What do our hats really say about us, and more importantly, are they right?

[scottyrocks]

I learned in psychology once that each person has at least three persona: we are who we think we are, we are who others perceive us to be, and we are who we really are. So every person who sees me probably sees something different based on their life's experiences. I can't control that, so I guess I choose hats that make me, what I think, look good and what I think communicates the aforementioned five items.

That's all I can really think of now.

Yep, 'your side, my side, and the truth.' A wise, eyes-wide-opened way of looking at things.

 

[JimWagner]

Like quite a few here I started wearing brimmed hats after dealing with some skin cancers about 20 years ago. As long as I'm going to wear them anyway I wanted to wear decent hats. I stumbled into the FL looking for hat info, which is certainly abundent here.

I'm too old to care much about fashion or what others think or making statements. But I have ended up with quite a few hats and like wearing them.

 

[Italian-wiseguy]

I went to a marriage (open air) this summer. In the afternoon: sun was b-u-r-n-i-n-g! The only male people with hat, were me, and an old guy: a "real" hat wearer, I think. I'm just beginning to become "real" in this sense, as someone who wears hats (real hats) simply because it's natural for him to do so.
My brother is a lot more "real" in this sense
(I admire how he dresses in a non ostentatious, classical stylish way, without even trying to do so; he doesn't even care about "vintage" or classical, he simply wears what he likes, and he has good taste! if asked, he answers that he simply dresses "normally" and that's all).

Well, I think I wear hats (and the same goes for all the "classical" style I like) because I want to achieve the same feeling of "normality" in doing so that had my father, and my brother has;
so my statement is like "see? this should be the norm!" even if it may seem a little complicated

 

[Marc Chevalier]

My hats say that I don't fit in. Not here, not anywhere.

 

[Marc Chevalier]

No truer words ...

 

[Italian-wiseguy]

on the other hand, just put the guy on the right in a nice hat; in a suit; and finally get rid of the goatee, that doesn't serve him well;
well, wouldn't that be a completely different impression?

 

[Cashmere]

Seems to me Pompidou's question has morphed from "What does my hat say about me?" to "Why do I wear a hat?"


Seems to me they're both legitimate questions.


Also seems to me, even if one is not trying to make a particular statement by wearing a hat, it still makes a statement. All our choices -- large and small -- say something about who we are, what kind of person we are... about our values, tastes, sensibilities. Coke vs. Pepsi even.


When I was in my early teens, my parents brought me back a Kangol 504 cap back from a trip to Bermuda. I found it was comfortable, and looked pretty good. I often got compliments on it. I liked that. It got to be a habit, part of getting dressed. Not every day, but more often than not. I was definitely the only person in a rather large high school that ever wore any kind of hat other than a stocking cap for warmth or a baseball cap. Later I added an inexpensive fedora.


In college, more than one person told me I was referred to around campus as "that guy who always wears a hat." It just got to be part of who I am.


I went to grad school in Edinburgh. The weather changes there about six times a day. Two or three of the six will usually involve moisture. And I didn't have a car... walked everywhere. It was really handy to be that guy who always wore a hat.


So... while there were practical reasons, there must also have been a non-comforist streak, and possibly an attention-seeking streak, in my more or less unconscious decision to wear hats regularly. There certainly isn't any status thing going on: both my cap and my hat are sub $50 items (going to upgrade hats soon though).


So, my hat is comfortable, and -- to a teency degree -- makes me feel special and different. Now that the question has been asked, I really find myself wondering what others see it saying about me.

 

[monbla256]

no truer words ...

amen

 

[Marc Chevalier]

amen

And that's okay. As long as we are happy feeling that we 'look' like Bogart, then the truth doesn't matter. Fantasy is important; it helps us get through the day.

 

[monbla256]

And that's okay. As long as we are happy feeling that we 'look' like Bogart, then the truth doesn't matter. Fantasy is important; it helps us get through the day.

I have to agree with you there. As I say "Onward thru the Fog"

 

[Marc Chevalier]

As I say "Onward thru the Fog"

That's my life motto.

 

[Brian Stahl]

I agree 100%!

