Hat color selection

[Michaelshane]

These are my two favorite colors....

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[Chinaski]

Michaelshane, from most of the pics I see of you (let alone your avatar) I would have thought I'd see a silverbelly/taupe/light tan in there.

 

[150719541]

Favourite hat colors

Hi, brothers¡¡¡¡ it a pleasure write in the lounge, because, should, someone will read our thoughts or ideas, I am wearing hat from 1963 and when began to use felt hats, my favourite color was BLACK, now, I don´t like it.
Because this color get to much dust.
I prefer light and dark brown, gray, sand and other almost white colors.
Graphite and olive green colors seems good election to hat customers.
I like wear cashmere pants in any color, white shirt and one of my favourite hats, obvious, with almost same pants color.
My straw hats combined with shine colors shirts.
If I would decide choose only one hat: a Stetson Temple in dark brown, will be the winner.[huh] [huh] [huh]

 

[Mike in Seattle]

I'm going to have a custom hat created and am driving myself nuts over what color to select. My questions are: what color is your favorite hat, and what color do you find yourself wearing the most often (if different)?

FIRST - welcome to the Lounge!

What color is YOUR current favorite? What color do YOU find yourself wearing more often?

It doesn't matter what everyone else thinks or what their favorite color is. It's your hat - you're the one who has to pay for it AND wear it - you've got to make the decision. It also depends what colors the hatmaker had to work with.

Personally, whenever I find myself in a situation where I can't make a decision, that actually IS the answer. That tells me the answer is "Wait awhile and think about it later." Once you put the decision-making aside and stop fixating on it, the right choice will come to you. Anytime I've rushed a decision, I wish I hadn't hurried it in the long run.

 

[Sam Craig]

Man, that's a tough one

I mean, silver belly is really nice for a lot of occasions, but everyone is right about grey. It is the easiest to match with a suit or a sport coat and slacks

Brown is the most fun for the most people, of course. You can read their frustration when you are wearing a beautiful silver belly fedora ... they have the perfect Indy Jones comment, but they can't bring themselves to say it because your hat is not BROWN!

If there were one best hat color, you'd still have to buy several of them so you wouldn't put ALL your wear on one hat!

Look at you wardrobe

Do you wear a lot of black, navy or grey suits or topcoats?

Or do you wear tweed and jeans?

If you like a windbreaker instead of a sports jacket, that would impact your hat choice.

Pick something that will go with more of your wardrobe and you'll get a lot more use out of the hat.

I got a great looking, and very comfortable, black wool carcoat this winter. I enjoyed it very much, but I just didn't like the way it looked with my brown fedoras, so I leaned more on the greys and blacks for those days.

Hope that helps,

Sam

 

[gtdean48]

Silver Belly gets my vote. I have a vintage Stetson & vintage Resistol in Silver Belly & even tho they are different, they both have gray & brown hues to them that let them go with blue, black & brown outfits. Since it is a lite color, it is good in warmer weather. Most versatile color & most frequent one I wear.
The rest will follow!!!

 

[Phantasm]

FIRST - welcome to the Lounge!

What color is YOUR current favorite? What color do YOU find yourself wearing more often?

It doesn't matter what everyone else thinks or what their favorite color is. It's your hat - you're the one who has to pay for it AND wear it - you've got to make the decision. It also depends what colors the hatmaker had to work with.

Personally, whenever I find myself in a situation where I can't make a decision, that actually IS the answer. That tells me the answer is "Wait awhile and think about it later." Once you put the decision-making aside and stop fixating on it, the right choice will come to you. Anytime I've rushed a decision, I wish I hadn't hurried it in the long run.

Good advice! I wear several hats without one being the favorite so far......It's more of a feeling when I get ready in the morning what will work for that day. The weather and my mood affects it also. Informal or formal attire is a consideration, and some days I want a bit more style than others.

Perhaps I need to just wait until my decision is more obvious, but brown or gray seems to the choice. Now, what shade of either color....

Thanks for the advice everyone, it is appreciated and I appreciate this friendly bunch!

 

[Dinerman]

I'd say this hat has my all time favorite color combination. Putty and rusty burgundy.

 

[Bill Greene]

Let's see you NEED at least one each black, mink brown, natural, dark gray, hunter green, pecan, silver belly, navy blue, sky blue etc. What the hell, you have a lot of hats to buy. :eusa_clap :eusa_clap :eusa_clap

LOL. That's just hilarious. True. But funny.:eusa_clap

 

[kowalskt63]

I'd say, if it's your first hat, take a good look at your closet. See which color combos are predominant. Then pick a hat that fits that scheme. This way, you'll get the most wear out of it. That is at least until you get your second, third, and 27th. I was a black and gray guy, so my first hat was black, second gray with black sweat, then came the browns. Those three will keep you pretty well set for some time. Once you accumulate several, then you can start experimenting with the "other" colors. i.e. greens, beige, etc..

 

[The Good]

I know I own a dark brown fedora, but I would recommend either a silverbelly or a lighter grey one. I think that those colors should be very versatile for your wardrobe, and I am thinking about acquiring a fedora in those colors as well.

