Is there a limit?

[GA Wildlifer]

Me too

I want one but can't bring myself to wear a boater.

I have one, but it never seems to be the right time to wear it.

Robert

 

[jake_fink]

Boater Chickens!!!

Originally Posted by budward
I want one but can't bring myself to wear a boater.

Rent these two films:

http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0305206/

http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0109508/


And may Robert Crumb inspire you.

I wore my boater once. It was quite a conversation piece.

 

[penfencer]

I bought my boater a couple of years ago. I only wear it when I sit out on my patio.
It's funny how grown men will wear cheap ballcaps backwards but not be caught dead wearing a classic.

 

[Benny Holiday]

I think the thing to consider is that the style of the 30's and 40's is about 70 years in the past. How would a man in, say, 1935 look if he wore clothing styled from 1860?

Something to think about ...

Big Man, you just made me realize how weird I really am!lol

I'm a fedora man, and I also love the wide-brimmed 'tando' style when I'm wearing a zoot suit. While I see nothing wrong with boaters, derbys, or homburgs, and can admire them on some of my fellow Loungers, they're just not me, just as, I'd say, tandos and zoot suits arent everyone's cup of tea here.

What I don't get is the rapper/homie look with the oversized beanie. There are turkeys who wear that get-up here in summer when the temperature's in the high 90's. Makes me feel like I'm breaking out in a heat rash just looking at them.

 

[johnnycanuck]

Ok lets throw this out there then. What do you think of Johnny Depp in his hats? Maybe Mos Def in his? Kid Rock has no fear wearing a Homburg. To many pop stars to mention run around in trilby hats. A number of Bluegrass artists wear bowler and Boater hats. Rap, Hip hop, R&B, Blues, Jazz almost any hat goes with these artists. Why is it acceptable for them to wear any hat they want and not the average Joe?
Johnny.

 

[jake_fink]

Why is it acceptable for them to wear any hat they want and not the average Joe?

They wear them when they are performing or when they are having their pictures taken. Do bluegrass artists wear their bowlers and boaters when they go to the 7-11 or when they pick their kids up at school, or when they eat at the Outback Grill or etc.?

 

[Baron Kurtz]

I contend that it is accceptable for Average Joe to wear whatever he wishes. Average Joe (and his pals Normal Dave and Typical Bob) may not agree with me ... and tend to voice their opinions rather loudly.

bk

 

[Senator Jack]

I had come into a boater when I was about 18, and that was in the very early 80s. I wore it around a bit, here in NYC, and in the boater/bowler tally for weird looks from passersby, the boater far outpaced the bowler. I see a few men in their 60s and older wearing the boater with seersucker suits and, because it looks right, I don't think anyone gives them the eye. Maybe you just need grey hair to pull it off without being considered weird.

In the current bowler experiment (my first bowler since 1991) I'm finding that most people don't even know what sort of a hat it is - what it's called - or who wore it or when it was around. You should think I'd get comments like 'Laurel & Hardy" or "Chaplin" but it seems people don't even think of them. I'm currently working out an article about this adventure of mine, for it's been an interesting one. I believe the black male and the the Asian female are able to wear the bowler about without getting the eye (I've seen both) but the white male is thought to be eccentric. Ah, but wasn't it up till last year that the fedora was thought eccentric too? And now look at the hipsters under them.

I stopped caring about 'the eye' years and years ago ('the fist' however is another thing, as when a street gang perceives you to be not quite right); if you want to wear a boater, wear a boater. To hell with the public, what do they know?

Courage,

Senator Jack

 

[Twitch]

I think a Pinocchio hat is over the top.............:eusa_doh:

 

[jamespowers]

I have one, but it never seems to be the right time to wear it.

Robert

I'll wear mine tomorrow and think of you.

Regards,

J

 

[Senator Jack]

Posted by Twitch:

I think a Pinocchio hat is over the top.............

Unless it's worn by a guy in a suit, I don't think the Pinocchio hat would get too many looks nowadays. Again, the Cat in the Hat hat is fairly ubiquitous, as is the jester's hat (some company began producing these in the early 90s) I see people wearing them all the time. Do I think it odd? Certainly. But no one else seems to. ("Oh, those wacky kids.")

Summarily, it's not the hat, it's the package. The Asian girl I saw in the bowler (a cheap one) had it on with typcial downtown hipster garb. I can presume she didn't get too many looks. On the other hand,

I just posted this pic the other day at the overcoat thread, but I believe it to be good example. You can imagine the 'look' tally between Asian girl and me. I think it would be safe to guess mine is a bit higher. If I had just been wearing jeans and a leather jacket, maybe not as much - I don't know.

I once saw a 30ish man wearing a boater, eton collar shirt, tie, dress shorts, BLACK SOCKS and GARTERS!. He also sport a pair of round Harold Lloyd glasses. Yes, I gave him the once over, but it wasn't 'the eye', it was just to say 'good work'.

On the other hand, just outside the bank this morning, I spot a 6.5 foot tall man, somewhere in his 40s, dressed head to toe as some sort of heavy metal wizard replete with black round sunglasses and what appeared to be a woman's black hat. Was he eccentric, crazy, or was that just his look? Side by side, who would appear more insane? The guy who just looked like he was from another time, or the one who looked like he came from the planet Zorn?

(Yes, I know. We already had that long thread about the difference between image and insanity (remember the kid with the tie outside his sweater?))

Regards,

Senator Jack

 

[Dixon Cannon]

I bought one...

,,, of those big foam rubber cowboy hats like Jim Carrey wore in 'Dumb & Dumber".

I love the thing but I only where it at night, the second Tuesday of each week. -dixon cannon

 

[GentlemanFarmer]

Sombero

I really would like a real nice authentic Mexican charro sombero. I'm not talking about the ones the mariachi band guys wear with the silver thread.

 

[Clyde R.]

I have an nice English made deerstalker that I've had for many years...you know, the "Sherlock Holmes" hat.

I got it when I was a kid for a song back when I collected "interesting" hats.

I don't wear it much