Do women hate men's hats?

[LizzieMaine]

We have a long running "Do Men Hate Women's Hats." So how about equal time?

Some hats work on men. Some hats balance the shape of a man's head quite well, and work with the man rather than against him. But some hats make a man look ridiculous -- ultra-narrow brim trilbies that look like somebody dropped a black felt flowerpot on the wearer's head, oversized fedoras that make the wearer look like that Rocky-the-Gangster character from "Looney Tunes," dumb-looking Army-knockoff "jeep caps" with a too-tall crown that makes the wearer's head look like it comes to a point, Panama hats worn in the wintertime, Amish hats worn by anyone who isn't Amish, those leather "biker hats" that try to look tough but only make the wearer look like a bellhop with an S&M fetish, any kind of nautical headgear -- captain's hats, gob hats, Greek fisherman caps -- worn by anyone who has not the actual tang o' the sea about them, ten-gallon cowboy hats worn by those who appear to be a quart low, and any kind of big fur hat with any sort of animal appendage hanging from it.

All of these hats I've seen coming into the theatre at one time of the other, atop the heads of men who seem utterly clueless as to the spectacle they're making of themselves. A guy came in the other night wearing a skunk-fur hat made from an actual whole skunk, with the head, tail, and legs hanging down intact, and I had to bite my tongue so hard it bled. Enough already.

The ubiquitous baseball caps don't bother me anywhere near as much as elaborately inappropriate headpieces. A man in a ballcap, no matter what kind, is saying "hey, I'm just going about my business, whatever." A man with a fancy-ass hat that's obviously wrong for his head and face shape -- or is just too too too -- is saying "hey, I think I'm cool. Am I cool? I don't know. Please somebody tell me I'm cool." There now. I got that off my chest.

 

[MisterCairo]

Military hats as an example belong on those in the military:

 

[MisterCairo]

Little boys, though, do get a pass for certain hats:

 

[LizzieMaine]

I've never been a fan of berets on anyone who wasn't French, a mime, or a UAW Women's Emergency Brigade member in 1937.

 

[MisterCairo]

I've never been a fan of berets on anyone who wasn't French, a mime, or a UAW Women's Emergency Brigade member in 1937.

Regulations I am afraid. RCAF mandates the beret, the air force version of which I hated, when wearing CADPAT uniform. Otherwise it's the wedge.

I am naval uniformed now, and of course it is mandatory (in "navy blue", aka, black) for all classes of dress except dress and mess, unless authorized to wear ship's ballcap.

 

[Fading Fast]

I've never been a fan of berets on anyone who wasn't French, a mime, or a UAW Women's Emergency Brigade member in 1937.

Overall, that's a good rule, but proving that all good rules have an exception to prove them, the exception here are super-cool-looking-in-their-berets classic Hollywood actresses:

 

[LizzieMaine]

I saw something the other day to the effect that the US Army will be getting rid of their berets soon to go back to the WWII style service cap and overseas cap. I approve. Service-type berets that I've seen around town tend to look like the wearer has, for some inexplicable reason, placed a soggy whoopie pie atop their heads at what they perceive to be a fierce-looking angle.

 

[MisterCairo]

I saw something the other day to the effect that the US Army will be getting rid of their berets soon to go back to the WWII style service cap and overseas cap. I approve. Service-type berets that I've seen around town tend to look like the wearer has, for some inexplicable reason, placed a soggy whoopie pie atop their heads at what they perceive to be a fierce-looking angle.

Interesting. Is this an example?

https://www.ebay.ca/itm/WW2-US-Army...e-6-7-8-vtg-/312447789967?hash=item48bf56eb8f

Your next post will be your 25,000th.

 

[LizzieMaine]

25,000! I can remember when all this around here was farmland...

That's the style -- the whole Army uniform will be changing soon back to a sort of pseudo WWII configuration:

 

[MisterCairo]

I would love to know how to be able to rock this style:

 

[LizzieMaine]

 

[hatsRme]

Service-type berets that I've seen around town tend to look like the wearer has, for some inexplicable reason, placed a soggy whoopie pie atop their heads at what they perceive to be a fierce-looking angle.

As long as I can remember, I've always liked whoopie pies. Classic only, though.

 

[LolitaHaze]

I am a huge advocate of men in hats -- so long as they know how to wear them. I am no expert with men's fashions or their experiences, so this is just my opinionated observation of the subject.

