Visiting NYC or "Wow! That's a nice hat!"

[flylot74]

Took my wife to NYC for three days, staying two blocks from Times Square. Did the tourist thing: the village, 5th Ave., Broadway, Central Park, Financial district, Battery Park and the two island tour (big green lady crown was closed though), the whole enchilada . A fabulous three days.

I ran out of fingers and toes counting the number of compliments of my "Art Work" I was wearing. Both men and women were quite vocal in praising my fedora. People would walk across a hotel lobby or even cross a busy street just to compliment me on my hat and ask where I purchased such a fine fedora. I must have given out Art's name and email address two dozen times in three days!

Even the hat/coat check girls at Harry's and Patsy's (midtown eateries) cooed over my hat and almost fondled it! Gawd, it was almost embarrassing!

Interestingly enough, I found very few fedora wearers in Manhattan. The few I saw were either wool felt stingies or wool felt Aussie style, Indianna Jones "sort of" hats worn by men usually over 25 to 30 in age. Also, common were cotton stingies worn by "the yoots". More common were the somewhat larger brimmed blacks hats worn by the religious sect frequenting the fabulous diamond district. Funny, I expected more hat wearers in NYC, perhaps a misconception from a guy who lives in Cowboy and trucker hat territory.

I had to call Art and tell him of my adventure. Uh, oh yeah! I also ordered another hat!

 

[kaosharper1]

Neat. Which hat were you wearing?

 

[Maguire]

I just went to a corner store (living in NYC) and in 10 minutes two people in entirely separate areas told me i looked like "humphrey bogart from Casablanca" and then proceeded to imitate him "here's looking at you kid". When the first guy did it my friends chuckled, then when 5 minutes later we come across someone else and he says it they just burst out laughing.

I usually get "clark kent" more than anyone else. Its a shame hats are such an oddity that they elicit stares at all, as what appeals to me about the whole hat and suit/trenchcoat getup is that it had a kind of anonymity to it without being boring or ugly.

 

[besdor]

Unfortunately, hats are not a common site here in NYC. What you will see are lots of caps, some baseball, some newsboy styles. But from time to time we do get people in our stores that want to dress up again and wear a felt hat.
Lets hope that more prople will feel this way again!

Steven
www.bencrafthats.com

 

[flylot74]

Neat. Which hat were you wearing?

This one:

 

[kaosharper1]

Nice look!

 

[Dixon Cannon]

Hey! You look like Humphrey Bogart from Casablanca!! (LOL)
Really, nice looking lid on ya! I really think fedoras are becoming much
more acceptable and welcome. Let's face it, a nice fedora looks great
and a lot of people envy the panache of the wearer!

-dixon cannon

 

[Duper]

I agree that you look great in your fedora. Good for you and Art!

 

[daizawaguy]

I agree that you look great in your fedora. Good for you and Art!

Second that! :eusa_clap :eusa_clap

 

[scottyrocks]

Thats a beautiful hat. I love Art's work.

 

[handlebar bart]

This one:

No wonder you got positive hat comments. That hat looks perfect on you.:eusa_clap

 

[mcarthur]

This one:

good looking fedora

 

[RBH]

This one:

My friend.. I like your style!!!

 

[carldelo]

Sweet lid, no wonder you got compliments - what color is that one, by the way?

You may have seen so few hats because you were mostly in tourist zones during your stay. Most of the people you saw were probably also from out of town. I tend to see fedora in NYC (the few anyway) on the upper east side, where there is a higher population of older, wealthier people who are comfortable dressing in a classy and classic manner. The number of regular Joes like us who wear fedora for style is very small and scattered throughout the city.

PS - thanks for bringing your VS to NYC and helping to class-up the joint...