 

[AlterEgo]

While the style and colors of clothes you wear most often have already been mentioned, one thing that hasn't is the climate where you live or will be most frequently when wearing the hat.

If the climate is hot for a good portion of the year, like in the U.S. South, then definitely choose a lighter color, as light colors reflect heat, and dark ones absorb it. In this regard, it is amazing how much color affects comfort.

While a light color can be worn just as easily in cold and cool weather as a dark shade, even a mid-brown hat, not to mention dark brown, charcoal, maroon, charcoal, navy, or black will see limited if any use at all when temps rise beyond the mid-70s F--even less where it's especially humid.

That still gives you a lot of choices: I'd steer clear of white because it's so stark and prone to showing dirt, but silverbelly and sand (you have to be very careful to keep those brand-spanking clean), beige, light gray, and fawn are all excellent colors.

While gray does not clash with any color, it's not the best match for earth tones. On the other hand, a light fawn, being an earth tone that goes as well with clothes in that sector as blues and grays, would be a very versatile color that looks classy with just about anything.

 

[daizawaguy]

I'd say this hat has my all time favorite color combination. Putty and rusty burgundy.

plus1:eusa_clap

 

[frussell]

Hate to be boring, but....

Of all my hats, including my VS in granite and some vintage and Akubras, I find myself reaching for my Stetson Nostalgia, which is Caribou Grey and has a nice wide 2" black ribbon. Not my best-made hat by far, but seems to go with everything, and it just looks right on me, dimension-wise. Also, perhaps due to the semi-cheesy "loose" quality of the felt, it's my softest and most comfortable hat. I have a new custom on the block, and I may revise this when it comes. Silverbelly would be my other choice, although I like both Akubra's sand-hued silverbelly and the more iron grey Stetson and Resistol silverbelly. I guess I'm a grey guy. Frank

 

[Stoney]

I'd say this hat has my all time favorite color combination. Putty and rusty burgundy.

I agree, burgundy ribbon on a light felt. Although unconventional I like this color combination the best and wear this hat the most of any that I have. It seems to go with just about anything and
I've received more complements on this hat than any other.

My second most used color is medium brown with a dark brown ribbon.

Art is making a new one for me that is powder blue with a dark blue ribbon.
I think it's going to be my goto hat when wearing jeans, which is most of the time.

 

[TomS]

I like that combination...

 

[ptjoe]

I'm considering the Akubra Fed.IV as an all around hat, that being said I debating between 3 colors, the tawny fawn, moonstone and the carbon gray?
I've considered the tawny fawn like some have suggested, it being a neutral color, but would have preferred it with a black ribbon,like the Stetson Temple in tawny.
Now the moonstone and the carbon gray is another thought,especially when wearing a brown tweed jacket with blues and blacks in it?
I like the look of a navy blue blazer, say with a gray turtle neck, where the tawny would not look right, but the carbon gray may look perfect.? yes / no
Tawny fawn,moonstone or carbon gray?any thoughts on the best all around color for dress up and dress down.

 

[Benzadmiral]

If you go by what James Bond was issued (Ian Fleming Live and Let Die) it must be grey.
Johnny

Fleming mentions the brand (a trick he was known for) as Stetson. Bond doesn't note it as such, but one of Mr. Big's network calls his boss, and describes the hat as a Stetson. Interesting to think what model it might have been, in the early '50s. A Stratoliner, perhaps . . .?

PTJoe, here's my Moonstone Fed once I had the brim trimmed and a matching ribbon put on. You can see the blue overtones of the felt.


As for carbon grey, I don't have any pics of the Fed, but my Borsalino Savoy is about the same color, I think:



A light gray would go with almost anything, and so would a tan or silverbelly.

 

[Doctor Strange]

ptjoe, those are all nice colors. I have a Stylemaster in the Carbon/Steel/Mid-Grey... and you should know that it's quite dark and "reads" as black in anything less than bright lighting, so it could come off as a black hat. The Tawny Fawn is beautiful, I have a Campdraft in the similar Taupe Fawn. But I think the Moonstone is probably most versatile: I had a Stetson Temple in Caribou gray for a long time, which I recently replaced with an even lighter gray custom fedora.

I feel I need both gray and brown fedoras to cover my wardrobe. The brown goes with my brown leather jackets and OD and khaki stuff. But the truth is, I wear vastly more blue/black/gray clothes than earth tones, and both my dark and light gray hats go better with those "Batman colors". My point is, no single hat will match everything. Take inventory of what you wear the most, and decide whether to go with a brown-tone or gray-tone hat FIRST to match that stuff. Chances are you're eventually going to want another hat to cover matching what you wear less.

I only have a few hats compared to many guys here, though to non-hat people it may seem like a lot - 3 fedoras, 2 outbacks, 1 Panama, a couple of newsboy caps - but I still feel it's impossible to find just one that's perfect for every situation. And if you're like most folks who find this place, you won't be satisfied with just one hat for long!

 

[GHT]

The Stetson in Caribou is a great hat that goes well with almost any dark colour. Although with brown I do prefer to wear a brown hat.