The Hat Confessional Thread

[FurFeltFedora]

I won't pay more than $150 for a hat no matter how nice - I won't spend that much on anything that can be blown into the ocean or under a tire

I own 5 Fed IV's - one in each colour, just because I wanted them.

I have refused to wear perfectly good hats anymore because my newer hats were better.

I have spend hours tweaking the crease on a hat until it was just how I wanted it.

I now feel naked when I go outside without a hat.

I have contemplated eating raw pasta for a week just to afford another hat.

 

[Damon Falzone]

FurFeltFedora...

It hardly costs anything to cook the pasta and then add a bit of butter! I'd hate for you to have to eat raw pasta. It's so much better cooked, 'al dente', of course.

 

[Michaelshane]

A bit of chopped onion with the butter.....

 

[FurFeltFedora]

No, that butter combined with the electricity to heat the water could be the difference between a hat and no hat. Can't do it

ONION!?!? Well that's totally blown the budget now.

 

[steppenwolph]

This isn't really a confession about hats, but a confession of a misconception about hats. When I was a boy learning about early American history, of course we learned about the French fur traders trapping beaver for the European hat trade. Well, I had no idea what that meant, and the only thing I could conceptualize of was that everyone in Europe was going about wearing some sort of Davy Crockett-like beaver skin hat on their heads. I never could figure why this was so insanely popular over there, but they had to have been, since those fur traders had to make this very dangerous journey across the ocean just to get the furs. It never made sense to me, and it wasn't until many years later that I got it straight. lol

 

[CRH]

...
I don't really get stingy brim hats.
...

They look frak'n cool :cool2:. I used to wear them and still would but I've become more interested in practicality and protection.

 

[gtdean48]

They look frak'n cool :cool2:. I used to wear them and still would but I've become more interested in practicality and protection.

The guitar player for Sugarland always wears a hat but on George Strait tribute, he had the stingiest brim I have ever seen. IMHO it did not look cool & he usually looks cool in other less stingier brims.
I always think of Stallone in Rocky as the typical stingy brim example. He still looked comical to me.

 

[M_Jones]

Ah, yes: the "Oviatt's" silver beaver fedora. http://www.thefedoralounge.com/showthread.php?t=28905&highlight=Oviatt


.

Yes, indeed.

I see that I never posted pictures or a review which I must do when I get back. The hat has a monster crown of 6 1/2 inches and is as straight as a stovepipe when open. The brim is right around 2 3/4 inches and has a Cavanagh edge. The ribbon has a reddish hue to it and the felt is amazing, taking any crease you give it. If I could only find a few more hats like it I would sell all my others.

 

[TES]

I love this thread and hope you keep it going. In the spirit of things, I offer these:

- I also probably would not wear many of the custom felt hats I see on the forum, but then I live on the Texas coast, so that makes me a panama person, the latter being chosen probably 8-9 months out of 12, so the fashion part of felts I never get my head into. I only have 4 fur felt hats, twice as many Montecristis.

- I fuss in front of the mirror with the straws to the amusement of my wife.

- My wife has no idea at all what my hats might cost, to my own amusement, and to my certain financial ruin.

- Panama Bob is probably a really nice guy.

- I recently visited one of our hat retailers ( of the brick and mortar type ) in Houston proper, one of impeccable reputation with many celebrity clients, blah, blah blah, and inquired among the many straws he had whether he had any Montecristis. He had 2 total, both in my size, as it turns out. They were Cuencas surely, something that was quite recognizable to me, even upon seeing them from a distance of 6 feet or so ( PB could have noticed from across the room, I'm sure ), creased into cattleman shape, shellaced or something hideous that gave them all the protective coating necessary to make them otherwise identical to the fiberglass constrution hard hats you see made to look like cowboy hats. Just awful, really. But the point is this: the retail price for these hats was 1500 USD. What in the world, I wonder, did he pay for these things, and, on the basis of what information ? The confessional part of the story is I couldn't bear to tell him the awful truth about what he had. But I'm a softie, so I bought a really nice felt from him, he's good people.

 

[Mario]

TES, beg your pardon if I got you wrong here, but I believe the Lounge should not be abused for any personal quarrels...

 

[TES]

Mario, yes, you are reading me wrong here. Nothin of the sort intended, indeed, quite the opposite.

 

[Mario]

Well, glad to know, really. I was just getting that funny feeling, you know...aw, never mind. Good to be through and done with this.

 

[TES]

Mario, you know, after you posted that in response to my hat confessional, I went back to figure out what it is that may have given you the wrong impression about my post. What I say about Panamabob is said without irony, if that's with whom you might have thought I had some personal issue.

I mean, by allusion, to have spoken well of him in the last part of my note where I tell a story about encountering obvious counterfeit Montecristis for very high prices. I speak of Bob here and mean to praise his, and others', efforts to flaut the trade of counterfeit montecristis. The practice is crushing everyone in the business, including the people who weave and finish the hats.

