So when did the boater sink from popular wear?

[1961MJS]

They are supposed to be rigid.

Where the heck are you guys running into all these barbershop quartets? I'd love to see one in person.

-Dave

It's mainly the advertisements, and I haven't seen those for a while.

Later

Mike

 

[Chanfan]

Hmm, I was just thinking of picking up a boater, for some 1880's steampunkery.

 

[Torpedo]

Torpedo, unpopular or unlucky aside, that hat is a pretty good look for you.

Thank you sir .

 

[Edward]

Funnily enough, I've been considering one recently myself. I do have one that I picked up for costume purposes some years back (the Rocky Horror group I was performing with at the time did a couple of Cabaret numbers as an intro at some shows, and I took the Joel Gray part). It's probably the closest thing to the old school boaters - bought it in a fancy dress shop for GBP3.00. Perfectly serviceable as a hat, though I've never tried wearing it out as it's one of those 'one size fits all' affairs. From memory, that standard size is labelled as a 58, so it's just a *little* too big for me, possibly...

 

[Brad Bowers]

I've never seen a Boater on the street. I did see several out of towners at Levine's in StL buying them, but not wearing them. While I'm one of the few here in Wichita wearing a hat that isn't best described as a cowboy hat, I've still never seen a boater except in Barbershop quartet pictures. Living in NYC, you have the advantage in seeing more people quantity wise than I do, as well as seeing the more urbane (not sure that's the BEST word) of our population.

I usually wear one all summer. Next time I'm passing through Wichita and stop at a Dog-N-Shake, I'll give you a call so you can say you've seen at least one person wearing a Boater in Wichita.

Brad

 

[1961MJS]

I usually wear one all summer. Next time I'm passing through Wichita and stop at a Dog-N-Shake, I'll give you a call so you can say you've seen at least one person wearing a Boater in Wichita.

Brad

Deal, I haven't been to Dog and Shake in a month or so. They put a Bionic Burger up by my house, so I'm on a once a month chili cheese fry diet.

Later

 

[dhermann1]

"Where the heck are you guys running into all these barbershop quartets? I'd love to see one in person."

I've performed in The Music Man a couple of times (in all modesty, I'm a great Mayor Schinn), and there's a quartet in that. Meredith Wilson gives them some nice music. Also, at Chautauqua there's an annual Barbershop Harmony concert, featuring members of what USED to be called the SPEBSQSA (the Society for the Preservation and Encouragement of Barbershop Quartet Singing in America. It took me years to commit that to memory and I think it's a dirty trick of them to change the name to whatever it is now. ) as well as the Sweet Adelines (the female equivalent).
Seriously cornball, but more fun than a barrel of harmonizing monkeys.

Edit: The SBEBSQSA is now the Barbershop Harmony Society.

 

[David Conwill]

I've performed in The Music Man a couple of times (in all modesty, I'm a great Mayor Schinn), and there's a quartet in that.

Playing Mayor Shinn is possibly the most fun I've had with my clothes on. I did it once in high school, and I'd love to do it again.

-Dave

 

[dhermann1]

Ooops. You're right, it's Shinn. Yeah, much much fun.

 

[danofarlington]

This is a hat history question. Seeing that boaters were a common hot weather headgear item, when exactly did they end-up relegated to barber shop quartets? It seems comparable to when did the dinosaurs become extinct question. My guess is no one can exactly say, other than they simply did, sometime around 1931. '41? '51? Any thoughts? Special knowledge about this? Jump-in!

dean

They're still in style at Republican national conventions.

 

[scottyrocks]

I've never seen a Boater on the street. I did see several out of towners at Levine's in StL buying them, but not wearing them. While I'm one of the few here in Wichita wearing a hat that isn't best described as a cowboy hat, I've still never seen a boater except in Barbershop quartet pictures. Living in NYC, you have the advantage in seeing more people quantity wise than I do, as well as seeing the more urbane (not sure that's the BEST word) of our population.

Despite the sheer quantity of people on the average NYC street, I can count the number of boaters Ive seen on regular plain ol' people, excluding the very random barbershop quartet street entertainers, on one (or no) finger(s).

 

[skyvue]

And I see one or two a week in season.

 

[The Wiser Hatter]

As a Hat lover I plan on getting a Boater/Skimmer hat just to have one. Sort of like with the Derby hat as it was a very popular hat and everyone wore one during it heyday of popluarity. An hey would love to see the looks when I show up and O'Charleys with it on.

Here is a Barbershop clothing website that offers Boaters.
http://harmonyonstage.com/hats/strawhats.html

 

[danofarlington]

If someone had a notion to eat the brim of a used boater, would he be a beater boater biter?

 

[floatinjoe]

I've been wearing my boater on and off for years. My hat is a Brooks Brothers model that I picked up on ebay a few years back. It has an actual hat size (not like their current hats that are S, M, L...) and has a blue and red ribbon. From what I've been reading in this thread, it seems that a proper ribbon for it is black. I've often thought about switching out the ribbon, but never came up with a good color. I also have no idea as to where to get it done. Can people supply some guidance/insight to this?

Mike

 

[Bernie Zack]

As a Hat lover I plan on getting a Boater/Skimmer hat just to have one. Sort of like with the Derby hat as it was a very popular hat and everyone wore one during it heyday of popluarity. An hey would love to see the looks when I show up and O'Charleys with it on.

Here is a Barbershop clothing website that offers Boaters.
http://harmonyonstage.com/hats/strawhats.html

I'm with you on this one. Think I'll stroll on over to e-bay and pick one up. Since I started wearing hats, I've been seen on a regular basis with fedoras, a bowler, and flatcaps. I think folks around here might think I'm crazy if I DIDN'T show up this spring and summer with a boater!

 

[Espee]

John Reynolds the guitar/banjo whiz wears one every so often. Being a slender guy, he looks good in light-colored clothes, so that might be a factor in his choice.
But I think he claimed his was a skimmer-- based on the width of the brim. Others disagree about that issue.
I remember ushers at Dodger Stadium wearing them, but I can't tell you whether my memory is stuck in 1968 or if they've been wearing them all along. Maybe it's a cyclical thing.

 

[Warbaby]

While boaters aren't commonly seen on the streets (yet), there are a few of us eccentrics who regularly don them in the summer. Since they're pretty rigid, it can be a real challenge to find a vintage one that fits comfortably. I've had good luck getting one a tad larger than my normal size and putting a thin strip of closed-cell foam inside the band to better conform to my head. When they fit right they're actually pretty comfortable.

BTW, back in the day, the bands on boaters were usually striped and came in a wide variety of color combinations. College students often wore their school colors.

 

[The Wiser Hatter]

Won an eBay auction for a Boater yesterday should have it by the end of the week.

 

[Bernie Zack]

I'm with you on this one. Think I'll stroll on over to e-bay and pick one up. Since I started wearing hats, I've been seen on a regular basis with fedoras, a bowler, and flatcaps. I think folks around here might think I'm crazy if I DIDN'T show up this spring and summer with a boater!

Just bought a boater on e-bay, can't wait to get it! Hopefully this link works:

http://cgi.ebay.com/ws/eBayISAPI.dll?VISuperSize&item=320665213582

If not, I'll post pics when it comes in. At worst, how bad can it be for 25 bucks, right?