"Hatless Harry" Apparel Arts

[Dapper Dan]

Yeah, I think it's something that's almost impossible to comment on with any degree of certainty one way or another, since the dead past has buried itself, so to speak.

But, I thought of another thing about the poll I'd like to know more about. Was the poll taken from the country at large? If so, more clement places like California, where hat wearing would have been rarer, would be dragging down the average of, say, the East Coast, where I'm sure hat wearing would have been more prevalent. If the poll was not national, then clearly there's a discrepency there.

As for candid photography, it was much more prevalent than one may think. After all, Kodak Brownies and the like were very popular and inexpensive, and the public at large was very keen on photography. That being said, you are correct that there was a lot of faux-candid photography going on as well. The government photographers of the Great Depression, for example.

In the end, I guess I'll just have to stress again that we'll probably never really be able to know for certain just how prevalent hat wearing was or wasn't, since there are so many myriad aspects beyond just the poll.

 

[Slicksuit]

Agreed, Dapper Dan. Not only do we not know what geographical populations were sampled, but we don't know the sample size, nor if the statistics were from a real scientific survey, or a convenience survey (ie. mail-in response...which is subject to bias). The affiliation of the people doing the survey would possibly have an impact also.

All we can do is our best to bring back hats and wear them with pride and panache!

 

[Dapper Dan]

All we can do is our best to bring back hats and wear them with pride and panache!

Well said!

 

[kools]

Unfortunately, it does seem to perpetuate the Kennedy myth - showing JFK hatless in 1968. However, for some this may have been a contributing factor?

JFK hatless in 1968?

 

[kools]

Would you be so kind as to scan the article and cover? I am going to write a research paper about the decline of hatwearing in America?

I'll see what I can do for you next time I get down to the library...I don't make it there too often.

 

[Dapper Dan]

Well, in all fairness, JFK was almost certainly hatless in 1968.

 

[vonwotan]

Not the most attentive student in typing class... The photo is labeled 1961.

JFK hatless in 1968?

 

[Aerol]

Numbers

Survey's are fallible.
Movies are, at best, an indication of society at large.
Candid photos are, by definition, random.

But hat production figures are hard numbers, as are population figures. If the population 1900 to 1940 was rising (and it was) and hat production figures are decreasing (and they were), the conclusion is inescapable.

 

[JDCrockett]

Three things come to mind that could also have effected those statistics, WW1, The Great Depression and WW 2. Millions? of young men in the military, many factories of all kinds out of business or converted to
war essentials and general lack of disposable income for many people.

 

[Baron Kurtz]

The only thing we can comment on are the concretes: the articles cited by Kools and myself. Hat sellers were certainly worried about the "go-withoutism" for hats (and ties) in the 1930s and 1940s. They wrote articles about it. So clearly something was going on.

Certainly in the UK there was an economic factor at play also. My grandfather could not afford to purchase a fur felt hat and neither could any of the 'ordinary Joes" in his town. So, in good working class fashion, he wore a newsboy cap. Though we like to think that everyone dressed like Fred Astaire or Jack Buchanan, evidence (photographic evidence would suggest that)very few actually did. Possibly because they couldn't afford to dress like those incredibly wealthy men.

bk

 

[Slicksuit]

Three things come to mind that could also have effected those statistics, WW1, The Great Depression and WW 2. Millions? of young men in the military, many factories of all kinds out of business or converted to
war essentials and general lack of disposable income for many people.

All contributing factors, yes. I think that it's important not to overlook as well a few other factors, some after 1950, that caused a decline in hat wearing in general:
- rise of the automobile, so less public transportation used. Also no need to look 'proper' if you're alone in an auto.
- the youth and counter-culture movement of the 1960's. Fedora regarded as a symbol of 'the system' and youth pushing it aside. Youth also became the trendsetting demographic for society at large - which continues to this day.