 

[coble]

i have been interested in hats since i was a litte guy, maybe tomorrow i'll post a cool photo of me as a youngster. I wear them because i love them, its part of me. Dealing with character, i'm an artist, i paint, draw, i was trained in sculpture of clay, and i've been playing guitar, sing and write lyrics. Now these characteristics i show in hats i buy, hats i get designed. Because i draw out my hat designs and take my interest of what i'd like to wear based on styles of 1890's westerns, to the golden era.
For example a lot of my favorite artists that inspire me wear great hats (van gogh, monet, renoir), and at times i take those designs and make something that fits my personality. I agree in the fact that i wish we still all dressed like the golden era, and earlier, because now adays the things people wear my age, which i'm 28, and younger look quite gumby, its like 80's fashion all over again. The classic look just brings out a simple but ageless look. Things were at no means easy at that time, but there was quality in clothing, now adays theres not much quality.
Dealing with quality if i buy a vintage hat online, or get a custom there's quality then what you find in everyday stores. I wear them because its who i am, people actually dont recognize me without a hat.
I did recently have one of the Navy recruiters tell me nice indy hat. I don't mind the indy comments its normal. Even though my hat is the Art Fawcett in my avatar its not the same colors as indy.
I have had my wifes aunt say i was born in the wrong time and loves my hats, i said well, i just think men had a great fashion, and for me in todays time it makes me smile to know i'm comfortable in my own skin, not a lot of people can say that. Hats are just a part of me, always have been. I dont worry about peoples comments, what does my hat say about me is that i am just myself.

 

[150719541]

Hi brothers ¡¡¡ Now I am only 58 years old every day, any time, any where I am wearing hat. My grand and father too, Some days in the morning, I am wearing a hat riding with dogs, in work another and the night one of my favourites, much people tell me positive opinion about hats like: nice, good color, fine style, but never have heard something negative. I use my hats because like them, for cold, brightness sun, etc. Fedora in city and western in ranch ¡¡¡¡

 

[jkingrph]

Like a lot of others, I refuse to wear the gimme caps, or anything with advertisement. Why should I be a walking billboard for free or even pay to advertise for something.

I liked the idea of sun protection, at age 66 the top is thin and ears need some protection hence hats. I started with fedora size with some Tilley hats and quickly graduated to nice felts and straws.

Yes they do draw some attention because they are different in this day and age. The nicest comments I have had have come from some teenage girl who would say nice hat, wish my boyfriend would wear one.
Really cannot get much better than that.

 

[suits lover]

I wear a hat because it protect me from the sun,rain,snow etc... It keep my head warm when it cold and in summer it keep my head cool during hot day.I also wear hats because I'am not a baseball player in a baseball stadium.
When I go out in public, I want something that look mature and that go with real clothes. Surely in today world were wearing t-shirt, jeans and ball caps everywere during the whole year is considered stylish, it normal that people look at us and find us strange. It clearly show that we d'ont whant to follow the current trend and that we have some sort of love for a past era.

 

[jkingrph]

I started to wear hats because of an advice my doctor gave me. I have high risk of skin cancer and he adviced me to cover my head, at least in the sun. Then I started to wear baseball caps till I found out that I look like anybody else in our society. Since I hate uniformity I started to wear fedoras. That's it. I don't want to make a statement at all, I just want to be different from all this t-shirt and jeans wearing robots...

That pretty well sums up my feelings! No baseball caps, I absolutly refuse to wear a shirt without a collar, and no longer have any jeans.

To carry things further, I use real fountain pens, vintage double and single edge razors, no canned shave cream either, its a brush and soap in a bowl. My taste in firearms runs to single shot rifles, and some of the pre WWII and WWI bolt actions, double barrel shotguns, including the French sliding breech models, and lastly my old lever action rifles.

 

[Ralphin Ormond]

In the way that I dress myself, my statement to the world is simply that I am paying attention, taking good care of myself, and am the equal of any person that I am likely to encounter. When I asked Art to make me a hat, my goal was to end up with a very fine hat that suited my taste, felt wonderfully, and, while achieving the goals described above, calls as little attention to myself as possible. I feel that the hat I got (sorry, no camera in my life) looks a lot like I would have worn had I lived in the 30's - 50's era. I treasure its "ordinariness." In public and amongst friends and co-workers, I do get some positive responses but not as much as when I wear my Dobbs Cresson. And that fact confirms for me that the VS, not the Dobbs, is exactly what I want in a hat. Good job Art!

 

[ThatHatGuy]

Well im a young lad, im only 24, I do enjoy my hats. I dont have many of them and most of them are crazy, cause im crazy. Thats the point behind a hat, its you in a nutshell, its the first thing people notice about a man wearing a hat, Its the cherry on top of the sunday. Hats are such complex things, cause of there history and there statement. People always want the hat that is on top of my head, cause they want that look, that confidence. Always wear your hat proud my friends.

 

[DNO]

Like a lot of others, I refuse to wear the gimme caps, or anything with advertisement. Why should I be a walking billboard for free or even pay to advertise for something.

Absolutely. I avoid anything with a visible logo...I've even been known to unstitch embroidered logos in order to remove them. My wife thinks I'm a tad crazy, but she agrees with my "no advertising" mindset.