KingAndrew
A-List Customer
- Messages
- 312
- Location
- Shanghai
I've been wearing hats my whole life. When I was a toddler, I sported an engineer's cap to go with my overalls. And I liked to try on my grandad's straw stingies when I visited him in Florida. But most of the time I would top things off with an old green felt hat my father had picked up in Germany when he was in the Army. That hat eventually disappeared and was replaced by a tan cloth "fishing hat" with a plaid band, a flat top, and a fairly stingy brim. I always dreamed of a top hat, but other than a plastic one that came in a magic set, that dream went unfulfilled in childhood.
My first real fedora was a surprisingly nice looking brown wool number from Burlington Coat Factory. This was the early 80s, so it was obviously intended to ride the coattails of Indiana Jones. But I was in middle school and just saw it as a chance to pick up a nice hat that I would want to wear in the future. I still have the hat, and it still looked great until last year, when it got attacked by moths after being put in storage for several months.
As a high-schooler I was too busy sculpting my hair for much hat wearing. But I did manage to pick up a green Tyrolean hat of my own when I visited Europe on a school trip in the mid-80s. I still have that hat, too. It's in fine shape and I wore it last week when I gave a guest presentation to the German class at my school.
On my 21st birthday, I finally bought myself a top hat. I wore that same hat to my wedding 16 years later.
In my junior year of college, I cut my hair and started trying to look employable. Once I had short hair and a suit, I felt like I needed a good hat to finish the look. I began to wear the old brown Burlington hat, and picked up fedoras in other colors, too. A black derby and a panama, too. At this point all my felts were still wool. Finally, I picked up a very nice Dynafelt Bollman at JC Penney for about $25. It was steel grey with a 1950s style welted stingy brim. I finally saw how much nicer fur felts were.
The stable of hats I assembled in college served me for years, but I've recently started to upgrade. I bought an Akubra Fed IV in moonstone grey last year. And this summer I finally made the pilgrimage to Optimo in Chicago. Now that I can afford to go custom, I decided to really go for it. I got an amazing panama and lovely milan, which I have been wearing daily since I returned to Shanghai. And there are three felts making their way from Chicago to me in China as I write. And since my once-thick hair is now more of a fringe, I certainly won't be giving up hats now.
My first real fedora was a surprisingly nice looking brown wool number from Burlington Coat Factory. This was the early 80s, so it was obviously intended to ride the coattails of Indiana Jones. But I was in middle school and just saw it as a chance to pick up a nice hat that I would want to wear in the future. I still have the hat, and it still looked great until last year, when it got attacked by moths after being put in storage for several months.
As a high-schooler I was too busy sculpting my hair for much hat wearing. But I did manage to pick up a green Tyrolean hat of my own when I visited Europe on a school trip in the mid-80s. I still have that hat, too. It's in fine shape and I wore it last week when I gave a guest presentation to the German class at my school.
On my 21st birthday, I finally bought myself a top hat. I wore that same hat to my wedding 16 years later.
In my junior year of college, I cut my hair and started trying to look employable. Once I had short hair and a suit, I felt like I needed a good hat to finish the look. I began to wear the old brown Burlington hat, and picked up fedoras in other colors, too. A black derby and a panama, too. At this point all my felts were still wool. Finally, I picked up a very nice Dynafelt Bollman at JC Penney for about $25. It was steel grey with a 1950s style welted stingy brim. I finally saw how much nicer fur felts were.
The stable of hats I assembled in college served me for years, but I've recently started to upgrade. I bought an Akubra Fed IV in moonstone grey last year. And this summer I finally made the pilgrimage to Optimo in Chicago. Now that I can afford to go custom, I decided to really go for it. I got an amazing panama and lovely milan, which I have been wearing daily since I returned to Shanghai. And there are three felts making their way from Chicago to me in China as I write. And since my once-thick hair is now more of a fringe, I certainly won't be giving up hats now.