rebirth of the fedora

[Prince of Cats]

I'm new here, but wanted to pose a question.

If JFK is contributed to the death of the fedora (with his hatless mane showing during the Inaugural Address), then who is considered to give the worthy fedora its rebirth?

Would you say Bond and his trilby, Indy and his famed talisman, or Johnny Depp and his gray fedora (worn in the public's eye now for the last decade)? Or would you name someone else as the hero to this epic cause?

Just trying to pass a hot day in the Arizona heat.

 

[Stoney]

It was Harp player Gene wearing his in front of all of those tourists.

 

[Max Flash]

Jude Law is now often to been seen sporting one as part of the new Dunhill collection. Also, programmes such as Mad Men raise the hat in people's awareness, meaning that in this month's GQ (UK edition), there is at least one hat featured as part of a fashion brand's collection.

You never know, it may mean the hat is making a comeback...

 

[Fletch]

What will come back will most likely be the tight-curled stingy-brim, aka the Short 'N Curly.

It will be the "irony headgear" for a few years and then die off. It will have no "coattails" for other styles, which don't look as stoopit.

 

[scotrace]

Welcome to The Fedora Lounge!



You'll find many threads here that completely refute the notion that JFK killed off hat wearing. This is a very common misconception. President Kennedy, bought, carried and wore a top hat at his inaugural, and there are numerous photos from that day as proof. He removed his hat while speaking, as did every other US President while delivering his inaugural address. JFK did not end hat wearing in the United States. He was part of a trend that began at the turn of the 20th century.

Who is responsible for the renewed interest in wearing brimmed hats? WE ARE!

 

[Prince of Cats]

Scotrace...many thanks for the welcome.

 

[Lefty]

The Great Return of the Hat has been a story sold many, many times. It might flare up a little now and then, but calling it a rebirth is just hope and/or marketing.

 

[Sefton]

The fedora may drift in and out of fashion among the young and trendy,but it's not coming back to the majority of men as a common item. The fedora is dead. Long live the fedora! Oh, and welcome to the (still living) Fedora Lounge!

 

[rrog]

He was part of a trend that began at the turn of the 20th century.

Okay, I'm probably in need of a history lesson here. I thought that men's dress hats, and the fedora in particular, had their heyday in the 20's, 30's and 40's. And then, while still very much worn, they began to fizzle in the 50's. Am I anywhere near being correct on this?


Thanks for clearing this up,
Rick

 

[J. M. Stovall]

I think the rebirth of the hat can be directly attributed to me...and my 8,802 here at the lounge.

 

[Stan]

Yep.

Hi,

The rebirth of hat wearing is due to those of us that like to wear hats.

If you want some other place to point a finger at, try the sun. Lots of people new to hat wearing are doing so because of the sun.

Personally, I've always worn straw hats in the summer because of the sun. I've always worn felt hats in cooler weather as they keep the heat in, and 80% of your heat loss is from your head.

Lose too much heat too quickly, and your body temperature drops, you experience a 'chill' down your spine, and the slightly lower temperature will inhibit your body's immune system operation and at the same time allow for increased replication of virus you're already carrying.

The end result - what is known as a cold.

It's not just an old wives tale that getting a chill leads to a cold!

Well, maybe it *is* an old wives' tale, but those old wives' were pretty darned smart about these sorts of things. :eusa_clap

In the last couple years, with issues surrounding the flu vaccines, there's been a lot of medical advice to 'wear a hat' to ward off the flu.

So, you might could point at cold and flu prevention as well as the sun.

The fact is that a hat was originally just protection for your head from the environment. Later it became part of style. Of course, and why not? All clothing is simply protection from the environment in its most basic form. Might as well have some style to go with the protection, right?

As far as Kennedy and the end of hats, I think it was the advent of styled hair for men in the 1950's that was the real culprit. Once one paid $$$ for a nice style job on his hair, he'd not want to wear a hat any longer. Anyway, that's my own theory.

