Want to buy or sell something? Check the classifieds
  • The Fedora Lounge is supported in part by commission earning affiliate links sitewide. Please support us by using them. You may learn more here.

How do folks react to your hat wearing?

Tedquinton

A-List Customer
Messages
455
Location
Teddington Middx UK
I was sitting in the crowd at a rugby match the other day, when from a group of German tourists on I assume a rugby tour came the sound of someone whistling the Raiders' March. I wouldn't have minded had I been wearing one of the Indy style hats of which I own a couple, but I was wearing a Whisky VS in a Bogart style crease:



Sorry for the dreadful picture quality, poor camera in my mobile.

I let it go and they soon grew bored, but I did find it a little annoying. But that apart I generally get positive comments, and I seem to see a lot more hats being worn in recent years, though generally narrow brimmed trilbies or wide brimmed outback style hats seem to predominate, but at the rugby club I attend there are several nice fur felt fedoras worn on a match day.
 

TheDane

Call Me a Cab
Messages
2,670
Location
Copenhagen, Denmark
I wouldn't have minded had I been wearing one of the Indy style hats of which I own a couple, but I was wearing a Whisky VS in a Bogart style crease

If they were born later than the 1950s, anything else would have made me wonder. In 2014 that's the reference most mainstream people have, when it comes to fedoras. Most fedora wearers, participating on these pages, call any cap - slightly resembling the caps, used in baseball - "a ballcap". From most nieches, outsiders are seen as "ignorants" ;)

I'm pretty sure, they didn't have bad intentions. It was maybe just an awkward way to express appreciation ... yes, but that is not a rare thing. Next time, don't get annoyed. Approach them in a smiling and friendly manner and start a hat-chat. It may end up a lot more interesting than the rugby match :)
 
Last edited:

Lt.hats

A-List Customer
Messages
375
Location
Atlanta,ga
I have only been wearing my fedoras full-time for the last five weeks, but I have to say that the overwhelming majority of comments have been positive. I have had a few Dick Tracey comments and a few rare smirks from some strangers, but that sort of thing has never bothered me. So far, I have even had two occasions where I have been stopped and asked where I buy my hats.
 

Tedquinton

A-List Customer
Messages
455
Location
Teddington Middx UK
If they were born later than the 1950s, anything else would have made me wonder. In 2014 that's the reference most mainstream people have, when it comes to fedoras. Most fedora wearers, participating on these pages, call any cap - slightly resembling the caps, used in baseball - "a ballcap". From most nieches, outsiders are seen as "ignorants" ;)

I'm pretty sure, they didn't have bad intentions. It was maybe just an awkward way to express appreciation ... yes, but that is not a rare thing. Next time, don't get annoyed. Approach them in a smiling and friendly manner and start a hat-chat. It may end up a lot more interesting than the rugby match :)

Hi TD

To be honest 'annoyed' is probably too strong. I guess I was just a little put out that I only got the Indiana Jones response when I was wearing that hat and not once when I've worn an Indy style hat!

Had the ground not been so crowded I would have said hello, but it wasn't really possible to get to them as they were a few rows behind me.

Overall I've have a lot of pleasant responses and generally wearing a hat is a positive experience.

Cheers

Greg
 
Messages
12,006
Location
East of Los Angeles
...I guess I was just a little put out that I only got the Indiana Jones response when I was wearing that hat and not once when I've worn an Indy style hat!
I've worn my dark brown Fed IV with my Wested Raiders jacket and never heard an Indiana Jones comment. But since I got my Tawny Fawn Fed IV last year I've had two people ask, "Is that like the one Indiana Jones wore?" while I was wearing it with a tee shirt. [huh]
 

The Fedorable

One of the Regulars
Messages
220
Location
Califonria
I've worn my dark brown Fed IV with my Wested Raiders jacket and never heard an Indiana Jones comment. But since I got my Tawny Fawn Fed IV last year I've had two people ask, "Is that like the one Indiana Jones wore?" while I was wearing it with a tee shirt. [huh]

I wonder if it actually does have something to do with the color in your case.
 

Lotsahats

One Too Many
Messages
1,370
I've gotten a few Indy comments lately, too, but they weren't smart-Alec comments; these were genuine attempts at friendly recognition. While some Indy remarks are disparaging, I've found that they're the only reference point some people have--and they really are trying to say, "Nice hat."

