Hat size versus acceptability.

[portolan]

I fly coast to coast every other week....

I see lots of young people especially with very narrow brim plaid fedoras. Young ladies especially seem to like them a lot. There must be currently popular rock groups and or musicians in general who wear them a lot. I have started wearing a hat and carrying an empty hat carrying case we got from the Major along with my briefcase. I then put the hat in the hat box and stow it safe and sound for the flight. I get more comments when wearing fedoras than when wearing westerns....probably because I fly through Houston a lot!

 

[leo]

...it seems to be that the shorter the brim, the more "socially acceptable" it is to wear a hat?..

I recently bought a nice dark brown Borsalino from Batsake's. It had upwards of a 3" brim. Gus offered to trim it down if I wanted. Maybe he gets requests like that.

But I'm tall and look like Stan Laurel in a stingy (I used to look like Oliver Hardy) and I mostly wear hats for protection, not for fashion, so several have brims wider than 2 inches.

If folks want to wear hats that serves no practical purpose other than to conform to peer pressure that's their business. I, with the occasional tempering by my lovely bride, will choose what's best for me.

 

[AlterEgo]

I seemed to have be born with an innate desire to wear hats of all kinds, as among my earliest memories are asking my mom and dad for yet another one.

As such, by the time I was in elementary school, wearing hats was, well, old hat. That was in the mid to late-1960s, perhaps the nadir of the hat--even before the pimps took to lids--so, not surprisingly I caught a lot of guff from kids at school.

I didn't care--until one of my teachers told me I could no longer wear hats to school. That prompted my parents to make an appointment with the principal. They pointed out that other kids were, in fact, wearing hats in cold weather, stuff like toboggans and beanie caps (which we now properly call watch caps or ski caps), so why could they wear those and I not my trooper or diplomat in the same kind of weather?

The short answer is because the teacher who forbade me from wearing hats just didn't want to deal with the other kids teasing me. My parents stood their ground, and the principal agreed that the problem was not my hats, but rather poor behavior on the part of the teasing kids.

By the time I was in the 5th grade, I had my first "real" fur felt hat, an Akubra Military Slouch--with the pleated puggaree and left brim turned up. I was told it was called a "campaign hat," while others dubbed it an "Australian bush" or "jungle" hat.

Perched on my then-6 3/4 head atop a very tall, super-skinny frame, THAT was a hat, especially when I replaced the pug with my super-narrow-wasted mom's genuine leopard belt!!! (That was during my "safari phase.")

The interesting thing is that before I graduated from the 6th grade, kids around me had gradually begun to wear different hats--an snap-brim ivy here, a wool stingy-brim there, even a diplomat similar to mine. Ever since, I have found that someone has to break the style barrier--which is entirely psycho-social--and that person has often been I.

 

[Sam Craig]

Very little service

Back in the olden days, even small towns had full service men's wear stores.

Maybe they weren't perfect, but if you were lucky — and we were — there was an older guy in there who had the talent of telling you when you were doing something stupid, like buying a hat that made you look like you were wearing a costume, instead of one that complimented your shape, coloring, what-not.

The guy who ran our store always carried a good selection of hats — dress to casual — and he also carried a great stock of bow ties. For us young guys, when he sold you one, he wouldn't let you leave the store until he'd taught you how to tie it.

I rarely wear a bow tie these days, but I got one out last year and still remembered how to tie the thing.

We rarely get that sort of service these days, and if you are lucky enough to have a good hat shop available where there's a professional who can give advice on hat styles, it would be great to move some busines to them, while they still exist.

You go to a department store today, even pricey ones, and you're lucky if there's a clerk there who can spell "hat," let alone give advice about them.

 

[MattJH]

One thing that is barely mentioned here, because we try to play nice, is that some hats just look bad on some people.

100% true. Before you start lumping people who stare into some sort of category of intolerance and chalk them up to being rude or inappropriate, it would also serve you well to take a look in the mirror -- just because it's a beautiful hat doesn't mean it will look beautiful on you! By the by, though, I'd say that if a person has made the efforts to find their way to The Fedora Lounge, they're stylistically inclined enough not to make any silly mistakes like wearing a 6" crowned hat if you're rail-thin and 5'7".

I'm very glad to say that here in metropolitan Philadelphia, I have never once felt that I was being stared at or judged by my headwear. Quite the contrary, I'm only one of many who wear fedoras in this city. I swear to you, honest to goodness, that I see a wide-brimmed hat not worn by me every single day. For all of you feeling like you're under the spyglass, come to Philly!