Johnny Depp's Latest Hat...

[g.durand]

I like the way he is taking traditional hat shapes and materials and pushing the envelope style-wise. A lot of us here are traditionalists, but styles are always evolving so I applaud what he's doing. I can see myself wearing quite a few of those hats. I'm with Bowlerman, going to his site is dangerous.

The worst part---I'm only six hours away by car......

 

[bowlerman]

I used to live less than an hour north of his shop, G! Hmm, better plan a visit to see my mom and brother.

Sent from my KFTT using Tapatalk 2

 

[RBH]

I like this one also...

 

[hatophile]

Looks like Clyde Barrow's hat after the ambush.

 

[RBH]

Yep

 

[Tomasso]

So how's it work: He sends you a dirty hat and you send it to another hatter for cleaning.

 

[RBH]

So how's it work: He sends you a dirty hat and you send it to another hatter for cleaning.

No A.C. Lyles that's not the way it works.

 

[Tomasso]

No A.C. Lyles that's not the way it works.

So you wear the dirty hat? Seriously?

 

[splintercellsz]

So you wear the dirty hat? Seriously?

Yes. If people go buy pre-distressed jeans and such, what is the issue with it being done to a hat? I don't mind it at all, all though I am a fan of the daily wear that occurs to an item, not the pre-worn items... I do think it looks interesting though.

 

[ebonysw45]

To me it's like that much loved, read worn pair of jeans, sweater, shirt or jacket. It has a story to tell and you wife or girlfriend has told you multiple times that it is time to retire said item but you cannot quite bring yourself to do so. Used and even abused it has history for the person in question. Your first date, the day your father come home from the war, the birth of your first child. Maybe his hat is like that and not just a dirty and much holed hat.

 

[RBH]

So you wear the dirty hat? Seriously?

Yes AC Lyles some people do.

 

[Fastuni]

To me it's like that much loved, read worn pair of jeans, sweater, shirt or jacket. It has a story to tell

Except that it is "pre-distressed"... and therefore pretentious and without a real story to tell unlike genuinely worn (down) items.

 

[RBH]

Except that it is "pre-distressed"... and therefore pretentious and without a real story to tell unlike genuinely worn (down) items.

Very true.
But to each his own.

 

[ManofKent]

I like a lot of his work on the site. I probably preferred the non-distressed hats, but I'd consider some of the distressed pieces as fun pieces. Yes the distressed ones are a bit like wearing a costume, but there's nothing wrong with a bit of fun sometimes, and few of us lead lives where we could easily get a hat to naturally gain some of those distressed finishes however careless we were.

 

[Tomasso]

Yes AC Lyles some people do.

Is it the role of bartenders to taunt members and edit their posts when they ignore the taunts? Does that make you feel powerful?

 

[Zombie_61]

...few of us lead lives where we could easily get a hat to naturally gain some of those distressed finishes however careless we were.

Easily? Maybe not. But wear them often enough and long enough without being overly particular about stains and regular brushings, and they're bound to eventually start showing signs of wear and tear in one form or another. Now, that could be difficult for someone who has a hat collection large enough that they could wear a different hat every day of the month; you're not going to get that kind of "character" any time soon if you only wear a hat 12 days out of the year. For someone like me who only has three hats (and a fourth on the way), it would be quite a bit easier because they'll get worn far more frequently.

I like the look of a well-used beater hat, but I prefer it when they've earned their scars honestly. Mr. Fouquet's hats are artistic, creative, and interesting, but some of them look too obviously like they were artificially weathered. Of course, if we stopped by his shop and my wife said, "Go ahead and get one if you like it..."

 

[KingAndrew]

Of course, another example of the "pre-distressed" look was the hat Pharrel Williams sported on the Grammy telecast. The recent thread devoted to it involved a similarly polarized set of views, some finding it refreshing and interesting, others seeing it as nothing short of an abomination.

It's interesting to see how deeply most of us feel about a beat-up hat.

Although, I am always a little surprised to see "shabby chic" items being sold for more than one in good repair. However, if we apply the Japanese aesthetic ideas of "wabi-sabi," we may decide that the old beater is far more beautiful than the shiny new item, since the wear, tear, and patches on the old one testify to its long life, usefulness, and the value it has for those who have repaired rather than replaced it. The idea makes sense to me when I'm looking at Raku pottery or a Zen garden. But I've never thought to apply to a ht until just now.

I'll have to put on my "thinking cap" and consider...

 

[TheDane]

I can't speak for America, but here a newbie in an established "crafts-gang" often gets teased about his clean work-clothes, until they are properly broken in. When I worked with theatre lighting, we used thin leather roping-gloves when focussing hot lamps/spots. When the old pair was worn to pieces and replaced, the new pair was artificially soiled/distressed before use. If not - you made yourself an obvious target for joking.

Beard-trimmers that ensure, you don't look newly shaven, are sold by the millions. You can get hair-products that make your newly washed hair look as if you just walked out of the sea. If we don't use that, we often put grease in newly washed hair. Furniture has been artificially distressed ("antiqued" or "patinated") for centuries ... and so on.

Yes, distressing of new goods/looks can indeed seem strange. Not least as some distressing lowers quality and durability. Nevertheless, it's a very well known phenomenon by most of us - even though we don't always recognize some of this as "distressing". Just my 2 cents ...

 

[Andykev]

Is it the role of bartenders to taunt members and edit their posts when they ignore the taunts? Does that make you feel powerful?

Probably no more so than our few select members who have "multiple personality" user ID names....

For what reason some members "play" here under various names (Tomasso, A.C. Lyles...) is beyond me. Perhaps it makes them feel powerful.

 

[Dan Allen]

Except that it is "pre-distressed"... and therefore pretentious and without a real story to tell unlike genuinely worn (down) items.

"pre-distressed" is the normal in the "instant gratification society" that we are unfortunate to live in. The young are in such a hurry to arrive that they totally miss the trip.