Why do you wear a fedora or cap?

[Edward]

Started wearing a cap at university in the mid Nineties - a corduroy, Greek-fisherman's style - largely because in Belfast by the time the rain was heavy enough to be bothered opening an umbrella, it was also invariably too windy for it to be worth fighting with it. Also helped with cold in the Winter. As by this point I had long eschewed coats with hoods, it was a good move. By 2000 I was also wearing a hat (various cotton boonie hats) in the Summer heat (having by now moved to London) in order to keep the sun off my face and neck. Less a health concern, more aesthetic - always hated a tan on me. This was my norm for several years: hats for worst of the Winter and the worst of the Summer. By 2005ish, I was wearing a cap all Winter as a norm. I'd owned a wool felt trilby since 1993 that got worn for 'dress' occasions, and in 2006 I bought a wool felt Western (think more open road than ten gallon, though) which got worn pretty much any time I was in a suit. 2005/6 was a period of change for me - a regeneration of sorts. I moved rapidly through a psychobilly look and into vintage by 2007, when I found and joined the Lounge. More hats followed.... Since June 2006, I believe I have left the house without some form of hat on me on precisely six occasions.... all of them involving either a fully head of zombie make-up, or devil horns. Hats still retain their original utilitarian purposes for me (even moreso, as I have been shaving my head completely since June 2006), but also they are now an essential aesthetic choice, and I have enough that at any one time I have a choice of several which will co-ordinate with a given outfit.

 

[hatophile]

Well, I've been a Hatophile since childhood. As I grew older, though, the era of long hair and hatless was in vogue. I had hats off and on through the years but never had guts enough to wear them regularly.
In the last 10 years the hair has been gradually receding and declining, along with my reluctance to wear hats.
I have also always loved Western hats and the Golden Era fedoras, so finding Ebay vintage hats has become an obsession. Now I have much less hair and many hats, soooo....

 

[HatsWV]

I just found I have an interest in vintage clothing styles and I realize newsboys and flat caps go well with a vintage look.

Hats also take the place of styled hair since in my case the hair is falling out. I don't mind shaving my head but the lack of style options is limiting. A collection of hats helps.

 

[zetwal]

I just found I have an interest in vintage clothing styles and I realize newsboys and flat caps go well with a vintage look.

They sure do! Welcome ... :yo:

 

[Bird Lives]

I'm walking through a dept. store one day...saw one of those Sinatra looking Black Cotton hats....and I get compliments on a daily basis...Whether deserved or not..I don't think I will ever be dogging the Dept. Store Stingys...This one has made my life easier in many ways...and keeps me dry, warm and people dig it....maybe more than I do...lol...I hope the hats I get in the future will be aswell received as this one...

When I replied earlier, my post was more about how I actually started wearing hats other than like stocking caps or wool flat caps to keep warm....But I noticed the thread is really "Why"Do you wear a hat....and of coarse the desire to wear a fedora goes back to digging my Dad when I was a kid...and my Uncles...all the male role-model types around me then wore fedoras...

We're talking as a small child in the 50's and a teen in the middle 60's...Of course at that time the movies on TV were like the Clark Kent, Elliot Ness type fedoras....My Dad was a very stylish gentleman with many suits and many pairs of shoes and a few hats...and he looked great all the time it seemed...whether wearing Open-Road types while riding in western shows or wearing fedoras as a newspaper man in DC...When he wore suits mostly he wore brims between 2" and 2 1/4 with full crowns, as most of his well dress friends at that time...I've always thought one day I would gravitate to wearing hats, but until recently I've traveled so much, and haven't really been around places where hats were sold...And that brings us to my earlier post here...So I'm glad of the current 'stingy' fad which made it easy to 'break the ice' so to speak...But I can't wait to get some hats similar to the ones I remember my Pop wearing...It's kind of like renewing a bond...I know he would have been very happy to share this hobby if you will...and probably would have hung out here at the lounge as well....It's a great way that a hat can be like a time machine that takes us to back to some of our wonderful times....and loved ones...I dig it... I'm not talking about living in the past...But it diffenently is a bonding experiance, and I find that very rewarding...And when I'm shopping for a new fedora I can't help but smile...

 

[galby]

They look good
They feel right
And if those aren't enough, they make you feel good about yourself, which can change your entire outlook on life

I agree, the hats simply suit me and I feel good wearing them.

 

[TomS]

I like the way I look, and I must admit they give me a different outlook when I have one on. I wear them so frequently now I feel strange without one!

 

[Godfrey]

I started in the late 80's early 90's. I'd always loved old movies and Noir in particular. In 1990 they released Millers Crossing, which I still love. Tom Regans hat was so central to the story and the movie was so cool it gave me confidence to wear a hat out on the street. Something I did for a few years before I kinda fell out of it. When I turned 32 my wife and I started swing dancing - I bought a hat for fun and then realized just how practical and useful they are. Like a few others here id also shaved my head and needed some protection from sun and cold. So nowadays it's hat, cap, and even the odd beret pretty much all the time.

 

[The Edwardian]

I started losing my hair in my early 20s and wanted to conceal it while out in public. Since I believe that only baseball players should wear baseball caps, I decided to go for something more vintage and dignified. It's gotten to the point where I refuse to go to my front lawn without a hat.

