The Hat Confessional Thread

[scottyrocks]

I love felt fedoras. I wear one every day.

I have straws, but wish I could wear a felt every day – all year.

I don’t have a ton of fedoras. Very few, actually. I have always been the type to search until I found the one perfect object, then I stop, for the most part. I may still look, but not with the ‘I must buy’ urgency.

I wear fedoras with everything. From tees and shorts to suits. No homburgs, no toppers, no bowlers.

I have newsboys, westerns, kufis, and lots of ball caps, which I rarely wear.

I wear my Fed IV with a suit to weddings. And in shorts and shorts to wash my car.

I’ll wear any hat inside most establishments, usually tipped back as a minor gesture of openness.

I am unashamedly a fan of brown, high-crowned, straight sided, large brimmed, medium ribbon-widthed fedoras. I am a big time Indiana Jones fan, and am very proud of it.

Thin ribbons say ‘cowboy’ to me, To me, a thin ribbon makes it a western.

I am not a fan of the majority of hats I see on people’s heads, either here, or in real life. As someone else intoned here, just because there is a head and a hat doesn’t automatically mean they belong together.

I pay compliments only when I am moved enough in actuality to do so.

Because I have loved hats for so many years, I have many types. I wear very few of them, but I have them, and it makes me feel good to have them.

I removed the driver’s headrest from my car so that the brim of my hats don't get crushed by it while I'm driving.

 

[Marc Chevalier]

Thanks to everyone who's posted in here, this is a GREAT thread that just gets better and better! :eusa_clap

.

 

[Rick Blaine]

Howdy

...
Thin ribbons say ‘cowboy’ to me, To me, a thin ribbon makes it a western.

You are not alone. A couple of years ago in the Loop in Chicago I got a "Howdy cowboy" from a businessman in a three piece while I was wearing this

thin ribbon w/ a 2 3/8" brim!

 

[RBH]

You are not alone. A couple of years ago in the Loop in Chicago I got a "Howdy cowboy" from a businessman in a three piece while I was wearing this

thin ribbon w/ a 2 3/8" brim!

He should have called you SIR!!!!
Thats a damn fine fedora !!!!

 

[handlebar bart]

I am either wearing a fedora or a hard hat at any point during the day.
I haven't owned a pair of sneakers since I was a child.
I wear a hawaiian shirt every day at work and if cold I wear a hoody over it.
I haven't seen a custom 'lid' posted here that I didn't like.

 

[Tiller]

I always wear at the very lest a button up shirt, unless I'm at the gym, sleeping, or swimming.

I got into vintage through a combination of a general rejection of my generations style, a respect for my grandfather, and detective/mystery films and novels.

Before I joined I though I'd like certain members. After joining and observing a bit more I've realized that there are people in the vintage community who I wouldn't get along with in real life, despite their good taste in clothes.

Some members who I didn't think I'd like are now some of my favorite posters to read.

Although I like them I don't own a pair of spats.

I've always wanted a vintage Bowler in my size, but have never been able to sell myself on buying one, since I wouldn't have much chance to wear it.

I've learned that women around here like the hat, well men seemed threatened by it.

I've learned pipe smoking crosses all classes, philosophies, races, and ages. I have only had a problem with one other pipe smoker.

The only straw/panamas I currently own are modern.

I was surprised to learn how much affect the punk, and emo movement have had on the vintage community. Even more so then the nostalgic, retro, Victorian, and rockabilly movements.

I've learned showing up in a smoking jacket, silk pants, and slippers to a college party attracts women to you. I call it the Hugh Hefner affect. Tobacco pipe is optional.

I've learned that most people my age (around here) connect a suit, and fedora with the TV show Mad Men, more than any fashion community, or time period.

I've learned that no bars in upstate New York have an "Art Deco" night. You won't find any crooner (male or female), big band, or jazz/blues shows.

I only wear sneakers when exercising.

I never buy anything that I'm not going to wear, and get good use out of. With the exception of a vintage tuxedo I bought, that doesn't get used much do to a lack of opportunity, not desire.

 

[Rick Blaine]

He should have called you SIR!!!!
Thats a damn fine fedora !!!!

Thanks Boss! its a mystery 'cause of a prior sweatband replacement... could be any-old d@amn thing!

