Fun brief article

[bowlerman]

My sister forwarded this to me. In spite of its somewhat imbalanced perspective and perhaps some debatable nomenclature, I found it a delight to read. Sorry if it has already been posted. Enjoy!

http://goodmenproject.com/featured-content/brand-thats-not-a-fedora-and-stop-wearing-it/

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[Blackthorn]

I like it! Thanks for posting it.

 

[Joao Encarnado]

The widest they go is a gambler style hat. Need more brim.

 

[Edward]

Some interesting ideas re proportions. I'm inclined to go a bit easier on the Trilby, though. I'm fairly sure that a number of kids will find these the gateway drug to better hats. No need to scare them off...

 

[fedoracentric]

I think that the reason the original article railed against these "trilby"-styled, hipster hats is that it was a backlash reaction to so many young guys wearing those things 'ironically." Just as everyone eventually railed against the metrosexual, now it is starting to be cool to rail agains these stingie brimmed hipster hats.

So, from that perspective, it is understandable that the article came out as a hater of "trilbies."

As for me, I am wholly on board with disparaging the "trilby' (as defined in that article--we all know that the definition is a bit problematic historically) because I similarly dislike any fedora with less than a 2-3/8 inch brim. Of course, that is just me and this is no sudden feeling. I've always hated them. So, yes, I've always looked askance at them and felt they weren't a "real fedora."

Still, its a "to each his own" situation. If you truly like the shorties, then wear them in good health.

Finally, I am not so sure that these hipster hats will cause young men to eventually start looking for better hats. After all, style is style and i don't think many in the 60s were suddenly looking for hats their grandfather wore just because they started wearing one of those 2 inch brim things that we see on that Mad Men TV show. Further, so few people have any knowledge that there ARE better hats out there that it isn't easy to expect them to suddenly go for better hats. Finally is the price point. When kids buy these junky "trilbies" today they are spending $20 to $50 for them. But 'better" hats are going to $200 and up. That is a BIG price jump and few people will make that leap.

Anyway, I applaud the article for one additional reason: even if you are a fan of trilby hats, you have to be happy that someone is even talking about fedoras at all!

 

[Nyah]

I agree with the author of the article. I too have noticed people recently railing against guys who wear (or even have ever worn) "fedoras". "If you have ever worn a fedora, don't even consider contacting me" is a direct quote that I found. As someone trying to wear functional attire, I'm glad to know what the actual context of this hatred is.

 

[Greyryder]

As for me, I am wholly on board with disparaging the "trilby' (as defined in that article--we all know that the definition is a bit problematic historically) because I similarly dislike any fedora with less than a 2-3/8 inch brim. Of course, that is just me and this is no sudden feeling. I've always hated them. So, yes, I've always looked askance at them and felt they weren't a "real fedora."

Still, its a "to each his own" situation. If you truly like the shorties, then wear them in good health.

I personally feel that 2 1/4 inch looks best on me. At least, it's the narrowest I'm willing to go. I don't like the look of anything narrower. I'm narrow enough, that I might not look half bad in a trilby, but I really don't like the things. The fabric ones that seem to be becoming so popular are just horrific little hats.

 

[1mach1]

Very interesting. Thanks Jeff!

 

[fedoracentric]

I personally feel that 2 1/4 inch looks best on me. At least, it's the narrowest I'm willing to go. I don't like the look of anything narrower. I'm narrow enough, that I might not look half bad in a trilby, but I really don't like the things. The fabric ones that seem to be becoming so popular are just horrific little hats.

Seems to me only a thin, longish face can handle a shorter brim. As to your last point... oh, yeah.

 

[-30-]

With regard to the Trilby, I did enjoy the book. (TRILBY)

(The Trilby, as a matter of it being a "style" for me, not so much.)


J T

 

[The Good]

Interesting article, thanks.

While many trilbies are cheap hats, I think that the trilby could look very sharp, even casually. James Bond sometimes wore such hats Dr. No, From Russia With Love, Goldfinger, Thunderball, You Only Live Twice, and On Her Majesty's Secret Service. After that, I don't think he wore a dress hat besides the top hat he had briefly in A View to a Kill. Sean Connery as Bond gives us some good examples.

Aren't these hats trilbies? One of them could be a straw porkpie hat, though.

 

[Zombie_61]

For quite a few years now I've held the opinion/theory that clothing stores like The Gap and Old Navy exist to provide clothing for people who have little or no personal sense of style--they shop there so that they can fit in with their peers. I think modern Trilbys fall into the same category in some cases, i.e., "My friends look cool in them, so I'll get one and I'll look cool too," regardless of whether or not a Trilby is actually a good hat for them.

I don't find them to be nearly as offensive as the author of that article does, but I do agree with the author's statement, "A decent hat shop will have a wide variety of brim widths to best match your build." Unfortunately, in my experience finding a hat shop like that these days is only marginally easier than finding Bigfoot or Jimmy Hoffa, and most modern Trilby wearers won't go to the trouble of finding one when they can get a "cool" and considerably less expensive hat at their local Target store.

