Had anyone ever been tempted to stop hat wearing?

[scotrace]

I hate to admit it, but my fedora wearing has fallen way off. It just became too much to fuss and trouble with. Looking for a place to put it, worrying that someone will make off with it, that it'll get damaged, etc.
Nowadays it's a soft cap. Sometimes a beret.
But some cold days and some sunny days, unless I'm going somewhere where I know it'll be a lot of tomfoolery to deal with, I still wear a fedora.

 

[scottyrocks]

I think I can see, aved, how you came to this crossroads.

For as long as Ive been at FL (less than a year), I remember reading an unusual number of posts from you re people who feel they have nothing better to do than to break your nads about your mode of dress, whether they be strangers, friends, or family. I can see how, after a while, this could wear a person down. Maybe its where you live - I dont know.

Personally, I have always done what I want, so long as it doesnt cause any actual harm to anyone. If you love to dress a certain way, I say do so, and nuts to anyone that has nothing better to do than criticize you for it. How you handle the distribution of said nuts is up to you, but I would go with 'firm but friendly.'

 

[HarpPlayerGene]

I read this original post a few hours ago and it keeps rolling around in my mind. Here are my thoughts on aved's dilemma.

I think one factor may well be your location. From what I understand, it is much more uncommon to see a man in a brimmed felt hat in England than it is here in the States. I get the impression that fashion acceptability is more restricted in the UK. Perhaps a vestige of an old class structure. So, getting opinions from Yanks like me may prove useful or may not apply when practiced in your country.

With that said, here are my other thoughts: 1) Time to get a new hat, mate, and 2) Time to up the attitude/confidence/swagger level. It's quite possible that the hat (coat too, maybe) you wear just doesn't flatter you and your friends are informing you that the look ain't working. Perhaps a different fedora would get them saying, "Well, that one's not so bad..." which may be the best to hope for from some. Also, I've noticed that if someone uses attire to hide and cover up/cloak themselves from the world they do not appear attractive. They appear creepy. The same or similar attire worn in a fun, confident manner can still be considered flakey but people respond to it much more favorably.

G'luck.

G

 

[Undertow]

I tend to wear a fedora when it's most useful. I've stopped wearing them in the summer (as Iowa summers are FAR FAR too hot) and I've stepped back from most winter wear as well.

I typically wear them Spring and Fall, with some of the in between, and I usually only wear one if I have to wear a coat.

It's a utility thing for me, I guess.

I don't mind that others are wearing them now, although it does pain me to see some of the "beginners" mistakes typical to new comers (i.e. wool felt, cloth "club" hats, etc,).

 

[avedwards]

Thanks for all the kind words from everyone. It's very reassuring.

Today, I had to visit three sites for my work. For the first one I left my hat on the bus as we were advised to attract as little attention as possible. For the other two I wore my hat (and was glad due to it being a cold day). I wore jeans, a dress shirt and a modern jacket to stand out less today. A few of my peers still asked me why I had to take my fedora, but my compromise of no suit (they can't tell the difference between a sportcoat and a suit) was appreciated. I also liked it that I was able to compromise by not wearing my hat in the council estate area but was able to in the other two areas (which were wealthier).

As for my hat and coat not flattering me, they do. It's just they also look very vintage (outdated to others) when paired together but individually they look better. I've never been told my clothes don't suit me apart from when I paired a blue jacket with black trousers, in which case it was simply colour advise - women are said to have a better eye for that. The dimensions of my hat and the fit of my coat suit me very nicely.

I did also ask people today who cares, highlighting their stupidity. It helped to some degree to teach people to leave me alone. Randomers on the street shouting insults usually just encourages me to dress more outlandish to annoy them since it is still a free country. It's friends which gets me, but at least my girlfriend and some of my closer friends appreciate and actually like my style (even telling me to keep it when I put the question on my original post to them).

As for using my hat and coat to cover myself up, I only do so very rarely. My avatar was taken at a time when I was feeling down, which is why I am hiding and carrying a gun (an inside joke I have with my friends due to constant threats of shooting them when they know that I don't own live firearms). I only pull my hat low for the effect usually, not to hide my face. My post about me hiding myself on another thread may well have been due to the mood I was in at that point.