As to my neighborhood retailer, he is without malice altogether. He is among the most knowledgeable retail hatters and knows very little of montecristis, that's all. And that's kind of the point. If you just walked into the average but perhaps highly respectable hatter's shop in a major US city you might not find anyone who really understands what the panama really is.

 

[Mario]

TES, thank you for clearing this up to me. To be honest, I wasn't really sure as to what to think about some of the things you wrote in your confessional. I just had to remember certain (in my opinion) dubious posts from the Panama CANAL thread and hence found myself left with a nasty feeling of uneasiness stirred by your comments about Bob. I (wrongly, as it turned out) thought I could sense the irony all over the place. Sometimes, with only the written words to judge by, it's hard to tell if you're facing irony - or if the words were actually meant to be read the very way they were written (umph...beg yer pardon for my clumsy english).

Anyway, I'm happy that you took your time to clear this issue up for me.

Like the man used to sing: Life is very short, and there's no time for fussing and fighting my friend.

 

[Wolfwood]

This isn't really a confession about hats, but a confession of a misconception about hats. When I was a boy learning about early American history, of course we learned about the French fur traders trapping beaver for the European hat trade. Well, I had no idea what that meant, and the only thing I could conceptualize of was that everyone in Europe was going about wearing some sort of Davy Crockett-like beaver skin hat on their heads. I never could figure why this was so insanely popular over there, but they had to have been, since those fur traders had to make this very dangerous journey across the ocean just to get the furs. It never made sense to me, and it wasn't until many years later that I got it straight. lol

Thank you for this - this really made my day! lol

 

[Goose.]

1> I won't pay more than $150 for a hat no matter how nice - I won't spend that much on anything that can be blown into the ocean or under a tire

2> I own 5 Fed IV's - one in each colour, just because I wanted them.

3> I have refused to wear perfectly good hats anymore because my newer hats were better.

4> I have spend hours tweaking the crease on a hat until it was just how I wanted it.

5> I now feel naked when I go outside without a hat.

6> I have contemplated eating raw pasta for a week just to afford another hat.

Added numbers to Triple F's post so I can reference...as I can relate to most of what he confessed:

1> I thought I never would spend over $150 too. But the exchange rate took care of that. Where my earlier Hats Direct or Everything Australian purchased would hover just over $100 (including shipping), a Federation IV Deluxe just cost me $167.88. One of those would've, could've, should've back in Feb when the rate was about 1AUD to 0.60USD.

2> I own each color of the Federation IV offerring (last one being on its' way) for no real justifiable reason that would make sense to most.

3> My old hats are mostly western and buried in the garage somewhere
I never wear my Brent Black Panamas too much anymore...unless I'm somewhere tropical on vacation and I don't get to do that like I used to.

4> I don't have the patience to spend hours shaping my lid. Not in one sitting anyway. My typical bash work takes about 15 minutes and it shows.

5> Even if going out to turn on the sprinkler or take out the garbage, I put on my cover (hat).

6> I save my lunch money to squander the same for hats. Though over pasta, I prefer $1 Double Cheeseburger at McDonald's or two tacos for .99 cents from Jack in the Box. Don't order fries or drink...fries, well maybe once in awhile, but got soda at home.

But here is the real reason I came here to post today...

I have found that lately, instead of wondering, when I wake up, what hat I will wear today, I now go to bed wondering what I will wear in the morning..

I have changed hats three times a day more than a few times.

I sometimes (often) sit here at my PC wearing a fedora. Like a scene of some reporter out of a classic movie hitting the keys of his typewriter in his office wearing a hat.

I am spending too much time wondering (worrying?) what one hat I will take on vacation for a week plus when I head towards Seattle a whole three months from now. This, by itself, leads me to believe something is truly askew in my noggin.

 

[FurFeltFedora]

Goose has forced me to add another confession...

I spent more time thinking about how I'm going to transport hats when I go on vacation rather than what I will actually do on vacation.

 

[KILO NOVEMBER]

I never wear my Brent Black Panamas too much anymore...unless I'm somewhere tropical on vacation and I don't get to do that like I used to.

You wouldn't happen to be a 7 3/4, would you?

 

[Nick D]

Goose has forced me to add another confession...

I spent more time thinking about how I'm going to transport hats when I go on vacation rather than what I will actually do on vacation.

I'm wondering what I'll do when I'm done with school and move back across the Pond. When I came here I had 1 wool fedora with me. I took that back home rolled in a suitcase, with a fur felt on my head, on holiday and left it there. But I now have two vintage fedoras, one homburg, and one boater, and while I'm here I'd be very suprised if I didn't end up with a bowler and at least one more fedora. I should mention I only have one hat box.

 

[DOUGLAS]

I spent more time thinking about how I'm going to transport hats when I go on vacation rather than what I will actually do on vacation.

Yup, I do the same thing. I debated with myself whether I should take four or five hats with me to Japan and if I could pack them correctly. I had five in my suit case up untill the last moment then took two out. I brought a dark tan a light grey and a medium gray and all were fine. I did make sure that they all matched what I had packed for clothing.

Silly, is it not?