How did you start wearing hats?

[Bill Greene]

How I started...

Another new member with their first post:

Growing up, I always loved hats: baseball hats, party hats, Army surplus hats, and those old worn out ones that my parents/grandparents handed down. Although I've always had a lot of hats (of various kinds) I hadn't really worn them that often until a few years ago. For a landscaping project, I bought a "semi-fedora looking" Tilley hat in order to keep from getting a sunburn on my bald spot, and the back of my neck. I short, I loved that hat and it has gone with me almost everywhere.

So from there it was a fairly natural progression to fedoras. I bought my first vintage fedora, a black Resistol stingy, a few years ago but haven't worn it much because it was a bit snug. Recently, I've recommitted myself to it, and just became a member of the Borsalino Brotherhood (although I haven't posted yet there).

I hope to get to know some of you.

 

[Musashi]

I HATE water droplets on my glasses.

AMEN!!! That and avoiding sunburned head are the main reasons i wear hats. Water on the glasses makes me wish i could afford lasik!

 

[Kaonashi]

Another new guy here...

So... let´s see... as a child i really didn´t like wearing ANY kind of hat/cap... then when I was un high school I really liked a baseball cap one of my partners was wearing, so I began wearing caps every other day, then i switched to newsboy caps, then began collecting military visor hats, but since I couldn´t wear those outside and really wanted something different I began purchasing hats... like a year and a half ago... nothing too expensive or special, it´s hard to find any kinf of hat that´s not a cowboy one here, and I´ve only seen like 3 other ppl my age wearing a hat (I´m 27), so now whenever I see a "kind of a fedora" hat i try it on... I´ve visited other cities nearby but it´s all "texanas", however I´ve managed to get a few hats at local clothes store (brandless), I´m really enjoying this winter season wearing my long black coats + a hat/cap =)

 

[Lou]

At another message board, a doctor posted about the skin cancer he regularly sees on men's heads and faces. He concluded that a return to hats was important, and I was sold. I wondered if I would look affected, but all was good once I found the right hat. These days, I see a fair number of guys wearing hats.

 

[Sam Craig]

George Reeves had "super" hats

You mentioned Christopher Reeve wearing the Clark Kent hat, but George Reeves, in "The Adventures of Superman" had the best fedoras.

All the great movies hat great hats — OK, maybe not ALL, but consider:

Jimmy Stewart's Open Road in the FBI Story

Spencer Tracy buying a new hat to impress Katherine Hepburn in Woman of the Year

Bogart standing in the rain in the flashback scene in Casablanca

Jimmy Durante ... all the time with great Cavanaugh brims turned up

Half the fun of watching a great older movie is seeing the terrific hats.

"Here's looking at you, kid!"

 

[rkwilker]

My Dad (my personal hero) was a career military officer and a great wearer of Fedoras. My grandfathers also were members of the club. I just always liked the look and as I grow older I cannot imagine myself without Fedoras. They add a dash of style and class to anything you are wearing and make me feel closer to my Dad. I will gladly carry on the tradition.

 

[Yeps]

When I was little, I would wear one hat or another rather obsessively (cowboy hat when I was little, fedora a little later, greek fisherman's cap at some point, etc.) But it was always essentially costume.
The thing that tipped it for me though was my tendency to lose umbrellas. I had been wearing wide brimmed hats for a while when backpacking and mountain climbing, in order to keep the elements off my face, and then I started wearing a fedora to keep the rain out of my face. Recently, I just kept wearing the fedora, so that now I am almost never seen without it. We will see what happens when the weather warms up. Maybe I will pick up a panama.

 

[PistolPete1969]

I have always been a "hat" person. My grandfather always had an Open Road or two around; one new for "dress" and one beat-up one for "work". I have his Borso that I treasure. There has never been a time I can remember not having a hat

There is just something essentially practical about hats. They finish off an outfit and just add character. I collect military hats and have a few straw hats I wear in the summer

Pete

 

[Dean]

I have a fear of everything above me

 

[Aureliano]

I bought one and put it on my head. [huh]

 

[Pompidou]

I recently, well, a year or two ago, had a dramatic and fairly spontaneous change of self. I went from hermit to socialite, from casual to dressed up, etc - I can hardly recognize the old me, and I say good riddance. I suppose a fedora was just icing on the cake. My dad's a camera collector, and wanted the whole getup of a golden age press photographer, and that entailed a vintage fedora off ebay in short order. I started thinking I'd look pretty cool wearing one. It wasn't long before I got one new from thefedorastore. Now I have a second, a black porkpie hat, in the mail. I sorely hope it arrives tomorrow. I've got a date for valentine's day (you want to talk about 180 changes) and I aim to look incredible for it. My brown indy fedora is nice looking, but relegated to a work-beater. It's perfect for that. Keeps the sun away, looks the part, and I'd like it to actually look worn. This new porkpie is for anything where I need to look elite. I started wearing hats to stand out in a crowd, have confidence, and just plain know I look good. I derive a lot of confidence from things like that - did the same with my sunglasses.

