So when did the boater sink from popular wear?

[deanglen]

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

 

[LEUII]

I have a wonderful photo of my grandparents shortly before they were married. My Grand Daddy is holding his boater. The photo was taken in '36 in Maggie Valley, North Carolina.

 

[Doctor Strange]

I don't have any specific info aside from a lifetime of watching old movies and looking at old pictures. It was definitely during the thirties. Boaters were still very common in the late twenties, but they had become something of an affectation by the early forties. You see a lot more Panama fedoras as the summer hat of choice from sometime in the mid-thirties. Maybe it was Depression related?

I'll have to ask my 88-year-old dad, who grew up in Manhattan, about this. (One thing that he remembers from his boyhood in the twenties was that men would ceremonially put their fists through their straw hats on September 15 when they switched to their felt hats, then buy new staws by May 15, Straw Hat Day. Of course, you could buy a half-decent hat for just a dollar or two back then!)

 

[Will]

(One thing that he remembers from his boyhood in the twenties was that men would ceremonially put their fists through their straw hats on September 15 when they switched to their felt hats, then buy new staws by May 15, Straw Hat Day.

The custom for boaters was that you bought one at the start of the season and threw it out at the end. But even then, straws cost a fraction of the price of a mid-range panama and few if any men were throwing those away.

 

[Feraud]

Tradition.

If you did not put your fist though your straw come September someone would do it for you.

 

[besdor]

I would say that by the late 1930's before WW2 boaters were on their way out. The hats were a representative of the high rolling 1920's and 1930's . Today , there is only one manufacturer left in Italy.



Steven

 

[Topper]

Still also manufactured in England.

The word "Boater" only became popualr from early 1900ies prior to that they were mearly called "straws". They were derived from the British Navy straw hat from the late 19C. and moved into civilian fashion, eventually used by people when they went boating, hence the name.

I am popular and still wear mine when go to the Regatta ... so It has never sunk form popular wear Q.E.D.

 

[Atterbury Dodd]

A character in the movie No way out(1950) wears a boater. He's deaf though, very possibly disconnected with the fashions( he's nuts too).

 

[Tony in Tarzana]

I would say that by the late 1930's before WW2 boaters were on their way out. The hats were a representative of the high rolling 1920's and 1930's . Today , there is only one manufacturer left in Italy.



Steven

And their machine is broken.

 

[Dinerman]

I love the interesting weaves and materials on some of the older ones.
Now they just look like thick milan.

 

[deanglen]

I would say that by the late 1930's before WW2 boaters were on their way out. The hats were a representative of the high rolling 1920's and 1930's . Today , there is only one manufacturer left in Italy.



Steven

Steven, I like that theory...sounds right on. As the depression set in, the boater was probably, as you indicate, a painful reminder of a lost "golden" era, and then it became "old fashioned" as, I guess, panamas like the one this guy is wearing became the hat of choice, to say nothing of imitation being the sincerest form of flattery of a president quite a few approved of:

dean

 

[J.T.Marcus]

A character in the movie No way out(1950) wears a boater. He's deaf though, very possibly disconnected with the fashions( he's nuts too).

That may be the key, right there! Hollywood has certainly influenced fashions in general, and hat styles in particular. Styles that were portrayed in a heroic light became popular. Those worn by villains and comedians tended to go out of style. You didn't want to spend good money on something that would make you look like a bad guy or a buffoon. Top hats crashed early. (Every villain worth his mustache wore one!) Laurel and Hardy, and Charlie Chaplin undoubtedly had a negative impact on the sale of derby hats. Harold Lloyd wore a BOATER. On top of that, we could start a thread dedicated to negative impressions of boaters in various movies, right up until yesterday.

 

[deanglen]

That may be the key, right there! Hollywood has certainly influenced fashions in general, and hat styles in particular. Styles that were portrayed in a heroic light became popular. Those worn by villains and comedians tended to go out of style. You didn't want to spend good money on something that would make you look like a bad guy or a buffoon. Top hats crashed early. (Every villain worth his mustache wore one!) Laurel and Hardy, and Charlie Chaplin undoubtedly had a negative impact on the sale of derby hats. Harold Lloyd wore a BOATER. On top of that, we could start a thread dedicated to negative impressions of boaters in various movies, right up until yesterday.

