Hat Psychology

[Lorne]

All we had at my agency was flat dish caps.

Great to have in a Southern California summer; a flat dark blue surface to absorb all those solar rays.

That, a 22lb Sam Brown, 2+ vest, and boots.

I HATED summer day watch.

 

[KingAndrew]

A couple of quick thoughts:

-In Little 5 Points, the purple-haired guy is definitely your best source of info.

-Re Aaron's point about patting oneself on the back, I'm afraid a forum such as this is naturally going to tilt towards people who feel that hat-wearing has a positive effect. I don't think it is simple vanity, but rather the enthusiasm for hats that brought us here in the first place. Although I agree it has perhaps gotten a bit inflated in some of the comments on this thread.

-I have found that simply by wearing a tie in public, people tend to assume that I work wherever I happen to be. I regularly get questions in banks, stores, and restaurants that are intended for an employee or manager. Often I can answer them and try to do so in the most courteous way possible. To the extent that someone associates a hat with being "dressed up," it might enhance such an effect. It seems to me that merely being dressed more formally than other folks in a place of business will lead to you being perceived as part of the business.

I am pretty sure there are lots of other factors at play, too. For instance, I am afraid that in many places a white man and a black man or a young man and an old man wearing the same clothes might well inspire different reactions among passersby. So any of these psychology theses must be taken with a generaous grain of salt.

 

[EliasRDA]

A couple of quick thoughts:
snipped

-I have found that simply by wearing a tie in public, people tend to assume that I work wherever I happen to be. I regularly get questions in banks, stores, and restaurants that are intended for an employee or manager. Often I can answer them and try to do so in the most courteous way possible. To the extent that someone associates a hat with being "dressed up," it might enhance such an effect. It seems to me that merely being dressed more formally than other folks in a place of business will lead to you being perceived as part of the business.

Whats really funny about your comment here KingAndrew is this.. I live in a very resort type area, beach resort to be exact. I have worn the shorts/polo, s/s button-up/khakis, tshirt/khaki shorts, & now l/s button-up/dress pants & vest.
I must have the type of look that no matter what I wear I get asked for help, as in I work there, no matter what the store is. Now, I could chalk it up to having worked retail for over 25 years, or that since I'm in the local paper every week so people see my picture but may not remember why I'm there (I sponser the local humane shelter support ad).
Or it could be that since I know the stores so well I am rarely at a lost & carry myself confidently because of that. (shrug)

Depending on the situation & my time crunch I usually try to help the person, or direct them to store staff. If its a simple matter of getting something off a high shelf (I'm rather tall to many here) & the person is elderly or handicapped I try to oblige, its seconds for me. And I find it mentally hurtful to watch a elderly lady who may top 5'5" trying to get a box off the top shelf in a store.

I'm gonna find it interesting wearing my fedora in stores to see if I get asked for help as much, I know my straw panama in summertime stops many from asking me as much for help.

 

[EliasRDA]

Oh, and I did find one very important thing to remember.. never ever got to a catered event or event held in a country club/higher end restraurant wearing a white dress shirt with either black or very dark grey pants & vest. You will be mistaken for wait staff, even if wearing a different tie.
I do it ocassionally when I don my photography hat to blend in as much as I can, but then I get treated like I am staff so its a fine line to walk. I find in that situation to remove my vest so I look less like staff, but still am not as noticable as when I wear my purple dress shirts. I'm known by the local real estate & ham communties as both the purple shirt wearer & as the purple hawaiian shirt person, as they are part of my "trademark", hehe.

 

[hatguy1]

Yeah, going to Grad School kind of messed with my melon and sometimes a cigar is just a cigar.

That being said, how we choose to appear in public says a lot about who we are and what message we are sending about ourselves. Sometimes, it even says GOOD THINGS about us.

Something to think about, or not...

I tend to agree. Since wearing hats is not something everyone does as part of the dress code norm today, I think a fashionable piece of headwear does make us stand out. The fact that we're not wearing a baseball cap sideways identifies us as someone other than a gang member, and therefore, perhaps safe to approach or engage in contact with.

Just a few thoughts off the top of my head....