Do You Float Your Hats on your head?

[MAB1]

Do You Float Your Hats on your head?

I only pull em down when I walk out the door w/ the wind blowin hard.

I kinda like that, "Cocked back Art Fawcett look."

 

[warbird]

For me much of it depends on the hat. I have some hats that just seem to insist on being on my head like that and even if I don't place them like that they work into it. Hmmm, are they possessed of personality?

Others I wear down just over the brow. Almost all of my hats have a tilt to the left when I wear them. Slight tilt.

 

[MAB1]

I hear ya about the individuality of certain hats.

For me I think it's probably more about my attitude.

Outdoors it's the wind.

 

[Abyss]

I am not quite sure why, but if my hats are tilted back they either don't look right at all or they give off a serious "journalist at the typewriter" vibe, which is really rather odd, as I don't even have a typewriter! I've though of using them, but whenever I have, I've always tripped over the keys. I think I just type too fast for them.

Therefore, hats for me are worn low down. They just like it there better.

 

[mdavids2000]

Here is a easy and cheap way to make sure your hat stays on your head during a storm without having to alter your hat or even worse... leave home without it!
Of course it also helps when you have a hat thats a bit too big.

Simply get some old newspaper, roll it up and flatten it.
You can put the strip on the inside of your hat, now the hat fits better.

 

[AdmiralTofu]

I don't wear my hats super-high, but I don't cram them down onto my head, either, unless there's a good wind going on (and then I hold onto it for dear life!... my kingdom for a wind trolley). Normal wear, my hats tend to sit with my hairline just hidden by the sweatband -- about two inches of forehead -- and tipped to the left.

-Tofu

 

[Edward]

My homburgs tend to sit a bit higher - couple of fingers gap over the ear, maybe. As do my top hats, obviously. Fedoras sit just over the ear on me - I guess I do wear them low (I buy all my hats in a 57). Mostly, though, with a Fedora unless I'm hitting wind, I'll wear the hat at an angle such that it's touching the ear on one side and sitting higher over it on the other. I like that jaunty 'sideways' look.

 

[J.T.Marcus]

... my kingdom for a wind trolley).

I actually used my wind trolley, the other day. Only one person asked, "What is tha string on your hat?"

 

[David Conwill]

I can't wear my hat tilted back. I've got too much forehead. Besides, my wife calls it "the farmer look." So instead of the hard-bitten journalist behind his typewriter fighting corrupt city hall, I have images of depression-era Okies staring forelornly across the hood of their Farmall as their fields turn to dust.

-Dave

 

[Abyss]

I do, of course, keep my hat tilted to the right. Level just doesn't look right. However, I have a question which may relate to this thread; just how does one use a wind trolley? I have one on my Knox, wrapped around it, but I have no clue just how a wind trolley works. Thanks in advance.

 

[warbird]

Typically it would be unwound and buttoned into the lapel hole of a suit or sportcoat or overcoat.

 

[Kaosharper1]

Depends on Brim and Crown

I think it depends on the brim and crown height. I tilt my Sydney and ride it up a little, but doing the same thing with my Federation looks silly. Of course that could be because of my broad face.

 

[Stan]

Mine sit down for the most part

Hi,

Most of my hats sit down such that the sweatband rests on the bony bump on the back of my head and the bony ridges over my eyebrows.

Only the hats with too short of a crown sit higher, and that's because the crown is actually sittin' atop my noggin.

As far as the wind trolley goes, overcoats used to have an extra buttonhole on the lapel and it would attach there. I have two older overcoats with this feature. Back in the day, tailors would also sew an extra button hole in the middle of the back of the collar so one could anchor it there if one wasn't wearing an overcoat.

I inhereted some white dress shirts from my grandfather long ago, and they all had that extra buttonhole in the collar, and he told me that was what they were used for.

Later!

Stan

 

[Abyss]

Well, the problem is, that the wind trolley doesn't attach to the hat. It's a length of elastic, with a loop at one end and the little button at the other end, currently stuck through the loop, and I do not have a clue where the trolley could attach to the hat. Has it come loose from somewhere?