A
 

Landman

One Too Many
Messages
1,751
Location
San Antonio, TX
I received an inaccurate but well intended Indy comment a few weeks ago too. I was wearing a silverbelly Stetson Open Road in a Cattleman's crease with the front brim down. Obviously nothing like an Indy hat!

Of course, when the brim is up on the same hat I get the LBJ comments!
 

T Jones

I'll Lock Up
Messages
6,789
Location
Central Ohio
Some months back I was at our local grocery store wearing one of my Westerns when I noticed a youngster around 4 or 5 (?) staring at me while he was standing next to his mother. He looked up at his mother and said, "He's a real Cowboy". She couldn't help but laugh.
 

itsbruce

Familiar Face
Messages
96
Location
London
The two Indian guys who run my local corner shop love that I wear hats. And tweed. They say "So many British people no longer dress the British way! Keep doing it!" Which is very sweet.
 

Retro Spectator

Practically Family
Messages
824
Location
Connecticut
I dress retro daily, but oddly, I don't get many comments. When I leave the house, I don a sport coat and fedora/panama. People do stare at me like I am from Saturn, but I couldn't care less. The only comments I that I rarely get are complements. I don't go to school, I am home schooled, thus, I don't encounter people my age much. Even if I did go to school, I wouldn't dress any different, regardless of possibly rude comments I might get. I wouldn't care what others thought of how I dressed, because after all, we have the freedom to dress however we please. I did, however, encounter my peers in a driving class. They didn't question my clothes, but the substitute teacher did when the original teacher wasn't there. It wasn't an insult, rather a complement. And after he asked if there was a special occasion, most of the class, including myself, said in unison "He always dresses like that" (but I said I instead of he).
 

The Fedorable

One of the Regulars
Messages
220
Location
Califonria
I dress retro daily, but oddly, I don't get many comments. When I leave the house, I don a sport coat and fedora/panama. People do stare at me like I am from Saturn, but I couldn't care less. The only comments I that I rarely get are complements. I don't go to school, I am home schooled, thus, I don't encounter people my age much. Even if I did go to school, I wouldn't dress any different, regardless of possibly rude comments I might get. I wouldn't care what others thought of how I dressed, because after all, we have the freedom to dress however we please. I did, however, encounter my peers in a driving class. They didn't question my clothes, but the substitute teacher did when the original teacher wasn't there. It wasn't an insult, rather a complement. And after he asked if there was a special occasion, most of the class, including myself, said in unison "He always dresses like that" (but I said I instead of he).

Glad to see those among my generation dressing all dapper. Once you get used to it, it feels great dressing that way.
 
Messages
12,006
Location
East of Los Angeles
I wonder if it actually does have something to do with the color in your case.
That's what I was thinking. Because of the artificial weathering and set lighting, in the movies the hats appear to be quite a bit lighter in color than they actually are, so most people remember Indy's hat as being mid-brown (like the Tawny Fawn) rather than dark brown. Regardless, I just take any comment as a compliment as long as it isn't an obvious insult. :D
 

Rogera

My Mail is Forwarded Here
Messages
3,365
Location
West Texas
I was wearing my pecan VS while walking up the sidewalk that runs parallel to the street in front of my church last Sunday and noticed a car rolling slowly beside me. I looked up and a young man had rolled his window down and yelled to me "man I really like that hat!" and drove off.
 

The Fedorable

One of the Regulars
Messages
220
Location
Califonria
I was wearing my pecan VS while walking up the sidewalk that runs parallel to the street in front of my church last Sunday and noticed a car rolling slowly beside me. I looked up and a young man had rolled his window down and yelled to me "man I really like that hat!" and drove off.

I had a moment like that several months ago, but this was in a Costco parking lot.
 

STEVIEBOY1

One Too Many
Messages
1,042
Location
London UK
Some months back I was at our local grocery store wearing one of my Westerns when I noticed a youngster around 4 or 5 (?) staring at me while he was standing next to his mother. He looked up at his mother and said, "He's a real Cowboy". She couldn't help but laugh.

I have had cowboy comments shouted to me too sometimes, but that has been when I have been wearing my black fedora hat. I also had a positive comment when wearing the black fedora and black jacket over sweater from a couple of youths one of whom said to the other, "Cool Dude" and nice jacket. You don't often get that on the streets of Carlisle in Northern England.
 

Forum statistics

Threads
109,130
Messages
3,074,694
Members
54,104
Latest member
joejosephlo
Top