How did you start wearing hats?

[Shade]

I got into hats when I was tired of seeing everyone in a baseball hat. I didn't want to look like everyone else...so, i bought myself a nice gray fedora. Needless to say, I feel in love with it. I'll never go back to baseball caps.

My equation:

Fedora + Average Joe = Classy lol

 

[jamespowers]

Fedora + Average Joe = Classy lol

Sort of the whole equation for the Lounge.
Average Joe + Fedora Lounge = Stylish and Classy.
Go from Homer to Cary in five easy steps.

Regards,

J

 

[LolitaHaze]

Hmm... Well, I always liked the look of woman in the 40's wearing hats and I have never shyed away from fashion risks, so when I started to dress vintage on a more regular basis I embraced the hat with open arms. Wait can you embrace with open arms... :eusa_doh: Anyway, I not knowing much about hats I started with 50's hats, but then focused my attention more on the attention getting 40's hats.

 

[Manny Tavares]

Thanks for the welcome K.D. I started wearing hats about 8 months ago. Really, I just looked in the mirror and saw a beat up baseball cap that said Raiders and I said to myself; "it's time to throw that nonsense away and wear something that makes you stand out". So I decided to try out a porkpie hat for work. I'm a truck driver and it seems to fit in with my khaki ensemble. Then I started looking at other hats and thought; "hmmm, this might turn out to be a nice little hobby". I'm glad that there's so many knowledgable people on this forum.

Manny

 

[ginobarracuda]

I can thank the heavy rains here in So.Cal in February '05.
I didn't have a umbrella, but I came across an old IJ fedora that I bought about 10 years ago off the Queen Mary.

I got some (unexpectedly) nice comments on it and have ended up buying about 6 more hats.

My current favorite is the Jaxon Iconoclast that I picked up in February in Long Beach. :fedora:

 

[MoggyMan]

New Member

Hello Group! My name is Don Moggy, and I've only recently discovered this forum. I didn't find an "Introduction to the Group" thread, so I decided this might be an appropriate place for a first post.

I've always had a love of vintage clothing, probably ever since playing dress-up on Halloween, wearing one of my Dad's fedoras (Mom would insert a cut-out piece of styrofoam so they'd fit). As I grew to adult hood and started to wear business suits for work, I just felt better in vintage clothing, as it seemed to fit me better, and as a result I thought I looked better. Even today, I still wear a double breasted suit or blazer over high waisted trousers or slacks, because I choose to, and because I choose not to be a slave to whatever's current. A hat is simply a must - it completes the look, but even more than that, makes me FEEL distinguished.

So there you have it - I'm positive I'll learn a lot from everyone here, and can't wait to explore every nook and cranny. One question, though, if I might: Is there a "chat" feature on this board, where one might engage other members in conversation?

Thanks for listening!

Don

 

[deanglen]

Welcome to the Lounge!

dean

 

[RBH]

Welcome MoggyMan !!!

you are gonna love it here

 

[Fatdutchman]

Hello! I am new here as well. A forum about Fedoras...HOLY COW!!!

It was 1981. I was 10 years old. Raiders of the Lost Ark. It was the greatest thing since Star Wars. I had to have a hat. My grandfather was a deputy sheriff back in the '70's and he let me play with his hat. A very good quality stiff (almost bulletproof) brown beaver hat. I popped the brim down and mashed a pinch in the front, and Voila', I had my own Indy hat. I soon grew out of the hat (6 7/8..Pa had a small head. I still have the hat, thank goodness!), and grew out of Indiana Jones...well, sort of. I always maintained an interest for Indy. Started listening to 30's and 40's music when I was in high school (still do). Sometime in high school, I bought a cheap wool Australian hat. Dark brown, "C" crown, and the closest thing I could find to Jones' hat. Shortly thereafter, I bought a gray "western style fedora", that I wore off and on to this day (I have since cut the 3 1/8" brim down to 2 1/2" on the sides, and 2 3/4" front and back, and right now, Jimmy Pierce has it to reblock the hat to a less tapered form, and to resize the hat down...it was always a tad large for me). I have for years worn a "fedora style" straw hat every day in the summer (I worked in construction), and still wear one at the lumberyard where I currently work. I have recently "rediscovered" ol' Indy, and have bought myself a couple of Akubra Federations (one gray, one brown). Eventually, I'll end up getting myself the "gold standard" Adventurebilt! I've been wearing my Akubra every day the last few weeks. Rain or shine.