Geographically, I have the bad luck of living in a not so nice place. England isn't all bad for hat wearers. When I was in London on Tuesday I counted four fedora wearers in half an hour, one of whom even wore a trenchcoat which was almost a mirror image of me.

And also, my post last night coincided with me feeling bad due to generally having a lot on my mind which is why I made the rash decision of considering to abolish the hat which I won't do. I was also feeling a bit of inferiority complex at the time, which is why I didn't feel I had the right to wear my hat if others didn't want it. I sometimes take a very low view of myself, which is why it surprised me that people remembered so much of the content of my posts on other threads.

Again, thanks for the vote of confidence and the large amount of replies. It helped me at difficult time.

 

[avedwards]

So overall I think I'll continue wearing the fedora at the same occaisions I used to before I posted this question as a result of provocation. In school I don't because it doesn't fit in with the uniform. Outside school I'll wear it both casually (slacks, shirt, no tie) and smartly (suit and tie).

Same goes for suits, I wear them around town because the UK is still conservative enough that a suit doesn't stick out. So I don't have to wear a fedora casually to get away with it, if anything it helps to wear a suit as people have thought I'm a trainee solicitor in my 20s before when I'm actually a 17 year old student.

I manage to make my outfits avoid looking stuffy by wearing black in them, as that's often associated with the youth where black is popular, though I avoid all black and mix blue and grey in. Brown is often seen as stuffy here, so I avoid it almost completely. Much as I like tweed, I avoid it preferring to wear plain or pinstriped suits which come across as less stuffy. What stuffy here may be seen differently in the USA of course, but I manage to still look young enough by UK standards, though my clothing adds about five years on to my age sometimes (I've managed to pass as an adult before).

 

[avedwards]

I was just re-reading what people wrote, since people spent time posting so I like too spend time reading and thinking about what they put.

One comment suggested wearing a cloth cap. I see the logic, but I like my fedora a lot more aesthetically. It adds a few years on but I like the effect and I don't look like an old man because no old men in England wear felt fedoras but usually tweed caps.

I brought a new hat in August (new compared to the Chatham I have undoubtedly mentioned in a lot of posts defending the Stetson name). It has a wider brim than the Chatham but flatters my face just as much I'd say. The tapered high crown helps to counteract my long thin face. I have no pictures to prove that my coat looks good on me but it does.

I will stop listening to those who don't appreciate my style. Today when I was asked why I'd taken my hat a friend stood up for me saying I wouldn't be Alan without it. That's enough for me to see that I have enough who like it. Incidentally that same friend quizzed me on my missing hat the last time I went hatless outside school (a year ago October), and I had to explain that a tan hat could not be worn with a DJ. The only other people to majorly mind are people I don't get on so well with and my dear mother. My friends who encouraged me not to take the hat today do generally support me by defending me when strangers insult me; they just felt that the occaision today was inappropriate.

Pictures on the previous page show how the British youth didn't wear fedoras, but I think that applied to the whole British public. Fedoras were worn here but were never as wide spread as in the US I think. Bowlers and flat caps were always more our thing.

 

[Undertow]

I hate to admit it, but my fedora wearing has fallen way off. It just became too much to fuss and trouble with. Looking for a place to put it, worrying that someone will make off with it, that it'll get damaged, etc.
Nowadays it's a soft cap. Sometimes a beret.
But some cold days and some sunny days, unless I'm going somewhere where I know it'll be a lot of tomfoolery to deal with, I still wear a fedora.

Isn't this the rub! I've found myself (this morning for example) with the same concerns because I just don't have the time to manage 400 worries at once. lol

For instance, a quick in-out at the grocery store should be no problem. Oh, you fool. Apparently the grocery stores in Des Moines believe turning the heat up will encourage purchases. Unfortunately, it also encourages sweating and that's something I don't enjoy. So I must remove my hat and figure out a place to put it. In the basket? In my hand? Where? The car? Should I worry about some teenage hoodlum busting my windows for a new, hip hat?

