent that spent time showing and teaching me some of the ways things are done up here. His family has been "open ranging" here for the last 100 years and is fighting to keep the traditions alive.
As for the hat? It's about as funtional as a hat can get. All of the reasons stated in earlier posts are accurate and true. This winter I started wearing one ( modified for me) when working with the horses and during the ice breaking adventures ( literally,,,breaking the ice so the horses can drink) and fence mending chores & came to appreciate it more than ever before. I also got to make my new friend my first Western which he proudly wears everywhere.
In short, your perceptions are only partially accurate and can understand how you would develope them. Can I suggest you get out more without offending you? travel as much as you can out west and you just might alter your opinion, with the exception of the music of course...just can't get into that yet, but give me time.

 

[Bud-n-Texas]

Hey Art, that fella din't happen to look anything like this did he?

 

[Art Fawcett]

Same hat Bud, but much younger guy!!!

 

[DOUGLAS]

I think I have had the same home brew he's drinking. The best stuff ever!

 

[Bud-n-Texas]

Country Corn, guaranteed to make a person smile.

 

[Aaron Hats]

Country Corn, guaranteed to make a person smile.

...and then fall over. :cheers1:

 

[feltfan]

Dumbjaw, I recognize the sentiments you express.
I grew up on the East Coast and West, and am now in California.

I never had much desire to wear a cowboy hat. Around here
they seem to indicate a subculture which I am simply not a
part of. Of course I'm not in the 1940s, either, but I do like
fedoras and homburgs.

To my dismay, I have found I like cowboy boots. But those
are easy enough to start wearing. So common no one bats
an eye. And I like vintage western jackets. But I am not a
cowboy and I do not own a pickup truck. I have no desire to
make anyone think otherwise.

But then my love of Golden Era aesthetics and quality lead me
to buy this hat:

http://www.thefedoralounge.com/showthread.php?t=12167

The hat is incredible. I have spent a fair amount of time staring
at it. Wearing it indoors to get it more and more comfortable on
my head (it was a touch tight, even after stretching). But I can't,
at least thus far, get myself to wear it in public.

First of all, I don't want to imply I'm a member of a group in which
I am not. There really isn't a group, outside of vintage fans, who
wear fedoras and homburgs (though a very few gangster, supposedly, do,
no one will mistake me as one). But cowboy hats have current proponents.

But aside from that, the cowboy hat, with its grand crown and a brim
almost twice the width of many fedoras, is noticed. It's a statement
even in a place like the SF bay area, where few even notice my fedoras.

But maybe it's just me. After all, people post here saying they
are having trouble getting up the nerve to wear their fedora in public
and I don't understand. Maybe I just have to get over it.

Let us know if you start walking the streets of NJ with a cowboy hat
on your head!

 

[John in Covina]

I do want a real cowboy hat and a movie star cowboy hat too, Tom Mix type for me.

 

[vonwotan]

Without much opportunity to wear one I have not taken the pluncge and purchased a new cowboy hat. Growing up, on a ski trip to Vail just after breking my leg at one of out East Coast mountiains, the hotel manager took charge of my entertainment in order to keep me out of sight of the other guests...

The manager took me, and occasionally my father, on several trips around the area and brought me shopping for a very good quality Stetson at a local hatter. The hat was by no means custom, but we spent a lot of time of fit and how I wanted it shaped, ribbon, etc. and made two visits to the shop before they had it ready. I don't remeber whether they trimmed the brim or just reshaped another hat? But is was not like the others on display.

At that age I didn't much care that it wasn't the fashion in NYC so I wore that hat, my favourite down vest that still smelled of horse, and my navy western shirt with floral details on the shoulders at every opportunity.

This is one of three hats I wish I still owned. The other two being my great uncles "tyrolian" and his fedora. Both from Habig in Austria.

 

[Rooster]

Disclaimer; I'm not being judgmental nor do I intend to insult anyone. This is something I've been meaning to ask since I've been reading this forum. I did search through old threads, by the way, but most had to do with cowboy boots.

According to what I know and have read, until Mr. Stetson created the Boss Of The Plains in 1865 with some fur, water, and some dexterous hands, people in the west/southwest typically wore bowlers and top hats and leftover Civil War hats, with the occasional Mexican sombrero for those closer to the border. Even the original Stetson Boss Of The Plains western hat basically looked like a bowler with a particularly wide, flat brim.

The modern cowboy hat with the triple-dent and the flamboyant side-upturned brim and the concrete-stiff felt is so... okay, I just reread the "conduct" portion of the FAQ. They're very... unseemly to me. Costume-esque, even. They look like fedoras that were left in the wrong hands, stretched to ridiculous proportions, and soaked in stiffener. The classic cowboys didn't even wear them as far as I know, so their very name is inaccurate (as are many western movies, apparently).

They just make me think of grown adults playing dress-up. They also make me think of a genre of music I'm not particularly fond of. I can't find anything about the cowboy hat, be it the hat itself or the culture it represents, that agrees with me. I'm also reminded of George Carlin's "Cowboy Hats & Cowboy Boots" bit from the Back In Town album when I see them.

The simple answer: "Well then, don't wear them!" And I know that, but that's not what this is about. I'm not looking for anybody to change my mind, necessarily, and I certainly don't want anyone to feel like they need to be on the defensive, but for those who have an opposite opinion to mine, what are your thoughts? Is it because I'm an east coast guy and I just don't "get it?" What does a cowboy hat provide you with on a practical level that can't be provided by a fedora? There are western/outback-flavored fedoras.

Eh -- maybe it really is as simple as me being an east coast guy and being biased towards the fedora. For those who live in the southwest, are cowboy hats as common as it seems? Has anyone here ever looked at a cowboy hat with covetous eyes and said to themselves "Now there's a hat I have to have and wear!"?

BLASPHEMER!
It's a big ol' punchy sweat stained "Tom MIx" hat for me in the cooler months, and a beat up straw in the hotest part of the year. Practicality and my eccentiricity are the reasons I wear them. I watched my father finally succumb to skin cancer last may, I ain't going out that way.... so, for the past ten years or so it's been wide brims and long sleeves for me when I'm working out side. I have a "mini farm" , and raise chickens and sheep, and spend quite a bit of time outside.
My clients are mainly common rural people and more often than not wear cowboy hats, boots , a westen vest and chew tobacco. so, I've never looked out of place no matter how big my hat is....you know what they say, " The bigger a mans hat the bigger his"....:whistling or was that about feet? Oh well, it really doesn't matter. I just did a show in Indy this weekend and 1/2 of the people there were sporting western hats and clothes. Nothing like "Hoosierbillys" to know what "style" really is.
I wear a fedora for non working occasions, like buzzing around town ect. The fedora style just isn't practical enough for out door work.
It really comes down to a clutural thing I believe. As has been mentioned before, "cityfied" folks have no idea what is going on in "fly over country". People really do still exist outside of city limits, and we do have slightly diffent tastes, all a part of what makes the world go 'round.