 

[dh66]

For quite a few years now I've held the opinion/theory that clothing stores like The Gap and Old Navy exist to provide clothing for people who have little or no personal sense of style--they shop there so that they can fit in with their peers. I think modern Trilbys fall into the same category in some cases, i.e., "My friends look cool in them, so I'll get one and I'll look cool too," regardless of whether or not a Trilby is actually a good hat for them.

I don't find them to be nearly as offensive as the author of that article does, but I do agree with the author's statement, "A decent hat shop will have a wide variety of brim widths to best match your build." Unfortunately, in my experience finding a hat shop like that these days is only marginally easier than finding Bigfoot or Jimmy Hoffa, and most modern Trilby wearers won't go to the trouble of finding one when they can get a "cool" and considerably less expensive hat at their local Target store.

I think you pretty much nailed it.

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[Edward]

Looking to the positive, though.... They're wearing brimmed hats, and evrntually some of them may well want something better. It's less of a step up to a "good" hat when you already wear a hat of some type regularly...

 

[itsbruce]

I don't know if the author is simply expressing a personal dislike for current hipster styles or is actually ignorant of the history of the trilby. The "This is a Trilby" picture only shows the most narrow-brimmed extreme of Trilby designs. And while shoulder width definitely has a significant impact on the look of a hat, it's no absolute.

Frankly, this reads to me as snobbery not much better than the callow hipster attitude he dislikes. He doesn't seem to be aware of the real reason for the existence of the Trilby and Fedora names. Both come from plays where they were worn by famous actresses, both marked a shift in fashion, a reaction to more conservative styles (i.e. the Homburg). And both date from the late 19th century! So he really is talking out of his hat.

The trilby (which did, back in the day, have a wider range than the current hipster trend) was the height of fashion on both sides of the Atlantic in the first half of the twentieth century. Over here in the UK, it was particularly popular at the races. Tweed trilbies (of which I own several) were also very practical in the British countryside (which is a bit less spacious and often bushier and thornier and wetter than the American plains) through which a gentleman might be tramping with his gun or fishing rod.

I am not going to put any of my trilbies away to satisfy his ranting. They are up there right beside my homburg, bowler and fedoras.

 

[Landman]

Looking to the positive, though.... They're wearing brimmed hats, and evrntually some of them may well want something better. It's less of a step up to a "good" hat when you already wear a hat of some type regularly...

I agree with you on this point. I wear mainly Open Road style hats with a brim over 2 1/2" (most are 2 3/4") and I have received quite a few compliments from younger men wearing the cheap short brimmed hats referred to in the article. Most ask about my hats and often want to look at them. I get the impression if a nice wider brim felt hat had been as easily available to them as the short brimmed, cloth hats they were wearing they probably would have bought it instead.

 

[dh66]

And given the plethora of crappy gambler style straw golf hats and Toby Keith/Kenny Chesney pre- distressed cowboy drinking tequila at the beach hats available at the local Target or Walmart, the skinny brim cheap trilbies look downright appealing.

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[fedoracentric]

Looking to the positive, though.... They're wearing brimmed hats, and evrntually some of them may well want something better. It's less of a step up to a "good" hat when you already wear a hat of some type regularly...

I never understand why people keep saying things like this. What proof do we have that 20-somethings who wear stingy brim "ironic" fedoras will go on to like real, larger brimmed hats later on?

I mean, we don't have a culture of wearing better fedoras. And often even the "stars" (like Johnny Depp, for instance) are only wearing beat up, old things with holes in them as a "statement." We don't have hat shops on every other corner. People are out of touch with hat etiquette and no longer have any general knowledge of what a good hat is compared to those junk cotton stingies.

How exactly are all these 20 somethings supposed to be exposed to those better hats once they get tired of wearing those ironic stingies?

 

[job]

They can look at us.

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[itsbruce]

I never understand why people keep saying things like this.

Maybe because there has been a noticeable resurgence in the popularity of hats - even if mostly skinny trilbies - after a long period where they had almost completely disappeared. Isn't just trilbies, either. Porkpie hats are quite popular among young British men, nowadays. Take a look at the hats available on ASOS (which is the hippest fashion site for British youth). I see bucket hats, porkpie hats, a "wide brim trilby", fedoras (some of them genuine fedoras and not just mislabelled trilbies), bowler hats, straw boaters, panamas, top hats, a "straw stetson", flat caps, bakerboy caps... so it rather looks as if British young men are finding their way to a wide range of hats, quite in contradiction to that article. Of course, they may not be following the hallowed customs of the Fedora Lounge and other traditionalists - but that's a rather different argument.

That article isn't even aimed at the youths whom the author claims (wrongly) are not wearing anything else but skinny trilbies. The only people who are reading it are traditional hat fans.