The connection

[Historyteach24]

I am often asked by my wife and friends why I truly enjoy fedoras so much. The conversation really picked up yesterday when I was attempting to apply a modern ribbon to a beatup hat body I bought on ebay. My wife asked me why it was worth the trouble and why I enjoyed it so much. My response actually surprised me with how easily it was put into words. As you can tell I am a lover of history; I get the absolute joy to teach high school students history on a daily basis. The reason that I love fedoras and other vintage hats in that it is holding history in my hands; last night was the first time I could actually relate to hatters of a bygone era while I was about to cuss at screwing up ribbon placement . Wearing a fedora is my homage to a time when men knew how to dress and it was appreciated. On a regular basis myself and my fellow loungers get to hold historic relics that could be upwards of 100 years old.....how many people get to do that? I was just curious as to what sparked your passion for hats? Connection to a family member who wore awesome lids? Connection to history? They just simply look damn cool? I look forward to responses.

 

[Brother cavefish]

ever since the military , 32 years ago -i have worn hats, i just plain feel naked, may be a semi security blanket, as far as hats go, i wear my fedora flips , 8 piece newsboys or beanies .
heritage i could care less

 

[Lotsahats]

I've long been a hat-wearer, but I knew nothing whatsoever about hats--how they were made, what made them good, what to look for in a hat. I started off as someone who just liked the look and enjoyed wearing them, and now that I've got a small amount of education, I can add respect for craftsmanship, enjoyment of history, and connection to fellow hat-wearers as part of the appeal.

A

 

[hatguy1]

As [a fellow] lover of history; ...I love fedoras and other vintage [artifacts] in that it is holding history in my hands.... Wearing a fedora is...homage to a time when men knew how to dress and it [and the art of gentlemanliness] was appreciated. On a regular basis myself and my fellow loungers get to hold historic relics [or replicas of such] that could be upwards of 100 years old.....how many people get to do that?

Hear, hear. (I added some personal endorsements and additions.) It does help us realize "the way things were" and to appreciate them to admire, hold etc historical artifacts or replications thereof. Well said, Teach! And I'm glad to have someone with such appreciation educating young minds as to the love and importance of history and the understanding thereof.

I've long been a hat-wearer, but I knew nothing whatsoever about hats--how they were made, what made them good, what to look for in a hat. I started off as someone who just liked the look and enjoyed wearing them, and now that I've got a small amount of education, I can add respect for craftsmanship, enjoyment of history, and connection to fellow hat-wearers as part of the appeal.

Agreed. Though my interest in wearing them is borders more on style and personal pleasure, and hats are not as expensive or vintage as some on this board wear, I too have learned to appreciate the qualities you mentioned. It certainly deepens the experience of seeing and/or wearing a nice hat to view it with such appreciations.

And, I must say, I also enjoy being able to show appreciation for the nice hats I see others wearing from time to time and the ability said appreciation provides for complimenting them.

 

[CPT/VSG]

I bought one fedora about 2 years ago because I got tired of walking bareheaded to court when it was snowing. One modern Stetson led to four more and five Borsolinos which led to 7 Black Sheep Hatworks and obviously I became hooked. Now, I rarely leave the house without a fedora. First. I enjoy the sheer practicality of a fedora in cold weather--I swear I'm always more confortable now when tempertures drop. But, I wear straws in warm weather, too. The look sets you apart from the flock (nod to Bob Jesse) and gives dress clothes a more finished look. Hats led me to wearing pocket squares, which are a really nice, dressy touch. I don't know how I went so long without wearing a fedora.

 

[scottyrocks]

When I was very young, and home in the afternoons after school, my mom always had the 4:30 on the tube. This was the 1960s, and many of the movies were the classics from the '30s, '40s, and '50s that we hold in high esteem today.

People dressed impeccably, just to step outside for a stroll. The men's hats and three-piece suits always fascinated me.

There were a couple of hats in my house that my brother and I pulled down onto our heads and wore quite often.

I never liked to do things exactly the way other people did. When other kids/teens were hatless or baseball hatted, I looked for cabbie caps, or whatever I thought looked good. Fedoras and caps were not popular or available to me locally, so finding anything was rough.

When I was in my mid-teens I found a 6-panel cabbie cap made of denim in a women's goods store. I wore and patched that cap until it was thread bare. I also took a fair amount of ribbing and strange looks for it.

I was 21 when Raiders was released. This was the first time a fedora featured so prominently in a film, and more importantly, fedoras were almost suddenly available in places you'd never find one in before.

As I barely had a dime in my pocket at any given time, I saved what money I could and purchased a wool fedora, and another few in different colors after that. I was a little self-conscious about wearing them at first, but like anything else, I got used to it.

I stopped wearing fedoras on a regular basis during the three decades I rode motorcycles because there was no way to wear or carry one without destroying it.

I coincidently stopped riding about the time I joined FL in 2009. Both of these occurrences led to me never being without a fedora on my head in public since then.

 

[Latoso]

I tried one on and it looked good.

Ultimately that's the straw that broke the camel's back. But what led me to try one on is much more deep.