Can one have too many hats? Nah, that's crazy talk!

 

[Feng_Li]

It rains constantly in the Pacific Northwest, but for some reason only tourists (and particularly Californians) carry umbrellas, or so goes the popular mythology. My everyday hat used to be one of these:

I love that hat; it's marvelously functional, completely waterproof and breathable, and impossible to lose. It has kept my head dry in Oregon, German, English and Scottish rainstorms that lasted hours (incidentally, I think "sombrero" is a misnomer. It seems to me that it isn't a sombrero, it's a <a href="http://clearwaterhats.com/civilwar1.htm">slouch hat</a>). Unfortunately, it isn't really suitable for wear with the shirt and tie I now wear to work. And, in the words of my brother, it makes me look like a total dork. He's being uncharitable, of course, but I can't say he's wrong.

My new everyday hat is a gray Stetson.

 

[Roaring Days]

Well,

Like most young boys growing up in Australia, I played Cricket from a young age (A wonderful game, will explain to all of the yanks some time what it is), and everyone had on a 'Greg Chappell" Cricket Hat for fielding, also I was a 'cub' and a 'Scout' and we all had hats for those.

Around 19-20 I was doing a lot of fishing and camping trips with my friends, really just an excuse to go and drink a lot of beer, so I got a bush style hat. It became my drinking/camping hat. I lost that one but soon bought my Akubra Snowy River as the replacement. I have now moved to Melbourne and catch public transport and work in the city dressed in a suit. I could think of nothing better to top off my suits, protect my head from the sun and to look stylish that to now wear my 'Bogart', but I suppose the biggest reason is that I have a 2yo girl and one due in Sept and with skin cancer being so common here in Australia, I would like to think that I can help to avoid these problems and be around for a long time for my kids by wearing my hat also I want to show them the example of the importance of hat wearing. I don’t know about other countries but I find it odd that here in Aust, we stress that our children wear hats to go out in the sun, yet we adults don’t. You see many schools around here that make the hat a part of the uniform in summer and parents are very diligent about their kids wearing them, yet do not do the same themselves.

Cheers,

 

[MattJH]

I was watching Miracle On 34th Street this past Christmas and saw Kris Kringle walking around with a homburg:

...and that was that. No interest in Indiana Jones, film noir, vintage clothing, etc. I just really like the feel of wearing a good hat.

 

[nulty]

My interest in The Hat came out of becoming a parent at a young age. I've always been non traditional in most ways and parenthood for me was no different. I needed a touchstone and that toichstone was my Grandfather. I came of age in the early 70's but back in the 60;s when my grandfather was alive he and all my uncles wore The Hat. Stingies, wide brims old sweated up farm jobs all kinds. These old geezers didn't care what kind of bash they used or
how wide the brim was. The hat being on their head was enough for them to walk out the door in the morning.

I grew up around these guys and I miss them all every day. The scent of vitalis mixed with my Grandfathers sweat band is a scent I carry with me to this day.

One of these old guys is still around at 88 yeras young. Uncle Bob flew a B-17 in WW II. He saw the enola gay on a tarmac once. Uncle Bob wore The Hat.

I had been waearing hats for years and Unlce Bob would comment now and again if he liked one. When my Dad passed a few years ago I wore a narrow brim black fedora to the funeral as it was the only black fedora I owned.

