How did you start wearing hats?

[RBH]

I guess this is a good way to introduce myself; my name is John, I'm currently 22 years old, I live in Toronto, and I just purchased my first (and perhaps my last, but who knows?) felt hat, a Tilley Fedora, a few weeks ago.

Several years ago my dad purchased a Tilley Hat but wore it less and less as time went on. About a month ago, I found it along with some older photo albums with pictures of him wearing it. As I read the brag tags and user manual incuded with the hat, the sentimental side of me warmed up to the idea of having a hat of my own and perhaps passing it down as a family heirloom. Tilley's reputation for ruggedness, customer service, and lifetime guarantee is what attracted me to them, plus I liked the idea of supporting a local business.

From Humphry Bogart to Warren Beatty to Harrison Ford, the Fedora has always portrayed a classic sense of mystery and intrigue, which is why I was so attracted to its design. Coupled with some of the features included with my particular hat, I've enjoyed the experience so far and have become a proud owner.

Welcome to the Lounge and I hope you have more fedoras in your future!

 

[Chuck Bobuck]

My dad always wore hats, mostly stingy brims or driving caps. I wore my Campdraft to my mom's not long ago. She told me she liked my hat and she said my dad was wearing one like it when he met her at the train station when she came to the U.S. in 1949. They met when he was stationed in England during WWII. After the war, he wrote and convinced her to come to the U.S. to marry him.

I also remember watching old movies with all the fedoras. Still, in my twenties, thiryty's, etc. I wore mostly ball caps. I remember having a tweed 8 panel at one time. Recently, I was looking for a hat with a brim to shade my face when I took a walk. Researching a straw hat brought me here. No way was I interested in fur felt, or the Campdraft with it's giant crown, very wide brim and that funny looking thin ribbon. But the look grew on me quickly. Now I have a CD, Fed, Squatter and Dobbs. I still need a good straw for Summer.

 

[LordBest]

Ten months ago I was on my way back to university when the tram I was riding had to make an unscheduled trip to the maintenance depot. We passengers were left standing on tarmac road service in 45c heat for twenty minutes until another tram arrived, with no shade in sight. Suddenly, I saw myself sauntering around the tropics in a linen suit and panama hat.
Eventually another tram came and we were all peeled off the tarmac and decanted inside, but the vision stayed with me. Heat stroke is a marvellous thing. Some months later the family went to stay with relatives in the sub tropics, and I picked myself up a nice panama. Haven't looked back.

 

[Wil Tam]

During High School

I was in a play but couldn't act my way out of a paper bag to save my life but the 'girl' of my dreams was the wardrobe mistress & I wanted to get to know her, so I plotted & schemed the master plan [bribe] to get the job as the assistant carpenter, that didn't work out too well since I wasn't very handy [huh] but she did notice me [my work was rickety as well as lopsided] & we went out a few times [I begged] before I asked her to marry me [short version]

....we're still together

Anyways... during our courtship we worked on a few more plays going through matriculation .. she thought I would look good in a fedora [we were messing around with outfits] .. I thought she would look great in..... slaps my face .. I started wearing them for real & also got better @ carpentry!

True Story abridged

----------------
Now playing: La's, the - There She Goes
via FoxyTunes

 

[JME2]

My interest in hats, as is the case with many here, is a result of growing up with Indy films. Because of them, I've always associated fedoras with the then-trilogy and its titular character. Growing up, fedoras were (and still are) the epitome of coolness and I always hated wearing baseball caps or other hats because they, well, weren't hats like Indy's. Delusions of childhood; what can I say.: Since my skin burn's easily, the wide brim helps too...

Anyway, between 2000 and 2005, I went through three cheap Disneyland reproductions and a Pacicifc Dorfman, I think. In 2006, I finally got serious and purchased a nice, brown Stetson from Cable Car Clothiers in San Francisco. While it has served me well (and ended up becoming my defining trademark on campus, my local radio show and to my friends), the time to retire it is approaching. It's successor will one of Indy Magnoli and Steve Delk's beautifully modified HBJ's. I'm very much looking forward to it's arrival.

 

[Bird's One View]

I didn't like being cold. I didn't like the sun on my face. I didn't like the rain on my eyeglasses.

It got out of hand when I lived in Venice CA and didn't like being *** on by parrots.

 

[JohnnyB53]

Living in Seattle, I had taken to wearing some inexpensive brimmed hats to keep my glasses dry in the rain. I have a cotton canvas Scala fedora that I picked up at a department store for $20 and a nicer wool tweed Irish walker my wife got me at a Gaelic specialty store.