 

[Tango Yankee]

I tend to pull my hat down on my head, slight tilt to the right most of the time.

As far as the wind trolley goes, overcoats used to have an extra buttonhole on the lapel and it would attach there. I have two older overcoats with this feature. Back in the day, tailors would also sew an extra button hole in the middle of the back of the collar so one could anchor it there if one wasn't wearing an overcoat.

I inhereted some white dress shirts from my grandfather long ago, and they all had that extra buttonhole in the collar, and he told me that was what they were used for.

Years ago I had button-down shirts that had a buttonhole in the back of the collar, but there was also a button there that used the buttonhole as well. Maybe it's just my lack of flexibility, but I'd find it somewhat awkward to reach back there to button/unbutton my wind trolley. Not that I'm discounting your grandfather's assertion--though I guessed the button in the back was to keep the tie under the collar (hey, what did I know?) I can see where it might have started with just a buttonhole for a wind trolley. I'm just observing that some would find it awkward to use.

Regards,
Tom

 

[Stan]

Hi,

Yes, I agree that actually trying to *use* the collar buttonhole straight in back of one's neck with a wind trolley *would* be awkward. These particular shirts didn't have a button associated with the hole, which is what prompted me to ask why they were there in the first place.

The hats I have with wind trolleys have them attached to the hat just under the bow in the ribbon. A couple are made from elastic and those are newer, as in post 1970, hats. The others are vintage hats from the 1950's and their trolleys are non-elastic strings where the length was trimmed such it's just long enough for the button to be passed under the string near the anchor point to hold it when not in use.

The string is attached to the button with a small 1/4" loop on the opposite side so that the trolley can be used straight with the button in a buttonhole *or* looped such that they can be wrapped around an attachment stud. Some overcoats had studs instead of buttonholes for this purpose, so the trolleys are made to work with either.

I've used the throlley with it looped around the epaulet of an A2 clone flight jacket after unsnapping the epaulet to pass the looped trolley over it.

I think that if you have an unattached elastic trolley, then it was intended to be a decoration on the hat that just *looks* like the trolleys used on the vintage hats. Or, it was attached and came loose.....

Later!

Stan

 

[Brinybay]

Being a newbie, I don't know what "float your hat" means. And at the risk of sounding blasphemous, I'll admit I don't always wear the one fedora I have. If by "floating" you mean tilting the hat, it varies, depending on if I'm in my car or outside of it. When I'm in my car, it's tilted slightly to the left, when I'm outside of my car, it's to the right. That is because I forget to duck and hit the top of the hat on the roof of the car as I'm getting in and out.

 

[kowalskt63]

I like em down low and tilted front and right. Some even touch my right ear lobe. Just gives me a little added confidence rubbing on my lobe. I also like the fact that when I look straight at someone my eyes are a bit obscured by the sloping brim in front. Adds a bit of mystery to the look. Aw hell, it looks kinda cool to....

 

[Woodfluter]

I wear them however...and all ways...I like the fit to be such that the hat can sit about an inch or a little less above the ear (unless you are an elf or a Vulcan) and have room under the crown so that it can be jammed down farther if the wind blows, and hold on tight. I also like a bit of "spring" fore and aft, so that it sits easily without pressure, but holds on tighter as it is pressed down. I hope that makes sense!

Abyss, I think your trolley might have become detached. The only hat I have with a trolley is the Borsalino, and the button is at the base of a loop through which the rest of the elastic cord passes to form a loop. The end is firmly stitched under the ribbon. So you could either attach the button to some buttonhole, or secure the sliding loop to some projecting button. I've never used it. When subjected to a heavy soaking on one occasion, that elastic trolly became *very* loose, and I thought it was ruined, but it tightened up again when it dried. Very strange.

- Bill

 

[Boxerken]

I wear mine about an inch off the eybrow tilted right, but not so much that it touches my ear, I've never been able to get use to that.