Back to the O.P. I don't think I have too many sins to confess, either of commission or omission.
But ...I will say at times I do leave my hat in the car 'cause I know there will be nowhere to place it that is safe & secure. Unlike most ball caps which I would've just folded the bill in half and crammed in my back pocket.

Tangentially, once I took a lovely old 7 5/8 Towncraft fedora and wet the sweat hoping to shrink it to 7 3/8 and put it in my car in the middle of a Tennessee July... and forgot about it! :rage: Needless to say it needs a sweatband replacement, turned it to well-cooked bacon... the felt's fine, tho that was almost certainly a sin! :eusa_doh:

 

[Ande1964]

Another

Okay... I am a collector. It is just hard wired in me somehow. I wish it weren't but it is. Before hats, it was original comic and illustration art.

Hats are cheaper.

I call that growth.

Anj

 

[Bingles]

--I still have not decided if a fedora should be worn on a first date. I know it is a bit eccentric, but it is what I usually wear. [huh]

Just be yourself. I have always felt that if the fedora/porkpie/fill in the blank is your trademark, then why change that for someone else?

JP[/QUOTE]

 

[Delthayre]

Better than a taxicab!

I almost always wear a hat when out of doors, no matter how short that time might be; I treat them nearly as though they were shoes for my head.

I don't like thin ribbons.

I neither own any vintage hats nor have any designs upon owning any, except perhaps for an antique silk plush top hat, which one has scarce choice otherwise for procuring.

I have an, "eight hat plan," that is presently 3/8ths complete, although I'm starting to consider a nine hat plan.

I wish that I had asked for steel grey instead of slate grey for the Selcouth.

 

[Sefton]

In an effort to leave no loose ends undone I've just now checked and it does seem that my Catholic hats are getting along just fine with my Protestant caps. My communist ties however appear to irreparably frayed. Fortunately, they were all clip-ons and out the rotation since college...

 

[M_Jones]

This is a very interesting thread....

Once I get back from Iraq I will be selling a majority of my hat collection (150+ hats) regardless of the current market. (This has more to do with space than desire in keeping them)

Having collected hats since 2005 I have come to the conclusion that Indiana Jones styled fedoras are my favorite regardless of what this site thinks.

Hats are neither a functional tool to me nor a fashion accessory, they are somehow hardwired into my being-I cannot imagine not owning at least one good felt hat regardless of circumstances.

I also have a love for fedoras because I can’t help seeing the generation that wore them regularly as somehow purer than the current one and it is my own way of spitting in the eye of the non-conformists of my generation. (I know this one has flaws)

I will never own a straw hat regardless of how well made it is.

I am also notorious for desiring multiples of the same hat.

I hate and never wear jeans though I do not think I am better than anyone else because of it.

I am still way too self conscious about wearing my hats though I generally receive favorable comments.

My favorite fedoras are tall, straight sided crowned hats with wide brims even though many would say they don’t fit my build.

I wear hats around my apartment without a second thought.

I once paid over $400 for a hat on eBay that remains my favorite hat of all time.

I have been known to buy hats that I will never wear or that are not my size just so I can inspect them or admire them because of their design.

Besides the Cavanagh edge, raw edge hats are my favorite brim treatment.

I love going through my hat collection and admiring all the effort and care put into the construction of the fedoras I own.


Whew, that’s it for now…..

 

[avedwards]

--I still have not decided if a fedora should be worn on a first date. I know it is a bit eccentric, but it is what I usually wear. [huh]

Just be yourself. I have always felt that if the fedora/porkpie/fill in the blank is your trademark, then why change that for someone else?

JP

[/QUOTE]
I agree, don't change yourself. If you change yourself for your someone else they won't be getting to know you but someone else. I used this logic on all dates I have been on and I have no reason not to do so again.

And to be on-topic, I always wear at least a long sleeve shirt and trousers or very occaisionally jeans, so I have no problem wearing a fedora with that. I do often forget to doff or tip my hat though. When I remember to it's usually too late.