 

[Zombie_61]

I never thought much about hats until I saw Raiders of the Lost Ark for the first time in 1981. I realized I'd always liked fedoras and thought Indy's was just about the best looking hat I'd ever seen, but at that time fedoras were still considered to be an "older gentleman's" hat (in my area, anyway). Also, home computers and the Internet weren't exactly common household items in those days, so my resources were limited. But after seeing Kingdom of the Crystal Skull and being one of those older gentlemen now (sort of) I finally decided to get one of my own. The Internet, some research, and I was the proud owner of an Akubra Fed IV (my first real hat).

But that was summer of 2008. Lately I've been wearing flat caps (Newsboys, specifically) and, for rainy weather and prolonged exposure to sunlight, a Real Deal Brazil recycled tarp hat. Neither type are the "height of fashion", but they suit my purposes nicely.

 

[fluteplayer07]

I started with a Tilley sun hat, then a Tilley winter hat, because I wanted some sun and rain coverage. I was looking for some public opinion on Tilleys, then stumbled upon TFL. Everything snowballed from there. Around that same time, I ordered a Tilley Fedora, my 'starter' fedora. Although it was of horrible quality, I never would be where I am now in hat collecting, without it. Now, two months and 10 hats later, I consider myself a true hat enthusiast.

--flute

 

[Jabos]

Found the Fedora Lounge when looking up info on leather jackets. I clicked the Hats button and now I have ten.

 

[Big_e]

I had never thought about wearing a fedora. I have become more self conscious about protecting my head in the cold and hot weather so I bought a couple of cheap driving caps on ebay. I showed them off in a bike forum and someone suggested to go to this forum.
I've been hooked ever since.
Ernest

 

[daizawaguy]

Found the Fedora Lounge when looking up info on leather jackets. I clicked the Hats button and now I have ten.

Jan 2009...13 monthe and 10 hats....and my wife says I have too many! Gonna tell her about you, if I can, Jabos...lol lol

 

[Tango Yankee]

Jan 2009...13 monthe and 10 hats....and my wife says I have too many! Gonna tell her about you, if I can, Jabos...lol lol

You can tell her about me if you like. I think I'm often used the horrible example of what could be! Check out this thread. I would like to point out that most of my hats are in boxes now so it doesn't look quite that bad. lol

Cheers,
Tom

 

[Shangas]

My father bought a trilby about a month ago. I liked the look of it. So I bought a similar one. I think it looks really good on me.

 

[fenris]

The reason I got into hats is probably one of the most used reasons out there... it's because of Indiana Jones. I was a huge fan of the films since I was a kid, but the obsession with the hat actually started because of Halloween 2009. I wanted to dress up as Indy and one thing led to another and I became hooked with COW.

I got a 2nd-hand Christy's Adventurer from a member at COW and started to get really interested in hats. I'd google stuff about hats and how to care for hats, etc...

I wear my hat everytime I go out. And I do mean everytime. My wife is getting tired of it, though.

I recently found out about the Lounge and immediately got hooked. I want my 2nd hat do be a non-Indy lid.

 

[KY_RudeBoy]

I have always liked hats of some kind. There is a picture of me at about age 5, peeking out from under one of my grandfather's fedoras and sitting in a tiny rocking chair that he made for me. I wore ball caps for decades when I wasn't in work attire (coat and tie) but never bought a fedora or wore a hat to work because of dreaded "hat hair". Last year I developed Alopecia Areata and lost most of my hair. After accepting the disorder and shaving my head, I decided to embrace that little kid in his grand-dad's hat. Once winter set in, I really needed something for warmth. Plus, no more worries of hat hair. I researched fedoras and found this site. I now have 5 fedoras of varying styles and quality. My newest is a Dobbs Glenwood that I received this past Wednesday and has not been off my head except to sleep.

Sorry for the long post but it was hard to boil it all down to just a few sentences.

Cheers!