But my current fur felt brimmed hat fetish happened on Oct. 3 2008. I had gone downtown to hear cellist Lynn Harrell play with the Seattle Symphony for a Friday matinee concert. To avoid traffic hassles and parking expenses, my wife agreed to drop me off and pick me up. After the concert it was raining very hard and the weather caused a traffic delay, so I ducked into a nearby store to stay dry. It was Byrnie Utz's hat store, which is one of the few remaining old-time downtown hat stores anywhere in the country. I asked the sales lady (in her 20's and very knowledgeable and helpful) what was the best kind of hat for these drizzly Seattle winters. She told me that a fur felt fedora would shed water and keep its shape the best.

I didn't buy anything that day, but I certainly caught the bug and decided that a fur felt fedora was going to be my next birthday present. After some hard and fast internet surfing, combined with the Aussie dollar falling against the US dollar, I got a tawny fawn Federation IV and a cruiser grey CEO from Hats Direct, which arrived just the day after my birthday. Since then I found out I live less than 8 miles from the US distributor for Akubra (David Morgan), and have gotten an Adventurer and a Bushman from him, plus a moonstone Fed IV Deluxe from Hats Direct for Christmas.

 

[abduktedtemplar]

looking for a slick outfit to wear to homecoming while i was in high school. put together 3 pieces of kenneth cole, saw a black wool fur fedora and fell in love lol.

 

[Golden Earache]

I was set to take the family to Disneyland earlier last summer and didn't want the sun to beat me up so I decided to wear a hat. I didn't want to wear a baseball cap because I look horrible in them, plus they don't give any neck protection. I remembered I had a brimmed hat sitting in the bottom of a paper sack that I inherited from a friend that had passed away a few years back, so I dusted it off, straightened it out and off we went to Disneyland.

Well, as luck would have it, I took it off when nightfall came and placed it on my son's stroller and in the rush to get to a good viewing position to watch the fireworks, the hat dropped off the stoller and I never saw it again. It was a pretty nice Knox stingy in green, probably mid 60's, not worth much, but one of the only things I had that my friend had owned. I miss the hat, but I miss my friend even more.

Now, I don't take my hat off till I get home, ever! And, I don't leave home without it!

 

[bobalooba]

when I was about 8 or 9 years old my parents took me to leavenworth (I think I spelled it right) which is a snazzy little bavarian style village in the washington mountains. They bought me a stetson knockoff hat as a gag but I loved it. Much later found a fedora for four dollars at goodwill. About two years back I became interested in the historical aspect of hats and bought a gray beaver brand homburg I am inseperable with.

 

[Charlie Huang]

Only since the beginning of this year for some arcane reason that escapes my mind. I think I was waering a beanie after my mother insisted so I could keep my head warm. Trouble is, I thought I looked ridiculous in it and it certainly did not suit my personality and style. Plus, it made my head itchy and was prone to overheating (and it did nothing to shield me from the chilling wind which went straight through the holes and into my head or the sun).

I decided that I hated wearing the beanie and wanted to wear a proper hat. Last year, I had been meaning to get a trilby but the ones I saw in the high street shops were crap (then, I did not know where to get good decent ones).

It was then I got my first proper one; a Christys' black trilby. I then got a dark brown fedora and now today a black vintage homburg. I already had a top hat and a plethora of academic caps (which I wear to such ocassions as appropriate).

Of course, my mother has criticised me and she thinks hats are for OAPs! She would nag and make comments whenever I would wear one but that hasn't stopped me from wearing them to work. I just do not wear them in her presence but I've gotten so use to the warmth of wearing a proper hat that I couldn't stand to be bareheaded outside anymore so I've made a decision to not go out with her or my father unless they allow me to wear a hat.

 

[Atticus Finch]

{Why} did you start wearing hats?

...because there is just something timeless and...right...about small-town, Southern lawyers who wear Stetson Open Roads.

AF

 

[John in Covina]

Of course, my mother has criticised me and she thinks hats are for OAPs!

*****
Q: What is an OAP?

The thing to ask your mom is when was she or your dad old enough to make up their own minds about things.

My guess is that you are old enough to make up your own mind as to how to dress.

What you need maybe, is a nice young lady to come over to meet your mom then tell your mom how handsome you look when dressed up and wearing a hat.

If that doesn't work than the next time go to your mom's covered in faux tatoos and piercings in either a punk or goth style dress and swear constantly in an abusive manner.

 

[avedwards]

I've made a decision to not go out with her or my father unless they allow me to wear a hat.

My father actually likes me to wear a hat. He usually only wears a flat cap, one of my fedoras or very occaisionally his wonderful black vintage Mayser (which doesn't fit me :rage. But he is always very keen on me wearing a fedora.

