Vintage noodle-topper presentation

[thunderw21]

In early February I'm giving a presentation about the origins and evolution of the fedora as well as showcasing some other styles like the derby, homburg and 8-panel.

I'll be covering each era starting roughly in the 1920s through to the 1960s. I will be discussing variations and differences from decade to decade and will show examples for each decade.


But I'm having a bit of trouble tracing the family line of the fedora in the early years, the 1920s.
Was the fedora a sort of development from the homburg or did it develop seperately?

Early fedoras were worn with center creases as were homburgs, both with and without side and front dents. Is this merely because the fedora evolved from the homburg or is this just the style of wear for the time?

Thanks for your input.

 

[KObalto]

Believe it or not

I thought fedoras evolved out of Alpine hats such as the one worn by the stage character Fedora.

 

[thunderw21]

I did the presentation today. It went very well. It took 30 minutes and all of the ladies present were very interested in it. They also liked how I dressed.

Here are the hats I took.

Starting top row from the left:
Cheap wool derby; Champ homburg; 1920s Portis; early 1930s-style cowboy conversion; 1930s lightweight Mallory
2nd row from left:
1940s Champ, 1940s Dobbs; 1940s wool by Omaha Hat and Cap Co.; early 1950s Royal Stetson; early 1950s Stetson Open Road
Front row from left:
1950s Stetson Medallion Panama; late-1950s Mallory porkpie, 1960s Stetson stingy


The practice display at home.

The real deal after the presentation.

The lady who's house the presentation was at showed me her uncles 1950s Stetson Open Road as well as a nice 1920s boater she recently bought. She bought it 'cause she thought it was 'cute'.

All present had a good time.

 

[J.T.Marcus]

I would have liked to have heard your presentation. I don't suppose you made a video? You've certainly got a nice assortment of hats to make it interesting. :eusa_clap :eusa_clap :eusa_clap :eusa_clap

 

[indycop]

Good job!:eusa_clap :eusa_clap :eusa_clap

 

[surely]

and you look very cool too!

 

[Tomasso]

Man, you have some sweet lids!

oooooooooooooo

 

[RJCNTX]

A wonderful display of hats. What a collection.

What was the reason for the presentation? It would have neat to hear.

 

[animator]

I would really like to see your presentation, too.

If you have a video, could you post it?

 

[thunderw21]

Sorry, no video of it. :eusa_doh:

The group was the local Questers. You might have heard of them. Each month they get together and have meetings and presentations. This time my mom was supposed to present but instead she asked if I would. So I did.

I pretty much told them what a fedora was, where it came from and how they're made. I then went on to describe styles of hats from different eras starting in the 1920s and ending in the 1960s, using the 14 hats I brought along including an 8-panel newsboy not shown in the hat layout. I also showed them a hat block and some of the miniature gift hats.

Thanks for the nice comments guys!