I bring it to work and set it at my desk. A dozen people sneak by while I'm working and finger it up. Do I hide it in my drawers? Forget it. I'll just wear a ball cap everywhere (funerals, weddings, dinner tables, etc.) and I might just be left alone!

 

[scotrace]

We are probably experiencing the very same things that led men to ease off the hat wearing starting way back before The Great War.

 

[Lefty]

If, in this new era, you're looking to rid yourself of the vestiges of the bad times, I'll help you to bear your burden.

(translation: If you're sellin' those 7 1/2s, let me know! )

 

[Torpedo]

I would gladly ease the burden of those wishing to bid farewell to size 7 hats.

 

[Dexter'sDame]

Youth wearing fedoras?-- My dad did, but...

fftopic: I can vouch that some youth who lived in Midwestern cities wore fedoras, but with a caveat.

There's a small batch of photos of my dad and his friends circa 1946-48ish, in which they're wearing far-too-oversized overcoats and equally ill-fitting fedoras.

He was born in 1935, so the photos put their ages around age 11-13...and they're smoking cigarettes.

In some conservative parts of the Midwest at that time, young people who wore fedoras and overcoats were perceived as troublemakers (maybe due to then-recent memories of Dillinger? Just my guess). Mom says Dad's grandmother feared Dad was becoming a hoodlum, especially what with the cigarettes and all, so he was hustled off to the country to live with her.

In all subsequent photos of Dad as a teen, he's wearing either jeans and T-shirts (if at home) or school clothes that a typical teen wore during that time.

(Edited to add that personally, I believe people should wear whatever style pleases them.)

 

[cptjeff]

I'm late to this thread, but here goes anyway:

With the way I came to hat wearing, I have many times wanted to stop. I have a medical condition where I pull out my hair from the roots, and have since about 3rd grade or so, which has left me with patchy bald spots off and on for much of my life. For ages hat wearing was just something I had to do. Baseball caps everyday, you should see my collection of those. Anytime I had the hair to not wear one I would seize the chance. In recent years I finally decided to embrace it and go all in. I bought a few cheap wool fedoras and wore those for a while. They got uncomfortable with vinyl sweats and the one that had a cloth sweat had no liner and scratched my head, so those got put aside in favor of flat caps from village hats, those Jaxon ones, with the lightweight wool blends, intermixed with nicer baseball caps. Finally a few months ago I bit the bullet and bought a real felt off e-bay, joined up here and have since gotten a couple more, with another on the way, e-bay willing.

Now, I can't ever see myself not wearing a hat, even if I have the option. It's just a part of me.

The lesson here is that if it's a part of you, embrace it, no matter what others say. The great masses have very little sense of style whatsoever, next time someone tells you something about your hat, just respond with something along the line of "This from the guy wearing torn baggy jeans that are too long, getting trampled by your oversized white trainers, with the only thing keeping your underwear covered being a hoodie that's too big for you."


Oh, and I do hope all of you will forgive me if I do not remove my hat indoors.

 

[avedwards]

fftopic: I can vouch that some youth who lived in Midwestern cities wore fedoras, but with a caveat.

There's a small batch of photos of my dad and his friends circa 1946-48ish, in which they're wearing far-too-oversized overcoats and equally ill-fitting fedoras.

He was born in 1935, so the photos put their ages around age 11-13...and they're smoking cigarettes.

In some conservative parts of the Midwest at that time, young people who wore fedoras and overcoats were perceived as troublemakers (maybe due to then-recent memories of Dillinger? Just my guess). Mom says Dad's grandmother feared Dad was becoming a hoodlum, especially what with the cigarettes and all, so he was hustled off to the country to live with her.

I attempt to dress as an adult, so I don't think that I will end up looking like a child in an oversized hat and coat. Being 6'1" and having a head size of 7 3/8" I manage to look OK in my fedora, at least it fits me properly. Plus in this day and age hoodies and tracksuit bottoms would be seen as a sign of being a trouble-maker, fedoras and coats are seen as respectable.