 

[CopperNY]

my 'hat related' stages of life:

-you only get burned once really bad putting in hay on a farm in August, before you realize why your grandfather wears a hat all the time.

-dad and his father (different grandfather) were hardcore flyfishermen. having a special hat was right up there with smoking a pipe and making your own flies and bamboo flyrods.

-i wore a cowboy hat for about two years after "Urban Cowboy" came out.

-i just had to wear a hat, along with a greatcoat and scarf, to look like Tom Baker as Dr. Who. just like all my friends.

-baseball caps for college and early adulthood.

-bandanas and boonie hats when i started in law enforcement.

-fedoras and irish caps now that i've given into my vintage-inspired bug.....

 

[Charlie Huang]

*****
Q: What is an OAP?

The thing to ask your mom is when was she or your dad old enough to make up their own minds about things.

My guess is that you are old enough to make up your own mind as to how to dress.

What you need maybe, is a nice young lady to come over to meet your mom then tell your mom how handsome you look when dressed up and wearing a hat.

If that doesn't work than the next time go to your mom's covered in faux tatoos and piercings in either a punk or goth style dress and swear constantly in an abusive manner.

OAP = Old Age Pensioner

Trouble with getting people to comment my appreance is that my mother always rebuts it with the line 'they may say that they like it in front of you but behind your back they say otherwise...'

You can never win with her 'reasoning!' Same with my music; everyone seems to appreciate and think highly it but it is only her (and my father and some family members) who questions my skill in the area, even though I have been playing guqin for over six years solid and have become a leading player in the entire UK!

Thought about the goth coversion shock trick but I would rather spend my money on better things (like hats) than a short skint in the dark lagoon...

 

[Trebuchet64_Fal]

I started wearing hats because baseball caps do very little for your apperance
whilst providing very little protection from the sun .
My damascus moment came when i found an Akubra Hayman in a second hand shop , it was in as new condition faun in colour ,
i tried it on and it fitted perfectly even my wife liked it so that was it, out with the caps on with the hats .
little did i know that that would be the begining of my hat collecting habit , so now im an addict i guess ,albeit a well turned out one.

 

[scottyrocks]

I've worn hats since before I can actually remember.

When I was very young, I had a cheapo cowboy hat that was my mom's. The hat was one of two that my parents bought on their honeymoon at Niagra Falls. Dad's stayed in the closet. He still has it, 50+ years later.

I always had baseball caps. Many years ago, if you wanted to wear a baseball cap, it had a team insignia on it. Not much else was available.

I've always loved cabbie/newsboy caps, especially the 8-panel variety. When I was a teenager, I had no way of getting one. I found one made of denim at a local womens' boutique, and after some deliberation, I bought it and wore it almost all the time. I grew up in a neighborhood where the kids were not tolerant of anything at all different from what was accepted as the 'norm,' so I got more than ribbed about that hat for a while.

In my late teens, I got hold a 'real' tweedy-like 8-panel cap, but it had a plastic snap closure on the back. But once again, it was in my price range (cheap), so I bought it. This hat was the beginning of my adult-oriented hat obsession.

Since becoming an adult (but only chronologically), which happens to just about coincide with the hat industry resurgence, started, arguably, by Raiders, I've acquired hundreds of hats of many types: baseball-style with all the variations, train engineer, bicycle, biker (motorcycle), fedoras, western (both in felt and straw), berets, kufis, skullcaps, and a few other types, as well. One of my favorites is a full cut 8-panel brownish herringbone made by The Hat People, who create authentically made caps of this type in different cuts.

Now that I've discovered FL, who knows what'll happen. I had kind of gotten tired of looking for my perfect hat. I knew what it should look like, but it didnt seem to exist. But now I've found it, available from two manufacturers. Yes, I am a big-time Indy fan, and will have probably a Fed, and hopefully soon.

 

[TopSpin]

I was always interested in the Golden Age, so hats just came naturally. It doesn't hurt that I'm a journalist...you can get away with a hat if you're in the press corp.

 

[mmccabe]

I've worn some form of cap off and on for a lot of years. I started with ball caps at work to keep my longish hair under control and for a little extra bump protection.

A few years ago, I started going to a local blues CD store/hat shop. That's when I decided, why not be different. You don't stand out by wearing the same thing as everyone else. If I'm going to wear a hat, why not a fedora? If I'm going to wear a jacket, why not a sport coat? So, slowly, I'm collecting fedora's both felt and straw. One does get noticed and one does get treated differnetly that the old run of the mill John Deere cap.