Then there's the rebel teenager aspect. They let their hair grow because it annoyed the folks, then they styled it, and wouldn't wear suits or hats or any of that, well, just because! lol

I know my dad hated wearing hats. He wore helmets in the Army and then helmets in the race cars for 20 years, and he'd had enough of things on his head all the time. He *did* wear a straw hat when working outside in the sun, though. So there's that one again.

Hmmm. Maybe I like hats because he didn't and I was rebelling? Naw. My dad and I got along just fine, so it wasn't that. It was my early use of helmets (dirt bike, go-cart and snowmobile racing) that caused it. I always wear a crewcut as that's the hair style (can one call a crewcut style?) that is the most comfy under a brain bucket. My head would either get too hot in the summer or too cold in the winter with the helmet off, so I started covering it up with hats!

Later!

Stan

 

[Lefty]

Okay, I'm probably in need of a history lesson here. I thought that men's dress hats, and the fedora in particular, had their heyday in the 20's, 30's and 40's. And then, while still very much worn, they began to fizzle in the 50's. Am I anywhere near being correct on this?


Thanks for clearing this up,
Rick

Rrog,
Check out the link in my first post in this thread. Both the stats and stories show that the hat was dying a slow death long before JFK got out of diapers. Note that the earliest article discussing the dying hat is from 1932.

 

[scotrace]

The trend was pre WWI, with women beginning to show up at the picture shows hatless (which was a scandal). Men followed suit, with college men in the 1920's really getting away from hats. By the early 1930's, Hat Life was complaining about seriously declining hat sales.

 

[Stan]

Hi,

Interesting. Hat Life magazine. Of course, they'd have reported every little trend, wouldn't they?

So, rather than think it had something to to with the WWII vets not wearing hats, it looks like it had more to do with the WWI ones.

I only had one surviving grandfather growing up, and he was in both world wars, and now that I think on it, he never wore a hat.

I had two surviving great-grandfathers and both of them did wear hats. That'd fit in with the trend, all right.

Very enlightening!

Stan

 

[Brad Bowers]

Factor in that the accepted date for peak hat production in the U.S. was 1903, and you have century-long decline.

My guess is a graph of this would show a fairly gradual but steady decline for the first four decades, and then an increasingly steep drop between 1950 and 1970.

So, we pretty much have nowhere to go but up!lol

Brad

 

[warbird]

Okay, I'm probably in need of a history lesson here. I thought that men's dress hats, and the fedora in particular, had their heyday in the 20's, 30's and 40's. And then, while still very much worn, they began to fizzle in the 50's. Am I anywhere near being correct on this?


Thanks for clearing this up,
Rick

The fedora that many of us love had its heyday in that period of the 20's-50's. However most men until some early point in the 20th century wore a hat. Almost no men were w/o a hat for everyday wear. Those styles evolved over time, but almost every man wore one. I think that was the point Scotrace was talking about.

 

[scotrace]

Another reason hat sales declined - ownership of a hat was expensive and troublesome.

 

[rrog]

Well I certainly did get my education today!

ain't neber to ol' too bee lernt somepin!

Thanks guys,
Rick

 

[Stan]

Hi,

You and me both!

A century long decline. I never thought it went on for so long. I really thought it was a post-WWII thing. Must be due to all the movies always showing everyone wearing hats until the late 1950's / early 1960's....

Well, I always say that for a day to truly be a good day, I need to learn something I never knew before. Thanks for making this day a good one for me!

Later!

Stan

 

[kaosharper1]

Infrastructure

You have to really want to wear a hat these days. There's no infrastructure to support wearing one when you go in-doors. No hat check places and few hat racks. I went to the movies last night and was very glad that no one was sitting next to me so I could put my Panama Bob San Juan on it rather than holding it on my lap for 2 1/2 hours.

Having said that, I love my hats, and am willing to put up with these annoyances but, as we know, the average person does not, and will not.