Hats in the news

[Subvet642]

I found this op-ed piece in today's Boston Herald about the growing popularity of hats, and fedoras in particular.

http://www.bostonherald.com/news/opinion/op_ed/view/20100813mad_hatters_be_glad_as_fashion_goes_retro/

 

[Mario]

And that common bit about JFK being responsible for the decline of hats is in there too...

 

[AntonAAK]

This is very strange. It's an article about an article.

He does nothing but report on the contents of the Wall Street Journal article.

I can do that. Can I be a journalist please?

 

[jwalls]

Certainly You can be a 'Journalist'. It seems to demand little in the way of training or talent.
:eusa_doh: :eusa_doh: :eusa_doh: :eusa_doh:

 

[AntonAAK]

Then I will be perfect...

 

[Richard Warren]

With all due respect to those among us who may be journalists, the primary requirement for that job seems to be a negative one: the complete absence of any knowledge of how anything actually happens in the real world. I remember the first instance a matter I was involved in was reported in the city paper. I thought the reporter had just been given bad information. When I tried to educate him, he had no interest in listening. I am not =talking about the rights and wrongs of it but the basic underlying facts.

I finally concluded that facts and understanding would just get in the way of a reporter's ability to turn in his product on time. There is a sort of variation in Gresham's law at work that would drive an reporter who took the time to understand what he was writing about out of business. As a consequence journalists are and perhaps always have been more fantasists than actual reporters. Nowadays when they report not events but epiphenomena the nature of the enterprise is easier to see and they are more honest about it (at least in their unguarded moments).

Of course since I am writing about a profession about which I know relatively little compared to its actual practitioners, I stand to be corrected by them.

 

[danofarlington]

I found this op-ed piece in today's Boston Herald about the growing popularity of hats, and fedoras in particular.

http://www.bostonherald.com/news/opinion/op_ed/view/20100813mad_hatters_be_glad_as_fashion_goes_retro/

A trend then. Do we think it will be a long-lasting trend or a short-lived one? I say long-lasting. There is a lot of space for people to discover different hat styles that suit them, and it's all practically virgin territory because hats have been out for so long. One can always buy a cooler hat, as we know from the forum.

 

[Feraud]

A trend then. Do we think it will be a long-lasting trend or a short-lived one? I say long-lasting.

I'll guess short-lived. Next spring those Target fedoras will be forgotten and guys will be asking you if you are trying to be Don Draper as they giggle with their buddies over the sharp witted quip they've unleased for posterity.

 

[Richard Warren]

I wonder if it would be impolite to wonder whehter a trend to hats is not connected with the aging of a certain segment of the population and the concomitant aesthetic challenges.

 

[danofarlington]

I wonder if it would be impolite to wonder whehter a trend to hats is not connected with the aging of a certain segment of the population and the concomitant aesthetic challenges.

You might be right, although I would hesitate to think that somehow we geezers have the power to start any kind of a trend. I do like the unification of age groups you get with an interest in hats though, because ever since I was a kid in the 1960s, culture has been all about separating and stratifying the age groups. The Baby Boom seemed to cause that. All I remember is doing opposite things that my parents' generation did. But now, I am looking for style authenticity, American authenticity, and good fashion looks that I can participate in, and to heck with the age group of it.

 

[ScionPI2005]

I'll guess short-lived. Next spring those Target fedoras will be forgotten and guys will be asking you if you are trying to be Don Draper as they giggle with their buddies over the sharp witted quip they've unleased for posterity.

I wouldn't say they'll be gone that quickly. Even those "Target fedoras", and I'm assuming these are the similar ones we may be discussing in the "Modern Street/Punk Fedoras" thread, have been around for more than one season. I started seeing those at least five years ago, and they were probably around before that.

Now I am skeptical that the average "street fedora wearer" will eventually turn into a die hard classic fedora supporter. It's more than likely that many of these teenagers and even twenty-something year olds wearing those hats are in the process of finding their identity. Most of them will probably forget even those street fedoras once over time, and turn to the next fad, or either conform to the majority once they find a career and get a little older. Perhaps not all, but I'd say at least fifty percent.

 

[Tomasso]

I remember the first instance a matter I was involved in was reported in the city paper.

When the press reports on affairs of which you have intimate knowledge is when you realize what a shoddy job most journalist do, and I include the big boys (WSJ, NYT, FT,etc).

 

[Tomasso]

“Inspired by designer runway shows, celebrities such as Justin Timberlake and even, in some cases, old pictures of Frank Sinatra, more young men are going mad for hats.”

Seriously,how many young men are watching runway shows?

 

[Richard Warren]

When the press reports on affairs of which you have intimate knowledge is when you realize what a shoddy job most journalist do, and I include the big boys (WSJ, NYT, FT,etc).

Precisely. And that's before any ideological overlay.

 

[Richard Warren]

You might be right, although I would hesitate to think that somehow we geezers have the power to start any kind of a trend. I do like the unification of age groups you get with an interest in hats though, because ever since I was a kid in the 1960s, culture has been all about separating and stratifying the age groups. The Baby Boom seemed to cause that. All I remember is doing opposite things that my parents' generation did. But now, I am looking for style authenticity, American authenticity, and good fashion looks that I can participate in, and to heck with the age group of it.

When I complained to my wife about how big watches have gotten and wondered why in the world someone would want to wear ten pounds of metal on his wrist, my wife told me it is obvious: old people need big dials to tell time.

In the 60's it was "they got the guns but we (boomers) got the numbers" (to quote the Doors). Now the boomers have the guns, the numbers, and the money. Don't count them out.

 

[2manyhats]

Sinatra and a Homburg?

And sure enough, for those who might not know who he was, there was an old picture of Ol’ Blue Eyes wearing a hat - a homburg, actually.

OMG! There is only one picture I know of, and can find, of The Chairman wearing a Homburg. This guy makes it sound like that was Franks hat of choice. That erks me a bit. :eusa_doh:

 

[Brad Bowers]

OMG! There is only one picture I know of, and can find, of The Chairman wearing a Homburg. This guy makes it sound like that was Franks hat of choice. That erks me a bit. :eusa_doh:

Yes, and he's in character as Nathan Detroit in Guys and Dolls. Not a typical Sinatra-in-a-hat photo at all.:eusa_doh:

Brad

 

[2manyhats]

Yes, and he's in character as Nathan Detroit in Guys and Dolls. Not a typical Sinatra-in-a-hat photo at all.:eusa_doh:

Brad

Yeah...
But, at least this article didn't bash the hat wearing group.

 

[Tiller]

“Inspired by designer runway shows, celebrities such as Justin Timberlake and even, in some cases, old pictures of Frank Sinatra, more young men are going mad for hats.”

Seriously,how many young men are watching runway shows?

They are pretty popular with the women my age, so I'm sure more then one has had to suffer threw a night or two of said shows in order to watch football on the weekends lol. The real question is how many of said men/teens actually listen to "designer runway shows", for tips .

 

[Dewhurst]

They are pretty popular with the women my age, so I'm sure more then one has had to suffer threw a night or two of said shows in order to watch football on the weekends lol.

Those shows are difficult to watch. Thankfully, whenever my wife and I do watch one, we take the opportunity to laugh, guffaw, point fingers, and complain about the performances and the mostly terrible articles of clothing.

Incidentally, we do the same with football on the weekends.