If you could only wear one hat, what color would be ideal?

[pjt113]

I have a oxblood Fedora from Falcon Park I would choose

 

[EliasRDA]

OKay, to you gents that have the oxblood or the blue grey.. what colors & styles do you normally team them up with?
Earth tones? Greys? Blacks? Other? And Suits? Sport Coats? Khakis? Jeans?

I'm trying to figure out if I should put aside a couple hundred from a end of month sales closing to purchase either a "mass" produced or a "custom" hat & the color is the big stopper for me. I already have the Caribou Grey "older" Stratoliner & am very happy with it, just waiting for it to cool down here enough to wear it again.

I find it that many here say to go with a grey instead of a brown, but since the OP says he wears a lot of "business" casual & earth tones it doesn't surprise me, I figured topping that with a brown hat would be too much. But eh, what do I know, I'm very much a "novice" in this.

 

[OddHatter]

Hello All and thanks for all the great insights! I just wanted to touch base and let you all know what I've finally done: I did what I'm sure you all would've guessed - I went with BOTH of the most common choices here... like any good FLer would.

I ordered a brown beaver Raider from Penman and the Fed IV from Hats Direct in charcoal as I already have a light grey Stetson (Soverign it says in the liner - but I think that's more a quality than style designation) that I love but have found tough to actually match with my most common wears. I've been going toward my brown "Indy" type fedora most often, hence the Penman in dark brown. I couldn't shake wanting a darker grey so I finally quite fighting myself and clicked buy on the Hat's Direct site for the charcoal Fed IV as I'm sure, based on the comments about this lid in the lounge, I'm sure I'll be loving that one, too.

I guess everyone here is right (and psychic), I can't have/wear just one! Thanks, again for the time and insights.

 

[OddHatter]

I must admit, EliasRDA, that I found myself wearing my brown fedora more and more as it just felt "right". The light grey didn't seem to "work" with the khakis/jeans I wear most often. I'm sure it's just me but the brown lid seemed to coordinate better in the mirror. Of course, the "where's your whip, Indy?" comments increased proportionally - but what are ya gonna do?

I figure when a man makes that decision to wear a fedora in this day and age he's gotta develop the spine to live with that decision. And that has been the greatest challenge of all for me, but I have been finding that the more I wear my hats, the more confident I get not just in my look, but in myself. Reading posts and seeing the pictures of all those great hats here in the lounge has also gone a looong way to boosting my confidence. Truth is, switching to fedoras has probably been the best decision I've made in quite a while - yeah, I got a "boring" life - so in that respect, I guess color doesn't matter as much as courage. Know what I mean?

 

[Edward]

I figure when a man makes that decision to wear a fedora in this day and age he's gotta develop the spine to live with that decision. And that has been the greatest challenge of all for me, but I have been finding that the more I wear my hats, the more confident I get not just in my look, but in myself. Reading posts and seeing the pictures of all those great hats here in the lounge has also gone a looong way to boosting my confidence. Truth is, switching to fedoras has probably been the best decision I've made in quite a while - yeah, I got a "boring" life - so in that respect, I guess color doesn't matter as much as courage. Know what I mean?

This, a thousand times this. For any of us wearing a fedora nowadays, there are a few things I would suggest are essential:

1] Accept that you like sticking out just a little bit - hey, if all you really wanted to blend in, you'd dress like them, right?

2] Get used to it. It's surprising how nonchalent you can be looking outlandish to the average person on the street if you are confident enough to just shrug and think, 'yeah, these are my clothes'. This confidence comes with experience... There was a time when I was very self-conscious of co-respondents, or wearing a hat... these days, meh - I'll wear a beret on the nightbus (unorthodox as it is, I actually love a black beret with white or black tie in the party season... to my eye, a little bit of Old Hollywood glamour, and so much easier to deal with in a nightclub than a fragile top hat that every drunk girl in the palce wants to try on....). Of course, I have to acknowledge that I had a head start on this; once you've gotten blase about being on public transport in London in full Doctor Frank'n'Furter drag, heels, fox fur an' all, anything else is a breeze...

3] One thing never to lose sight of: most people mean well, however inane their comments. I have a neighbour who always calls me cowboy when she sees me in a fedora. She doesn't mean anything by it; that's just her frame of pop culture reference for a wide-brimmed, fur felt soft hat. Most people really aren't trying to insult, they're just limited in their field of connection to the wardrobe we like. That emo kid that you called "Sid Vicious" last week probably feels pretty much the same as you do when someone says "Oi! Al Capone!". Sure, there are a small number of twits who want to shout mean things, but really... they're rare. Increasingly so, in my experience, though I do live in an especially cosmopolitan part of London.