Like anything fashionable, most folks (men and women) just wear what is handed to them and is told is in style. They don't take in account fit and compliment. Men's suits are like this now-a-days as well. A suit is a suit, since most men no longer wear them on the daily. They don't take in account fit or their own frame and often wear suits that are too big or too tight (but that is the style -- right?).

The trilby is often the first hat to get an eyeroll... and I would agree. Most of the time it looks like Dad wearing Jr.'s first hat. Then I think Sinatra wore one in the 60's (as was the fashionable hat at the time -- if I am correct) and he looked swell. So why can't modern men look just as cool as Ol Blue Eyes? Well, for one, Sinatra wore hats all through his life, so by time the trilby came around, he already understood fit. Most guys start out in a trilby, because sadly, that is what is readily available and affordable. Most men just don't know. I'm sure more men (that aren't too cool for hats), would love to try wearing hats, but are afraid of the endless jokes pointed towards the trilby wearing hipsters and the fedora wearing basement boys on dating sites.

Sure, we could point them in the direction of this here site, but being that a major focus of the group (initially) is full on vintage wearing proper gents, they may be too intimidated or just not interested in the full ensemble.

I will always encourage hat wearing amongst the menfolk. If they already show an interest in wearing hats and wear an awful fitting hat, I gently correct their hat wearing by having them try on hats while antiquing or stopping in casually to the one hat shop in the area. That way I can correct their hat fit without pointing out their mistakes with their current hat and educate them on fit either through tidbits of information or through the hatter's knowledge which far exceeds mine.

 

[Fading Fast]

My dad was a Golden Era man - born in the '20s, childhood in the '30s, etc., and he dressed like it was the '40s/'50s (when he was a young man) until he passed away in the early '90s. That said, he hated hats and, in my time, never wore them and said he only wore them "back in the day" when he "had" to for some event.

It's funny as, other than the hat, on most days, he looked like he just walked off the set of a Classic Hollywood movie except for the hat, which effectively was a good thing as it kept his look slightly less dated as time went by.

Showing the influence of your parents, I've never worn a hat (other than a wool knit one for warmth in winter or a baseball cap occasional). Today, IMO, away from said baseball or weather-type caps, it's the rare man that can pull off a traditional hat with ease and confidence.

 

[MisterCairo]

I wish I had the jawline to go along with this look:

 

[sheeplady]

I adore my husband in hats. This past year he was diagonosed with skin cancer and was told he is now in a "wear a hat forever" situation. While I'm not pleased he had cancer, I am pleased he now wears hats all the time.

College aged students don't wear hats. Even in the cold. But then their gear is always somehow not weather appropriate.

 

[Artifex]

College aged students don't wear hats. Even in the cold. But then their gear is always somehow not weather appropriate.

As a hat-wearing student, I might take exception to that!

On the other hand, my observations tally closely with your own. One might imagine that the cold, rainy weather we get here would spur-on widespread ownership of hats, gloves, coats and umbrellas. One would be mistaken.

 

[LizzieMaine]

College aged students don't wear hats. Even in the cold. But then their gear is always somehow not weather appropriate.

College students in the Era were also known for eschewing hats. There was even a song about it:

 

[campbell166]

a very interesting thread

 

[Edward]

In my experience, it's always been other men who have expressed a dislike of my hats. Some women have shown them contempt however - usually by anting to try them on and generally treat them as a fancy-dress item.

I grew up in a household where hats didn't happen. I don't think my dad ever had one; my grandfathers wore flat caps in cooler weather. A great uncle I remember wearing a furry hat that wasn't quite a ushanka; somewhere I have one similar I bought in Romania in January 1992. As kids, we had wool bobble-hats for Winter. Occasionally ballcaps for Summer (though my mother weirdly wanted us to wear those tennis shade things instead (she has always been a sucker for weird ideas, like 'wearing a hat indoors will make you bald'). I stopped wearing ballcaps around sixteen because I didn't like how they looked with my glasses. My first regular hat that I wore all Winter - a corduroy fishermans-style cap - was a Bob Dylan influence; my parents encouraged it because I wouldn't wear a coat with a hood nor use an umbrella as a student (in Belfast, by the time the rain is heavy enough to justify an umbrella, it is almost always too windy to be bothered fighting with it). My dad started wearing Winter caps around that time. In my early 20s, I also started wearing a brimmed boonie hat to keep the sun off my neck in Summer. I'm the only fedora-wearer now, though. (Apparently my grandfather wore one back in the fifties, but never in my lifetime.) More specifically, I'm the only one who wears a hat on all occasions and chooses one for form as well as function.