 

[avedwards]

I'm late to this thread, but here goes anyway:

With the way I came to hat wearing, I have many times wanted to stop. I have a medical condition where I pull out my hair from the roots, and have since about 3rd grade or so, which has left me with patchy bald spots off and on for much of my life. For ages hat wearing was just something I had to do. Baseball caps everyday, you should see my collection of those. Anytime I had the hair to not wear one I would seize the chance. In recent years I finally decided to embrace it and go all in. I bought a few cheap wool fedoras and wore those for a while. They got uncomfortable with vinyl sweats and the one that had a cloth sweat had no liner and scratched my head, so those got put aside in favor of flat caps from village hats, those Jaxon ones, with the lightweight wool blends, intermixed with nicer baseball caps. Finally a few months ago I bit the bullet and bought a real felt off e-bay, joined up here and have since gotten a couple more, with another on the way, e-bay willing.

Now, I can't ever see myself not wearing a hat, even if I have the option. It's just a part of me.

The lesson here is that if it's a part of you, embrace it, no matter what others say. The great masses have very little sense of style whatsoever, next time someone tells you something about your hat, just respond with something along the line of "This from the guy wearing torn baggy jeans that are too long, getting trampled by your oversized white trainers, with the only thing keeping your underwear covered being a hoodie that's too big for you."


Oh, and I do hope all of you will forgive me if I do not remove my hat indoors.

Better late then never so don't worry. The thread is only a few days old anyway.

I agree, I'm not going to drop my style. It was a momentary thought but I've thought better of it now. I have my style and the only thing I will change in it is colour schemes when someone (usually my father or my female friends) tells me I'm wearing clashing colours. I agree with you that comments from sloppily dressed people are to be ignored. I will therefore only listen to the well-dressed (in other words my father, my girlfriend and the members of this website) from now on.

I wear my hat purely for aesthetic reasons as I never burn in the sun and I'm capable of being comfortable in -12C wearing no headwear. But if you wear it for medical reasons like you do, you always have a valid excuse if people make comments. Not that I think we should really have to have an excuse for dressing how we do.

 

[ScionPI2005]

I will stop listening to those who don't appreciate my style. Today when I was asked why I'd taken my hat a friend stood up for me saying I wouldn't be Alan without it. That's enough for me to see that I have enough who like it. Incidentally that same friend quizzed me on my missing hat the last time I went hatless outside school (a year ago October), and I had to explain that a tan hat could not be worn with a DJ. The only other people to majorly mind are people I don't get on so well with and my dear mother. My friends who encouraged me not to take the hat today do generally support me by defending me when strangers insult me; they just felt that the occaision today was inappropriate.

Good for your friends! I'm glad they're supporting you. I have a few people in my life that have made similar comments in regards to the fact I would not be myself without my hats.

I don't get too many negative comments these days anymore. The most I get are comments from friends and family occasionally telling me they like one particular hat on me over another one.

 

[metropd]

Once I thought about it after posting less than flattering pictures on Styleforum and receiving some "constructive criticism".lol lol lol
Then I realized as far as I know
I have one life, I should live it in style.

Personal style to me is a personal philosophy, a person should hope to mentally evolve through ones lifetime so I believe personal style should be an evolution as well; to search for enlightenment through the use of aesthetic ideas, values, experiences, agents, obstacles, and goals. So by expressing yourself by any medium(including wearing a fedora) you are cultivating oneself, and mentally evolving by creating a product(s) of value into the the world.

 

[HarpPlayerGene]

I"This from the guy wearing torn baggy jeans that are too long, getting trampled by your oversized white trainers, with the only thing keeping your underwear covered being a hoodie that's too big for you."

I've never had to use it but I'm ready with this one (wouldn't work outside of the U.S. though):

"So who put that outfit together for you; FEMA?"

 

[Solid Citizen]

Got Them FL BLUES

Do do do do Woke up this morning Do do do do Tried to move my feet Do do do do To that funky FL Lounge beat Do do do do Then I realized Do do do do From where I sat Do do do do That I was that cool Cat in the Hat

Solid Citizen just tryin to lighten up this thread lol

 

[Marc Chevalier]

Thanks for the great photo, Solid Citizen. Love those ... *pause for a beat* ... caps.





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