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How do folks react to your hat wearing?

I was at a drive up with the wife last week when the young man kept smiling, looking at me, fumbling with our order. Finally he said "I really like your hat!", I said "thank you" then asked for our drinks..and he apologized for his distraction as he handed us the rest of our order....

This time the hat was my NOS OR clone Biltmore "Wilderness" which had received similar comments several times that day.

Here it is (I did a Truman pinch on this one):
1731270516942.png
 

Trouser Bark

One of the Regulars
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I exist in your head
I rec'd my first fedora style hat roughly ten days ago and was concerned about wearing one as they're a huge change from anything I've previously worn on my head.

That concern was completely unfounded.

As a first move I disregarded wise counsel and wore the hat on a multi-stop plane ride of several thousand miles each way. He was right... that wasn't my smartest move however, the comments started racking up almost immediately. As soon as I boarded the plane I immediately rec'd two compliments. During a roughly 10 day trip I rec'd several more including one woman that walked over from a long way off to tell me thank you; her grandfather wore a hat similar and she kept it on her wall. My hat reminded her of a man long gone and it definitely brightened her day.

I rec'd several kind remarks. It was common that someone would recall having seen me prior but what they really noticed was not me, it was the hat. I'd guess that I rec'd more than a dozen compliments of a kind over ten days of wearing that hat and no one made any odd remarks. What I also noticed in the airport was that several would stare. Sometimes men, sometimes women and I'm guessing that several were pondering whether or not they might be able to pull one off themselves.

If you're thinking about doing something similar just go for it. If you're on the younger side and are concerned about what others say or think recall the following...

In our 20's we're concerned about what others think of us.

In our 30's we decide not to be bothered by what they think of us..

In our 40's we realize they were rarely thinking of us at all..

Go for it and enjoy yourself.
 

Trouser Bark

One of the Regulars
Messages
221
Location
I exist in your head
I've noticed something else that's happened often enough now that it's definitely related.

People are generally a little kinder to a man w/ a gray beard and a fedora than they are to the same guy w/out. At the post office women hold the door for me and then say something about 'oh, you don't have to run'. Another woman behind the counter attempts familiar conversation instead of "NEXT"!

There's a difference... and I like it.
 

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