 

[Shangas]

It's cold and windy, or it's hot and sunny.

That's it.

 

[Old Rogue]

The fedora is an extremely practical hat. It has the wide brim that my dermatologist recommends for fair-skinned folks like me. The brim does an exceptional job of shading my eyes in bright sun. It's warm in cold weather, and is an outstanding hat to wear in the rain.

But most of all, I just love fedoras!!!

 

[pjt113]

It makes me happy to wear them.

When I was in high school on occasion I wore a "Billy Jack" flat brim open crown hat ore a deerstalker like Holmes. What can I say, it was the 70's...

 

[ambulatingreader]

I've always liked hats, except for the "baseball cap" we wore in the army. Used to find decent, cheap used fedoras in Goodwill back in the early 70s. A girlfriend got me a nice fedora in 1974 (brand unknown, but real felt). Wore it everywhere, from Death Valley to the Yukon. Somehow I lost it, maybe when I got married. I started to miss it lately, and discovered the Lounge, where I've learned a lot about fedoras.
I just got my 1st Akubra, a Brown Stylemaster from Bernye Utz here in Seattle. I'm really enjoying it. Other hats are Kangol Spitfires, in the wool blend or polyester. Been wearing them since 1979. I just feel more "dressed" with a hat on, even though I'm usually wearing casual clothes. Also like wool shirts, boots, and trenchcoats.

 

[mjd]

I started out with my polyester blue trilby with gray band that I got on clearance at The Bay

Oddly enough that's where I got my first Fedora, clearance sale. My young son uses it now (it did not really hold up to much use) and I've grown my hat collection to about 10 hats!

 

[Pinesiw]

Im more of a flat cap person. Got the insperation from my grandfather who always wore a salt and pepper cap, (tweed cap) hard workin bush man. Then I got caught up in everything else that went with the style.

 

[suits lover]

I wear mostly fedora and sometime ivy cap. I wear them for practical reason and for look. A hat is simply the best acessorie you can have.

 

[plain old dave]

I have always liked a good old Open Road. It's countrypolitan, and that's a plus in East Tennessee. I live in Oak Ridge (which is almost a New England town, really), but right over the hill is Oliver Springs. Oliver Springs is where the town scenes in October Sky were filmed, and if you keep going up the road you're in farm country. The OR is at home here in Oak Ridge or in Knoxville as it is in Oliver Springs or Wartburg or Sunbright. Especially if you keep the cattleman crease........

 

[hatguy1]

Style, baby. Style.

 

[Zombie_61]

Since this thread's been brought back from the dead, I may as well chime in.

"Because I can", "Because I want to", and "Because I like them" are probably the best responses; no further explanation necessary. Still...

I've only started wearing hats in the last five years or so. I had an occasional hat here and there growing up--a flat cap or a cheap wool felt "western style" hat--but never wore them regularly because I never felt I looked "right" in a hat of any type. In 2008 I got a Wested "Raiders of the Lost Ark" style brown leather jacket and decided I wanted to get a hat to wear with it, so I sought out and found a decent "newsboy" flat cap. I liked the cap but soon realized it wasn't rain-proof, so I got a brown Akubra Federation IV; except for being similar in height I look nothing like Harrison Ford, so I figured I was safe (and I was right--I've never once heard an "Indiana Jones" comment). Then another newsboy...and another...and another.

Having grown up as a "member of the working class" in a decidedly "blue collar" family, flat caps suit me right down to the ground. But they're not as efficient as a wide-brimmed hat when it comes to sun protection, which has become a more serious issue in my life. In January of this year I had my first bout with skin cancer. It was ridiculously minor by comparison to just about every other cancer story; in fact, the scar on my nose (where they removed the malignant cells) is so small that you'd really have to look closely to see it. But it made me realize it's never too soon to start protecting one's self from further sun damage. I love my Fed IV but, since it's dark brown, it gets quite hot when I wear it during summer months, so I've ordered a wider-brimmed Akubra Campdraft in Silverbelly (a nice light color) for double duty as a sun hat and a rain hat.

So, for me, what started as "I'd like to get a hat" has become "I'll need to wear a hat". In retrospect, since I don't believe in coincidence, I think my "sudden" desire to start wearing hats five years ago was the universe's way of telling me I'd better get used to it.

 

[James K.]

Hello everyone, happy to be a (new) member here.

Personally, I consider the hat as an optional piece of one's attire but one with the potential to improve said person's style, as long as the combination is right. With fedoras and similar kind of hats being out of acceptable fashion for the majority of people, I'm usually faced with the question: "why?" implying something along the lines of "why don't you stay within the fashion norms of the majority?"
And that I did for quite a few years, always wanting to wear a fedora (trilby when I was younger) and always hesitating. Since I entered my thirties, I decided not to care and purchased my first (wool) fedora and a relatively cheap grade 8 panama, about a year ago.

Sadly, as much as I'd like my primary reply to be "because I like how I look", I need to confirm my fashion choices to others with "because I can". In the summer however, where temps easily reach 40C here, "because I need to" is my primary reason.

Admittedly, I've had a few compliments along my share of strange looks in the public, but you learn not to care after a while.