After the funeral at the house the drink was flowing and Unlce Bob ina quiet moment asked me where I got atht hat and why did I wear hast anyway...
I told him " I wear a hat because my Grandpa Deke wore a hat"..Bob just kind smiled and looked at me a few sweconds and said " Thank You" The he got a wider grin on his face and said " Well he wouldn't of worn that one"..

what a guy......

 

[hargist]

I started wearing fedoras fairly recently. I've always admired the look, but never thought it was something I could pull off. Then I started swing dancing and fell into it hard. Hanging around the swing clubs, I began to get used to seeing fedoras, but I didn't take the leap until I went out with a friend one rainy night and he was wearing one. I thought it looked really good on him and told him so.

Not long after that, I bought my first fedora and haven't looked back. Now I wear one daily and it feels more uncomfortable when I don't wear one.

My mom recently sent the picture below of my grandfather and she says she can see a strong resemblance. He died when I was a baby, but I think I can see it too.

I believe this pic was taken sometime in the late 40's or early 50's. It's Kodachrome so the colors are still vibrant today!

 

[WEEGEE]

Relative

What a resemblance between you and your Grandfather.

You both wear hats with comfort and authority.

 

[staggerwing]

About 20 years ago I was in a department store. For some reason, the had a couple no-name fedora-style hats. I picked one up, I put it on, I looked in the mirror, and I was hooked.

 

[hargist]

What a resemblance between you and your Grandfather.

You both wear hats with comfort and authority.

Hey, thanks! I wish I knew him.

 

[mingoslim]

Like the BIG MAN, I grew-up in the 60s, the tail-end of the hat wearing era. Although my Dad seldom wore a hat, both of my Grandfathers did . . . one a brown Dobbs stingy brim, and the other an olf Stratoliner, or similar broad brim . . . And, also like the BIG MAN, as a youngster my Sunday dress cloths included a young man's hat.

My play as a kid often involved Hats as well . . . a train engineers hat for playing trains . . . a cowboy hat for playing cowboys . . . a soldier hat for playing army . . .

But I didn't wear hats regularly until High School, and then I was "role-playing" as well . . . I was a bit of an outsider. Some might have called me a theatre geek. I wore a bowler with a vintage waistcoat most of my sophmore year. A top hat on occassion . . . I had a straw skimmer I wore in the summer . . .

As for the Fedora, if I had any inspiration there it would probably be the Shadow, although I have never been able to carry off a broad-brim black hat. Still it was the image on those old pulps that first intrigued me, and then had me trying to emmulate it as best I could.

But as time lapsed, and I matured, I dropped the "roles" in favor of the ONE role . . . me . . . and it has been pretty consistant ever since. And the fedora has been a part of my public persona . . .

Interestingly, after high school I had an aborted acting career (which I spent more of wating tables than trodding the boards) . . . When I finally decided to go to college, I ended up studying archaeology . . . and was a pretty good student, and sdid work overseas in Greece, Turkey and Jordan. The fedora was practical, sturdy and looked GREAT in the feild! And all this BEFORE Indiana Jones made the fedora a mainstay of the public image of the archaeologist.

 

[kindofblue]

I first got a driver's cap about a year ago. I started wearing it, and really grew attached to it. I saw a fedora in a store, and thought, I think I want a fedora. When I went back to buy it, it was gone. So I started looking on the internet, and came across vintage fedora's and loved them!

So I looked on e-bay, and found a good Borsalino in my size.....and bought it for a great price. That was last month......and now I have an urge to get another fedora....or perhaps a bowler.

In the process of looking for vintage hats on the internet, I came across this place!

I still need to post pics of me in my fedora....but have not taken any yet.

 

[Lancealot]

I had a combination of influences.

To start it was Indiana Jones which made me want a fedora.

Then there was the movies Tombstone and Wyatt Earp that led me to cowboy hats.

Then has mingoslim mentioned there was The Shadow which combined both for me. The wide brimmed hat but the fedora bash and ribbon.

Then I came across this sight and have really gotten the bug for classic hats and clothes.