Just another piece of the puzzle, and a good one at that, J.T.!

dean

 

[twobarbreak]

I think the trend continued longer for the lower class, depending on what area of the country. Collegiate types continued to wear boaters to align themselves with the arts, as oppose to sports or politics, which died out at the end of the 30's.

 

[Fletch]

Which died out? Sports or politics? lol

Seems to me that if you wanted to look arty then, you wore a wiiide brimmed pork pie a la Frank Lloyd Wright (or a beret and a Van Dyke like in the cartoons. lol)

 

[up196]

My impression

That may be the key, right there! Hollywood . . .

I remember when I first saw The Sting, back when it first came out. I remember the "Agents" who picked up Lt. Snyder. The were both wearing straw skimers. The whole set-up impressed me, the skimmers, the big un-marked police cars, the office in the railroad yard, the rain. I remember thinking "hey, that would be neat!"

HMMMM

Here I sit typing this in my office, in the railroad yard. It's raining and my big un-marked police car is in the parked just outside, and as for the skimmers, well, see my avatar.

Life imitates art!.

 

[Undertow]

I love The Sting, especially for its costumes. I remember the FBI agents costumes distinctly, and I remember thinking, "I like those hats, but I don't think they look right with those suits." Now I think I have a different appreciation for both hats AND suits.

I faintly remember the commentary specifying that the period depicted was supposed to be early to mid '30's for that movie. Maybe I'm wrong, but it seems Redford was wearing a suit that was popular in the '20's and they were afraid a purist would notice.

But I don't suppose that helps date the fall of boaters well, now does it?

 

[John in Covina]

Still also manufactured in England.

The word "Boater" only became popualr from early 1900ies prior to that they were mearly called "straws". They were derived from the British Navy straw hat from the late 19C. and moved into civilian fashion, eventually used by people when they went boating, hence the name.

*************

The gondolier guys in Venice style wear a similar style but the brim is wider and the ribbon ends are longer.

 

[Mark Brody]

That may be the key, right there! Hollywood has certainly influenced fashions in general, and hat styles in particular. Styles that were portrayed in a heroic light became popular. Those worn by villains and comedians tended to go out of style. You didn't want to spend good money on something that would make you look like a bad guy or a buffoon. Top hats crashed early. (Every villain worth his mustache wore one!) Laurel and Hardy, and Charlie Chaplin undoubtedly had a negative impact on the sale of derby hats. Harold Lloyd wore a BOATER. On top of that, we could start a thread dedicated to negative impressions of boaters in various movies, right up until yesterday.

So why is it that Indiana Jones and Bogart have faithful followings of hat lovers if all the other hats have been destroyed by Hollywood. I think it's just one of those things that goes in and out of style, like bell bottoms.

 

[DominusTecum]

'Cause Bogart and Indy were shown as the cool, "together" men that ought to be emulated, whereas only an eccentric or a villain (in real life) would truly want to emulate the look of a hollywood villain, comedian, or generally eccentric character. Oliver Hardy is now synonymous with the derby; he came across as silly, of course. Therefore, very few people will willingly don a derby for anything other than a costume party, because it automatically conjures up images of a jokester with a slightly too-small hat. It seems affected. The same treatment has been given to the boater and the top hat through the years, and now they too seem to be an affectation, unless worn in exactly the right circumstances (The regatta at Henley, for the boater, the Royal Ascot or a very formal evening engagement, wedding, or funeral, for the top hat.) One might speculate on what kind of message Hollywood is trying to send with this, given that the "together" characters always wear the more modern hats (fedora) or in our time, baseball cap or nothing, where the crazy ones, villains, etc. wear the more old fashioned hats -probably an ingrained idea that "progress is always good."

It takes a very determined effort and a commitment to wear the hat seriously, in order to wear it in regular society these days, outside the few "socially-common" venues listed above.