 

[Rule17]

The right hat

I agree with other posters here:
- high crowns and wide brims don't suit the thin or oval face, which is why most Akubras don't suit me (I'm not thin but have a long face)
- I spent years imagining how wonderful it would be to wear a fedora and now couldn't imagine life without one

Also:
- I don't feel self-conscious in my hats among strangers (any more) but there are certain hats I wear only when my financee isn't around
- baseball caps are to hats what 7-11 raincoats are to jackets. I wear one only for exercise because I respect my other hats too much to sweat into them
- I would buy a hat a day if I could
- I desperately, desperately want to buy a top hat and wear it out and about (which I would do with jeans because I think it would work or, frankly, everyone would be staring anyway)
- I feel like I've come home reading this thread. I have friends who love that I wear hats, some I've even persuaded to try it themselves; others who tolerate it; and others who think I'm mad; but I have no friends who truly understand.

Thank you for understanding :eusa_clap

 

[Hal]

I am not a "hat fundamentalist" by any manner or means, only wearing headgear when it is functional (against cold, rain or sun) and/or an essential part of the ensemble. As in the UK we rarely have very hot or very cold weather, my "rule-of-thumb" is that an overcoat or raincoat calls for headgear to be worn; some outer coats will take a flat cap but most need a trilby/fedora. The only time I'd normally wear a hat without an outer coat is to wear a straw hat for sun protection, though I like the (very British?) look of a flat cap with a tweed sports jacket.
I dislike baseball caps, but don't knock the young for wearing them, as the boy who wears such a cap is surely far more likely to proceed to "proper" headgear than the one who always goes bareheaded.

 

[avedwards]

I agree with other posters here:
- high crowns and wide brims don't suit the thin or oval face, which is why most Akubras don't suit me (I'm not thin but have a long face)

What sort of hats do you wear? I have a long face too (and I'm also thin) but I don't like stingies. I'm fine going with medium brims rather than wide ones, but I have a problem with low crowns as my head is long and they don't sit well at all in wind.

 

[cookie]

This is a very interesting thread....

Once I get back from Iraq I will be selling a majority of my hat collection (150+ hats) regardless of the current market. (This has more to do with space than desire in keeping them)

Having collected hats since 2005 I have come to the conclusion that Indiana Jones styled fedoras are my favorite regardless of what this site thinks.

Hats are neither a functional tool to me nor a fashion accessory, they are somehow hardwired into my being-I cannot imagine not owning at least one good felt hat regardless of circumstances.

I also have a love for fedoras because I can’t help seeing the generation that wore them regularly as somehow purer than the current one and it is my own way of spitting in the eye of the non-conformists of my generation. (I know this one has flaws)

I will never own a straw hat regardless of how well made it is.

I am also notorious for desiring multiples of the same hat.

I hate and never wear jeans though I do not think I am better than anyone else because of it.

I am still way too self conscious about wearing my hats though I generally receive favorable comments.

My favorite fedoras are tall, straight sided crowned hats with wide brims even though many would say they don’t fit my build.

I wear hats around my apartment without a second thought.

I once paid over $400 for a hat on eBay that remains my favorite hat of all time.

I have been known to buy hats that I will never wear or that are not my size just so I can inspect them or admire them because of their design.

Besides the Cavanagh edge, raw edge hats are my favorite brim treatment.

I love going through my hat collection and admiring all the effort and care put into the construction of the fedoras I own.


Whew, that’s it for now…..

Nothing here that is very controversial ...except your distaste for straw hats... and this can be fixed with a couple of hours spent on the couch of an FL approved psychiatrist...

 

[Feraud]

What sort of hats do you wear? I have a long face too (and I'm also thin) but I don't like stingies. I'm fine going with medium brims rather than wide ones, but I have a problem with low crowns as my head is
long and they don't sit well at all in wind.

Perhaps you can try a moderate brim 2- 2 1/4" and a crown with a bit of taper.

 

[avedwards]

Perhaps you can try a moderate brim 2- 2 1/4" and a crown with a bit of taper.

A high crown with taper? As for the brim, I am also tall (6'1") as well as thin and long-faced, so too narrow isn't good either.

 

[Feraud]

Between 2 - 2 1/4" is not too narrow. Stingies are below 2 inches..
I believe a moderate crown with some taper could balance the length and thinness of your face.

Of course this is subjective and people will (and should) wear what they like!