In all honesty, I wouldn't mind the Doctor Jones thing... I've never gone out of my way to do full Indy Adventurer-drag (I tend to wear a cap with my Wested Raiders), but I'm one of the many, many folks around my age in this community who probably first came to appreciatre a fedora because of Indy. He looked great - hell, I'm fairly certain my love of tweed and bow ties for office dress (I'm an academic myself) is a direct influence. I'd been ripping off his fact vs philosophy line in my libel law classes for three years before I twigged that's what I was doing... One day, though, I'll have a tailor make me a bespoke run at the suit he wears in the university sequences in the early part of Raiders... Insy's very much one of my style icons. Only on screen, though.... off-set, alas, dear Mr Ford ain't much of a snappy dresser.

 

[Zombie_61]

1] Accept that you like sticking out just a little bit - hey, if all you really wanted to blend in, you'd dress like them, right?

This is off-topic, but I'm convinced this is why clothing stores like The Gap, Banana Republic, and Old Navy are so popular--they're for people who have no sense of individual style. They can go to any of these stores, buy the same clothes that all of their friends are wearing (because they shop there too), and they'll automatically blend in. shakeshead

 

[jlee562]

This is off-topic, but I'm convinced this is why clothing stores like The Gap, Banana Republic, and Old Navy are so popular--they're for people who have no sense of individual style. They can go to any of these stores, buy the same clothes that all of their friends are wearing (because they shop there too), and they'll automatically blend in. shakeshead

Well, the new trend is "normcore," (really!), and Gap's tagline this season is "dress normal."

 

[Zombie_61]

Well, the new trend is "normcore,"...

I've never heard that term before, but I neither follow nor set trends--never have, never will--so that's not surprising. lol

 

[KingAndrew]

Zombie--I too found the "normcore" idea pretty absurd when I heard about it. I also wonder why we need an ad urging us to "dress normal." I mean, if it's normal, most folks are already doing it. Next week, I unleash my "breathe air" campaign...

Elias--I'm sorry I didn't see your post until now. My oxblood hat has a maroon/burgundy wide ribbon and bound brim. If my tie, sweater, or shirt involves red or pink tones, I definitely reach for that hat. But I have worn it and received compliments with my brown tweed double-breasted suit, with my navy pinstripe, and with my grey herringbone jacket. So I find it's really versatile. The purple/blue tones in the felt really come out when I pair it with a blue shirt or jacket. It is easily my wife's favorite of my many hats.

By the way, I have always been pleasantly surprised at how well a brown hat goes with a navy suit. I discovered this in college, when I accidentally grabbed the wrong hat one morning and realized it worked much better than the black one I had intended. My oxblood has a similar "surprising in a good way" effect.

My work clothes tend towards the dressy (I wear a tie daily), but I've worn the oxblood with more casual attire as well. It is at home with khakis and sports shirts as well as suits.

 

[31 Model A]

Earth tones in brown and greens.............in Newsboys, they are all I wear both in character or modern street clothes today.

 

[jkingrph]

I like Arkubra's Bluegrass Green

 

[RJR]

Akubra BG is very versatile.

 

[WesternHatWearer]

A bit late but my vote would be for black. It was the first color I purchased and the one I wear the most often in regard to hats.

 

[Florida_Marlin]

Silverbelly

 

[Benzadmiral]

Hello All and thanks for all the great insights! I just wanted to touch base and let you all know what I've finally done: I did what I'm sure you all would've guessed - I went with BOTH of the most common choices here... like any good FLer would.

I ordered a brown beaver Raider from Penman and the Fed IV from Hats Direct in charcoal as I already have a light grey Stetson (Soverign it says in the liner - but I think that's more a quality than style designation) that I love but have found tough to actually match with my most common wears. I've been going toward my brown "Indy" type fedora most often, hence the Penman in dark brown. I couldn't shake wanting a darker grey so I finally quite fighting myself and clicked buy on the Hat's Direct site for the charcoal Fed IV as I'm sure, based on the comments about this lid in the lounge, I'm sure I'll be loving that one, too.

I guess everyone here is right (and psychic), I can't have/wear just one! Thanks, again for the time and insights.

Applause for your choices. While I don't have a Penman, I do have a vintage dark brown Royal Stetson that is my favorite; a vintage silverbelly OR/Strat model; and a charcoal Fed IV (among others). All of them work with a wide range of clothing colors and styles.

BTW, charcoal hats seem to go well with beige or tan suits/sport jackets/windbreakers.

 

[Socially Distorted]

I recently bought a Jaxon blues trilby in "Pecan" just for the colour, and I have to say it really goes with almost everything. Blue grey sports coat, grey suit, black jacket...If I could find a nicer fur felt in the exact colour I'd be a happy man!

 

[Bushman]

Caribou. I bought a Stetson Chatham as my first ever high end hat in caribou, and since then and become very fond of the color.

 

[EggHead]

I kinda like mid brown, various shades.

 

[John T. Sarto]

Gray with maybe a hint of blue, like Art Fawcett's Blue Smoke, and a black ribbon.

 

[Bad Co]

I voted Silverbelly last year but the more silverbelly my hair gets I'm changing that vote to Black