What do you think of modern "Street/Punk" Fedoras?

[CopperNY]

one of my friends is an "alternative", rather boyish woman. her typical turnout is white v-neck tshirt w/ madras shorts, blue golf jacket, low top tennis shoes and a -blue canvas trilby-.

worn with her sense of irony, and the right attitude, it looks great. much better than most styles i see in her peer group (she's 20, vs my 40).

she occasionally wears my vintage Saks fedora, with excellent results.

 

[Midwest Boater]

my feeling exactly

I think they're okay. I wouldn't wear one, but then, I wouldn't wear a cowboy hat, either. There are more hats I wouldn't wear than that I would. I don't even care if hats become popular again. I'm just wearing one because I want to.

your post sums up what i was trying to say better than i said it myself.

 

[Mobile Vulgus]

Not a fan...

I am not a fan of these Trilby-like things with all the colors and streaks and images on them. I am a traditional hat sortta guy. I'd never be caught dead with them on my head. Heck, I wouldn't even wear a vintage trilby much less one of these cheap new ones.

However... that this new style has brought hats back into fashion DOES have something to recommend it as a good thing. So on balance I have to say I welcome them.

The sad thing is that our society has gone without hats for so long that there is no touch with hat etiquette anymore. People don't know when they should take them off! Worse, even if people did still know when it is respectful to take them off there is no place to put them. Hat racks, coat hooks, wall pegs, they don't exist at restaurants or any place like that anymore. You are almost forced to keep wearing a hat while you eat these days for lack of having a place to put it! (I still always take mine off, though).

And forget a guy taking his hat off when he is introduced to someone (especially a woman) as a sign of respect. That is lost completely. And forget taking a hat off when you enter someone's home, too, I guess. Young people do not do this stuff any more.

Anyway, maybe we can start to reintroduce that sort of thing, but as informal as our society has become, I doubt we'll ever see it again. (heck people don't even dress to go to church anymore half the time!)

Guess I am just an old crank.

 

[theinterchange]

If this goes back to discussing hats noone will accidently feed the situation that is developing. Let that stuff stay in the other parts of FL

Agreed.

Randy

 

[Neophyte]

I saw a girl walking by with a very, very strange hat on. It caught my eye, and I slowed my walking speed to let her pass so that I could see the hat. It was black and round, like an unformed, open crown fedora.

Psych!

Turns out this girl had the hat sitting waaaaaaaay back on her head, and the hat was completely SIDEWAYS! I'm talking about the front pinch facing towards the right and the back of the crown facing to her left.

So yeah...I myself have nothing against these hats or the people who wear them, but they do provide me some amusement sometimes lol.

 

[theinterchange]

I saw a girl walking by with a very, very strange hat on. It caught my eye, and I slowed my walking speed to let her pass so that I could see the hat. It was black and round, like an unformed, open crown fedora.

I'm sure you were only checking out the hat...

I thought you were describing a witch hat, initially I missed the round part of the description. lol

Randy

P.S I just noticed that this is my 700th post... I really have nothing better to do, folks. haha

 

[Neophyte]

I'm sure you were only checking out the hat... P.S I just noticed that this is my 700th post... I really have nothing better to do, folks. haha

I think I'm worse than you, I've accumulated 960 posts, including this one, and I joined in April!

Also, well played on your first statement lol!

 

[theinterchange]

I think I'm worse than you, I've accumulated 960 posts, including this one, and I joined in April!

Also, well played on your first statement lol!

Haha, at least this isn't a narcotics addiction!

In regards to my first statement... I mean... a girl... wearing a hat... what self respecting single male on here wouldn't look at that?! I say single, the married men would have to be more discreet about it.

Randy

 

[Neophyte]

Well, my plan is to become a physician, so I'm not planning on tying myself down for quite a while. Along the way, though, I am not averse to admiring girls in hats lol.

 

[CliffG]

I saw a kid come out of the post office in a pen stripe suit and an economical fedora, he then tossed down a scate board and wizzed past me as he said hey man get you one of these things (refering to his scateboard)
I was dresed in a suit and wearing a fedore also.
I think it gives people an oportunity to buy a hat and decide where to go with it.
I have seen posts on here where people are nervous to wear a hat for the first time out in public, I think that the hats that are differntly decorated gives them a chance to wear a hat and stand out even more because it is not their grand dads old hat, but they want the look in a apealing youthfull way.

 

[Dewhurst]

And forget a guy taking his hat off when he is introduced to someone (especially a woman) as a sign of respect. That is lost completely. And forget taking a hat off when you enter someone's home, too, I guess. Young people do not do this stuff any more.

Anyway, maybe we can start to reintroduce that sort of thing, but as informal as our society has become, I doubt we'll ever see it again. (heck people don't even dress to go to church anymore half the time!)

Guess I am just an old crank.