I had walked into Optimo's downtown Chicago shop one day as I was passing by because I had seen a segment about them on our local PBS station. I have always identified deeply as a Chicagoan and I was proud to have such a shop still operating in town. I remember growing up in the 70s and 80s seeing so many people with great hats. Seeing as hat wearing didn't die out in Chicago to the extent it did elsewhere, I felt pride in stubbornly continuing a tradition which we refused to let die out.

While others may wear hats to stand apart from the crowd (and to an extent I do too), in Chicago it's done as much to fit in to a certain sense of Chicagoness that was once more prominent but still holds on.

 

[Zombie_61]

I've always admired the fedoras I've seen in various movies and television shows, but never felt they were "right" for me. In fact, I held this opinion of just about every hat I'd ever tried on, and came to the conclusion at an early age that I was simply one of those people who didn't look good in hats. Then I saw the hat Harrison Ford wore in Indiana Jones and the Kingdom of the Crystal Skull in May of 2008. I liked the hats he'd worn in each of the previous Indiana Jones movies, but the Crystal Skull hat was shaped more traditionally than the others and it really caught my attention, so I decided it was time to satisfy my desire to own a nice fedora. Besides, I was approaching my 47th birthday and decided I had reached the age when I truly didn't care what anyone else thought about what I wore. After doing a lot of research on the 'Net, and specifically on the Club Obi Wan and Fedora Lounge forums, I decided the Akubra Dark Brown Fed IV would be my first "real" hat. When it arrived, I was surprised by how easy it was for me to crease the crown; it was a simple Center Dent with traditional side dents and a not-too-tight pinch, but this was the first time I'd ever creased a hat. After admiring my handiwork for a moment or two, I started to place it on my head...

And that's when the magic happened. It's such a simple thing, really, placing a hat on your head. But I'd never been a hat wearer. And yet, there was something so comfortable and natural and familiar about this simple act--it was as though I'd been doing it my entire life. And, for the first time in my life, I actually liked the way a hat looked on me; I guess it was something I had to "grow" into.

Fast forward to January of 2013. I had my first bout with skin cancer, which was surgically removed from the left side of the bridge of my nose. It was extremely minor, but it did get me to re-think the concept of sun protection. I don't particularly care for the thought of wearing an oil slick of sunblock on my face, so the next logical step (in my mind) was a wide-brimmed hat. As much as I like my first Fed IV, it's dark brown color makes it rather warm to wear during the sunny southern California summers, so I sought out an alternative. After doing more research (which consisted of reading and re-reading various threads here on The Lounge and examining all of the photos therein) I decided on an Akubra Silverbelly Campdraft, reasoning that it's lighter color and slightly wider brim would make it a better hat for sun protection than my Fed IV. Besides, just between us Loungers, I wanted another hat anyway, so this was a win/win.

So, what started out for me as "I'd like to get a hat" became "I need to wear a hat". And I've since purchased another Fed IV, this time in Tawny Fawn. And there might be a Bluegrass Green Campdraft in my not-too-distant future...just because. In retrospect, I think my desire for my first hat five years ago was the universe's way of telling me, "You'd better get used to wearing hats, unless you like having cancerous skin carved off of your head on a regular basis." lol Strangely, to this day I still get that "magic" feeling whenever I put one of my hats on my head; I kinda' hope it never goes away.

 

[TomS]

I think they're just fun to wear.

 

[jlee562]

I think they're just fun to wear.

I'm with Tom!

 

[Historyteach24]

Guys thanks so much for the responses. It truly is such a simple thing, wearing a hat, but the joy is not simple. It's just damn fun to wear em

 

[Lotsahats]

Guys thanks so much for the responses. It truly is such a simple thing, wearing a hat, but the joy is not simple. It's just damn fun to wear em

:arated:

 

[KingAndrew]

I've always loved and worn hats, even as a small child. I was always attracted to "old fashioned" things as a kid. And men's hats certainly seemed old fashioned in the 1970s. I particularly wanted a top hat, but I was interested in pretty much any kind of headgear. Engineer's caps were a regular thing for me, but so was an old green tyrolean hat my father had bought in Germany while serving in the Army in the late 1950s. My grandfather always had a stingy straw hat when I saw him (he lived in Florida, so felt season was relatively short I usually saw him during summer vacation). When Raiders was released, I took the opportunity to pick up a brown wool fedora at Burlington Coat Factory.

As a teen I grew outrageous hair, which limited my hat wearing, although I bought my own Tyrolean when I visited Europe in high school. But in college (after I cut my hair for job interviews) I began purchasing hats more seriously. I felt unfinished in a suit without a hat. I was living in Florida at the time and I needed the sun protection, too. A young man in a suit with sunglasses looks like "security" but with a hat he looks like a gentleman. I picked wool fedoras in the standard colors, a couple of tweed "Bear Bryant" style hats, and even a derby and top hat (finally). Years later, when I could afford to, I began upgrading to finer fur felts.

So I feel both the connection to history and an appreciation of style. So many hats involve cultural heritage, from the Tyrolean to the beret to the bonnets that I wear with my kilt. And my fedoras speak to all of these interests.