It's about time we define "fedora"

[Yeps]

Can't we play nice and get along?

I think we were getting somewhere. I think we established that a Fedora is a soft crown hat with some lengthwise crease.

Now how about brim. Does width matter?

Historically homburgs and fedoras have been synonymous, is a brim curl now against the rules?

 

[BanjoMerlin]

OK. So which ones ARE FEDORAS?

And WHY is it a FEDORA?

Obviously this is only a very tiny sample. Feel free to select as many as you think are FEDORAS.

 

[danofarlington]

And WHY is it a FEDORA?

Obviously this is only a very tiny sample. Feel free to select as many as you think are FEDORAS.

I say all but 6, 8, 11, and 24.

 

[Mobile Vulgus]

Ugggh

I hate it when people call cloth hats (like 12,13,14,15 above) a fedora! To me they are just cloth hats, NOT fedoras. It it isn't fur felt or wool felt it ain't a fedora to me. I ain't much on straw hats, either, but at least I can see that they are a fedora if shaped right.

 

[mayserwegener]

You can have a Western (8 & 11) with a Fedora (Center) crease although those are pretty shallow.

 

[gtdean48]

And WHY is it a FEDORA?

Obviously this is only a very tiny sample. Feel free to select as many as you think are FEDORAS.

All but #6 are fedoras. Why? Well, #6 is NOT a fedora because it is too FUGLY to be a FEDORA!

 

[danofarlington]

All but #6 are fedoras. Why? Well, #6 is NOT a fedora because it is too FUGLY to be a FEDORA!

When I wear my #6, I usually let the price tag hang out. Anything else would be tacky.

 

[Yeps]

I don't count 1,6, 12-15, or 22 on account of material. Although I am on the hedge about straws (1 might be a fedora, 6 is not. It is terrifying.)

17 is an ugly version of a gaucho, and does not make me think fedora at all.

8 and 11 are fedoras in potential, and the rest are good.

 

[Mobile Vulgus]

That #6

I swear that number six is really a flower pot covering upside down!

 

[donnc]

17 is an ugly version of a gaucho, and does not make me think fedora at all.

You see a flat top? Photo is a little fuzzy, could be. I thought center crease. The brim is unusually flat, with a very plain edge - like a western conversion.

Many of the pictures leave the brim up all the way around, which makes it harder. To me, it can be a fedora with the brim up, but if you can't snap the brim down in front, then it isn't a fedora. Probably all of these can snap down? but don't know for sure from the pictures.

 

[Yeps]

You see a flat top? Photo is a little fuzzy, could be. I thought center crease. The brim is unusually flat, with a very plain edge - like a western conversion.

Many of the pictures leave the brim up all the way around, which makes it harder. To me, it can be a fedora with the brim up, but if you can't snap the brim down in front, then it isn't a fedora. Probably all of these can snap down? but don't know for sure from the pictures.

You are right. It is a little better if it has the crease. The color just seemed wrong for a gaucho. I still don't like it, and it doesn't seem like a fedora.

 

[hatophile]

I think we should just scrap all this and call all hats fedora/bowler/cowboy
hat like as seen in a recent Ebay listing.

 

[scottyrocks]

Please remember that the views expressed below are only my own and are in no way to be taken as verbatim.

2, 8, 11, & 24 are not because the too-thin ribbon makes them westerns.

12, 13, 14, 15 are not because they are not felt, or even straw, which is borderline. A straw is a ‘panama.’

1, and 25 are ‘panamas.’ Can we say ‘straw’ or ‘panama fedora’? Sure, but not just ‘fedora.’

I don’t know what 6 is. A bucket hat? and 17? Not a fedora. Wrong crown shape, no pinch, brim too big.

3, 4 and 20 would be fedoras if given a front pinch, although the brims on them are so short that Im not completely sure.

5 and 18 are the truest fedoras pictured.

The others I haven’t mentioned are fedoras, as well, although the brims fall into that gray area of possibly being too short. Hard to tell without a ruler.

 

[BanjoMerlin]

Not all that many replies but from what we have the only conclusion I can draw is we cannot come up with a definition of "fedora" that would make everyone happy.

BTW, #25 is long-haired felt - not any kind of straw or other vegetable material.

I'm not exactly sure what #6 is but the seller assures us it is a fedora.

 

[scottyrocks]

Not all that many replies but from what we have the only conclusion I can draw is we cannot come up with a definition of "fedora" that would make everyone happy.

BTW, #25 is long-haired felt - not any kind of straw or other vegetable material.

Oh, ok, then that puts it into my fedora category.

I'm not exactly sure what #6 is but the seller assures us it is a fedora.

Ah, ok, so when we're done here there's a bridge in Brooklyn I'd like you to look at.

 

[Genuine Classic Gangster]

I do not know about this subject, so I cannot comment on what is right or wrong about anything in this thread. But I am curious about how other members arrived at some of their conclusions.

The posts on the first page of this thread start with the assumption that straw hats are not fedoras. What is the basis of that assumption?

Why does Optimo in Chicago call their straw hats fedoras, if they are not?

Are the loungers who assert that straw hats are not fedoras saying that Optimo is using erroneous wording when they call their straw hats fedoras?

Does the possibility exist that straw hats are in fact fedoras?

 

[gtdean48]

Fedora is a style of hat like a western.
Hats can be made of different materials = fur felt, wool felt, straw, etc.
A fedora then is a style of hat that can be made out of felt or straw.
Material does not dictate style.
My straw western hat is still as much a western hat as my beaver felt western hat.
Same goes of my fedoras.

 

[TheDane]

A fedora is more or less what you like it to be. The name comes from an old theatre play from the late 1800s - but we're still discussing whether the hat in question was the gentleman's or the lady's hat, and they were pretty different in style. Many hats, called "fedoras" around 1900, were just as close to the Homburg. There is no scientific answer to what a fedora is, but most of us have an idea about it.

You can listen to a piece of Mozart and wonder for five minutes, if it's a polonaise or a mazurka. Instead you could enjoy the music for five minutes and forget about confusing academic details. Enjoy wearing your hat, whether it's a "John" or a "Hubert"

 

[Latoso]

A fedora is more or less what you like it to be. The name comes from an old theatre play from the late 1800s - but we're still discussing whether the hat in question was the gentleman's or the lady's hat, and they were pretty different in style. Many hats, called "fedoras" around 1900, were just as close to the Homburg. There is no scientific answer to what a fedora is, but most of us have an idea about it.

You can listen to a piece of Mozart and wonder for five minutes, if it's a polonaise or a mazurka. Instead you could enjoy the music for five minutes and forget about confusing academic details. Enjoy wearing your hat, whether it's a "John" or a "Hubert"

Amen!