Whether you are an old crank or not is not known by me (ask a relative or spouse?), but I both hear/agree with you and raise a questioning hand. Bemoaning the loss of "old" ways is common in the human experience. Every generation gets their turn to say "Well, in my day..." And the informality of any culture that was once more formal is an interesting thing to look at. However, etiquette should never get a free lunch simply because it is etiquette. The appropriateness of any gesture, cultural norm, bit of etiquette, etcetera, should be continually re-evaluated.

One of your examples, the taking off of hats when entering someones abode. I like that one as well, and it makes sense, but when a hat is being worn it could fall under the prerogative of the wearer, and not etiquette. I often tell people "You can leave your hat on, but please take your shoes off!" when they enter my apartment. This probably annoys people, but I don't want stains on my carpet (their hats neither pick my pocket nor break my bones, nor do they leave stains on the ceiling!).

Another one of your examples, that of doffing your hat when meeting a female for the first time is certainly quaint, and if a woman appreciates it it can appear nearly heroic. But, in our time, there are women who find it offensive. I have only met two, but they taught me well: how they view the gesture as sexist, and if I would kindly do the same for a gentleman I had just met as well, they would be perfectly happy with the result. (I imagine standing when a woman enters would be frowned upon as well).

Anyway, things change. Etiquette is malleable, not set in stone (and even then, stone breaks!). Some is preposterous, some arcane, some inconsiderate, all may be refined, eradicated, or embraced on their merits (or lack). The most important thing is that we keep hats fun and enticing. So that we can enjoy them and others will want them, regardless of proper etiquette according to ... whichever generation we happen to prefer at the moment. What seemed proper to the folks of the 1940's would probably have terrified the Victorians as rank informality, and Americans have always been accused of having "iffy" manners. Apparently, it's in the blood and must be actively combated.

 

[Hal]

Two points, unrelated to each other:

...doffing your hat when meeting a female for the first time is certainly quaint...in our time, there are women who find it offensive. (I imagine standing when a woman enters would be frowned upon as well).

1: There is a story of a young man who opened the door for a young woman; she said "I hope you're not doing this because I'm a lady" to which he replied "No, I'm doing it because I'm a gentleman". (Source unknown)

2: Isn't the boy who wears a baseball-cap or one of these "street/punk fedoras" more likely to "graduate" to a proper hat than one who zealously remains bareheaded? (just as youngsters who only listen to pop/rock music are surely more likelly to appreciate classical or jazz music later than those who don't listen to music at all).

 

[donnc]

I'll tell you who's likely to "graduate" to wearing a proper hat: man whose hair is no longer doing its job.

 

[John in Covina]

I have mixed feelings about these. I am not a stingy brim fan and the hat style does not have the best connotations for me. Add to it the decorative effects as shown in the photos and it slips into a region of despair.

I have seen the kids wearing wool or fur felt stingies without the decorations and I find that a bit more acceptable. My hopes are that it spurs them on to embrace the iconic fedoras and make that part of their personal style.

 

[JimWagner]

I'll tell you who's likely to "graduate" to wearing a proper hat: man whose hair is no longer doing its job.

Hey! :whistling

My hair did its job and retired.

I'm old enough that what young people wear just doesn't matter to me. As far as the hats in question go, I couldn't wear one myself without looking ridiculous so I guess they don't matter to me either.

And before anyone points out the obvious, I've been invisible to the age group those hats are aimed at for quite a few years. Happened about the same time that the Secret League of Women declared me harmless.

 

[danofarlington]

Hey! :whistling
Happened about the same time that the Secret League of Women declared me harmless.

lol lol lol

 

[hatophile]

I'll tell you who's likely to "graduate" to wearing a proper hat: man whose hair is no longer doing its job.

Agreed, there donn.

 

[Dewhurst]

1: There is a story of a young man who opened the door for a young woman; she said "I hope you're not doing this because I'm a lady" to which he replied "No, I'm doing it because I'm a gentleman". (Source unknown)

Nice! My favorite: A gentleman opens a door for a woman going in to the library. The woman stops in front of the door, gestures and says, "Go ahead, sir!" At which point the man has two replies ready: (A)"Well, I'm a man and your a woman... so you go first." (B) "OK". He chooses B and enters the door he is apparently now holding for himself.

 

[Neophyte]

Nice! My favorite: A gentleman opens a door for a woman going in to the library. The woman stops in front of the door, gestures and says, "Go ahead, sir!" At which point the man has two replies ready: (A)"Well, I'm a man and your a woman... so you go first." (B) "OK". He chooses B and enters the door he is apparently now holding for himself.

...and closes it shut right behind him lol!

 

[CircuitRider]

I noticed when Sugerland was singing on Today Show this morning several men in the audience were wearing snap brim fedoras resembling the one Christian Bush wears when performing.