To Feather or Not to Feather?

[facade]

Feathers in hats seem to be something of a rarity these days, so I thought i'd ask you guys your opinions. Do you like feathers in hats? And if so, what type? Long feathers from peacocks and similar birds, or short hawk feathers?

I like feathers with my shorter brimmed hats. It adds a splash of color to their more understated appearance. The larger brimmed hats make enough statement on their own. No pimp daddy feathers, just smaller tasteful ones.

 

[Short Balding Guy]

Feathers work with some hats. They absolutely, do not work with others. A good example is a very thin ribbon or a wide ribbon, IMO.

Wear the hat, wear the feather. Best, Eric -

 

[Monte]

It is definitely interesting to read about some of the more fashion oriented topics on the Lounge. We hat people seem to be all over the continuum on feathers. Some feathers add a little pop of contrasting color that you can repeat in your outfit...like a tie or a pocket square. I think they are great on some fedoras and I'm pretty opposite on my thin ribbon hats and westerns.
I think most of my black fedoras came w red feathers and most looked ok if they weren't damaged. I like the complimentary contrast that this yellow factory feather adds to my Walton Cordova.

 

[Benzadmiral]

I've almost always taken the feathers out of my hats, though I have left in place the very understated red and black combo that came on my short-brimmed brown Resistol Kitten Finish. If feathers might look best with short brims, maybe I should try one on my silverbelly Champ 2" brim OR-clone! Red, maybe, or blue?

 

[Jaxworx]

My Dad has worn a cheap, bright red, costume-grade felt porkpie for years with an 18-inch pheasant tail feather stuck into it. It was stuck through slits notched into the hat body, since it wouldn't stay in the band. That always seemed a bit... excessive... to me, even if he did acquire the feather by the traditional means of eating its producer.

But HIS dad habitually wore a light grey Stetson fedora over his Hawaiian shirts when I knew him (Grandpa died when I was seven). It had a medium brim and a black band with a jaunty little feather in it. Sometimes from a Mexican seagull, sometimes from a wood duck or a crow, but a feather always. I thought Grandpa was pretty cool.

He's the reason I wear hats at all, so most likely the reason I found this place, but also the reason I disagree with the flock wisdom on the topic of feathers. As far as whether they look more natural on birds: probably they do. And fur looks more natural on hares and beavers, leather on cows, etc. I don't actually have an ethical problem with using animal parts for clothing, including predominantly decorative clothing (like, say... hats).

The feathers look good to me if they're not excessive -- and I'm a guy who typically buys his motorcycle helmets in solid colors.

I'm not speaking for Grandpa, but I do follow his lead on the feather issue. We have a great picture of him in the 1920s, back when he sold shiny black Fords on Figueroa Street in Los Angeles. He's standing on the sidewalk next to his sweetheart, wearing a sharply pressed suit, overcoat and homburg -- feather on!

While I may never show the elan of a guy who drummed in a jazz band, rode a Silent Grey Fellow and flew the U.S. mail in biplanes, I can offer him that little salute on my headgear. Not (so far) on my Open Road with its skinny band, but I'm beginning to feel that may be an oversight worth correcting.

Feathers for me, more often than not.

 

[DougC]

I've had two types of feathers in my hats. The first is a turkey feather that I wear in a palm leaf cowboy hat. One of my friends said the combination made for the ugliest hat he has ever seen-I wore it coaching lacrosse against his team and won by way too much...he might have been upset. The other type is attached to a recently-changed fly and only stays in place IF the new fly fails to produce fish. The fly generally goes into the knot in the band of an Open Road. Any other feather that has come with a hat gets left at the hat shop.

 

[Joe Rotax]

My Stetson Range came with a small feather and I've left it on there because it doesn't bother me and it's the way the hat was styled by the factory so I'm leaving it stock so to speak. Sometimes I wear this hat with a pin strip business suit so perhaps the feather isn't quite right with that - I'm thinking of getting another Range anyway so maybe I'll remove the feather from that one and wear it with a suit.

 

[JohnTheHat]

buying feathers for a hat

Where would you buy feathers for a trilby hat and how are they kept on? I thought I had posted this

 

[jlee562]

some links:
http://www.davidmorgan.com/product_info.php?products_id=70
http://www.goorin.com/hat-extras
http://www.hatsinthebelfry.com/product/asst-feather-pak.html

Most brick and mortar stores have a selection as well.

You just slide them under the ribbon.

 

[JohnTheHat]

Thanks jlee562 and whoever merged my post in here

 

[The Fedorable]

I removed the feather from my first hat because I didn't like how it looked. Now that I've received a new fedora (a lovely pecan brown) the feather was moved to my first hat because it just suits it with how the feather looks aside from the first one. A jaunty, red feather that looks like it was bought a craft store. This one now looks as if it's a real feather.

 

[fedoracentric]

I would never, ever leave a feather in the ribbon. I hate the way they look. It just gives your hat a "cheap" feel to me. I throw them away immediately.

 

[Zombie_61]

No feathers for me, thank you; I prefer my hats unadorned.

 

[TheDane]

Thanks jlee562 and whoever merged my post in here

Probably a moderator - called a bartender on The Lounge. The idea is to search the site for threads on a specific subject of interest. If such a thread is not found, you open a new one. If you overlooked an existing thread, a bartender will often merge the new and the old threads ... quite convenient

 

[dh66]

I kinda like a little feather tucked into a hat's ribbon, but I also like driving with the car windows open so the feather usually doesn't last very long

 

[skydog757]

Reminds me of the Emily Dickinson quote "Hope is the thing with feathers" which Woody Allen referenced in the title of his book "Without Feathers".

 

[earl]

Alanfgag, that CH looks great on you (spring chicken). Here's one at the other end of the spectrum. It's a soft playboyesque Resistol with good age.

Generally don't like a feather, but have a dove grey with a small red feather of that size and in that case think it's a great complement. But has to be small and complementary to do it for me. Earl

 

[TheDane]

Feathers in hats don't do much good to my eyes. They remind me of the old cotton-bucket I used to wear when fly-fishing - or Tirolean hats, packed with pins, badges, gemsbart and ... feathers [huh]

In my world, feathers very rarely fit into an urban context. They make most hats look cheap or souvenir-like (like Borsalino's gold printed logo across the knot of the bow does). I love feathers in ladies' hats, but very rarely in gent's

 

[dnjan]

The only hat I wear with a feather is a very wide-brimmed hat that I wear occasionally on Halloween when dressed up as d'Artagnan.
(yes, a large, brightly-coloured feather)

 

[John Galt]

No. It's one thing to wear a fedora, but for me the feather is a bit too much. I have a nice collection if anyone wants some.