A place to hang my hat?

[Film Noir Buff]

Originally Posted by marc237

I have four hats. A traditional panama, a brown "indy" style straw, a very dressy gray fedora, and a more casual brown soft-felt fedora. I enjoy hats and wear them ~ 50% of the time. They do require a bit more planning then usual since most restaurants and theaters do not have hat check rooms/ladies any more. However, one makes do.
Right, that underscores my point. The only men who make due with it are fans of the hat, and we can currently see how many men that encompasses.

 

[braised]

Originally Posted by Film Noir Buff

They are inconvenient and mess up one's hair.

FNB, seriously; mess up your hair? Are you a girl?

Dude, you'll never wear a hat.

 

[Film Noir Buff]

Originally Posted by braised

FNB, seriously; mess up your hair? Are you a girl? Dude, you'll never wear a hat.
It wasnt meant personally, this is simply one of several reasons men dont wear hats. Back when hats were popular how much money or time was spent by a man on his hair vis a vis today? back then hair was probably slicked back with some sort of tonic.

 

[yachtie]

Originally Posted by braised

Guys, when you think of a hat as a fashion accessory you'll always talk yourself out of wearing it. You'll never put one on for the simple fact that others don't do so with sufficient critical mass. Totally wrong approach. Any new hat feels awkward, like it doesn't belong and certainly looks like it doesn't belong to your head. Wear it a bit, get it beaten a bit so that it conforms to you head as a part of you.

But forget people looking at you and looks all together for a secong, just follow utility; if its cold, wear a flat cap; if it's raining and cold a trilby will get you by; when the sun is out, wear a straw hat.

I never get why people don't wear hats for their sheer practicality, I suppose that people like colds and sunburn.
Braised

QFT. After too many winters of headcolds, earaches etc., hats stopped being a "fashion accessory".

 

[marc237]

Originally Posted by Film Noir Buff

Right, that underscores my point. The only men who make due with it are fans of the hat, and we can currently see how many men that encompasses.

Granted, but for 99% of the present population, one would not wear a brimmed hat unless one were a fan. If one either disliked hats or was simply ambivalent, there would not be sufficient impetus to purchase one. Yes, that does represent a departure from the "good ol' days'" but so does wearing a suit, tie, and nice shoes for many of us on this forum. I dare say many more of us choose to dress up than are required to by either work or societal expectations.

However, observing that mores have changed, particularly with regard to fashion, has a bit of dog-bites-man-story feel to it. It seems to me that there enough other men who wear hats that a) I find ready retail outlets; b) I observe other wearers on the streets of NYC; and c) my doing so scares neither the children nor the horses.

 

[Film Noir Buff]

Originally Posted by marc237

Granted, but for 99% of the present population, one would not wear a brimmed hat unless one were a fan. If one either disliked hats or was simply ambivalent, there would not be sufficient impetus to purchase one. Yes, that does represent a departure from the "good ol' days'" but so does wearing a suit, tie, and nice shoes for many of us on this forum. I dare say many more of us choose to dress up than are required to by either work or societal expectations. However, observing that mores have changed, particularly with regard to fashion, has a bit of dog-bites-man-story feel to it. It seems to me that there enough other men who wear hats that a) I find ready retail outlets; b) I observe other wearers on the streets of NYC; and c) my doing so scares neither the children nor the horses.
The hat is gone because hair is much more of the current male personality. There really weren't a lot of men known for their hair in thirties. I think a lot of men have a nostalgia for the hat that breaks down into frustration when faced with the contingencies of deployment in the field . I would imagine the reson hatters still exist at all is partially because a large number of men are drawn to the idea of the hat just to rediscover that it is not a convenient accessory. It is then relegated to the attic or some such location where its price tag can no longer torture the buyer. The suit still exists because it covers parts of the body still seen as vulnerable. The head, interestingly enough is no longer seen that way, and the throat is going the same way, which is interesting in itself. Additionally, no viable substitute has been found for the suit, The suit is such a powerful and practical garment and perhaps it was never resented by its wearer to a degree that the hat was.

 

[marc237]

Not sure I agree at all.

First, lots of guys wear baseball caps. They way too common and the wearers tolerate hat hair.

Second, while hats served a function, that function is far less necessary in this day and age and the brimmed hat has moved into being more of an accessory as a result.

Finally, the notion that clothing popularity is directly linked to one's sense of a need for "protection" is fanciful at best. At most, the suit exist to the degree it does because it has taken on an aura of seriousness and. therefore, is worn in professions where seriousness and professionalism are considered important attributes - e.g., law, banking, newscasting, politics. However, even for all of those, there has been considerable erosion.

 

[AlanC]

If you think it's too incovenient then don't wear one. Why try to convince everyone else it's too inconvenient for them to bother?

 

[Film Noir Buff]

Originally Posted by marc237

Not sure I agree at all.
Well, Im not sure I am trying to prove anything, just making conversation. Look at it from the stand point of the hat being for all intents and purposes "dead" as a basic male accessory and then try to understand the reasons why that would be

Originally Posted by marc237

First, lots of guys wear baseball caps. They way too common and the wearers tolerate hat hair.
Those are probably as often worn to cover up messy hair as any other reason. Men really dont wear baseball caps when they're groomed.

Originally Posted by marc237

Second, while hats served a function, that function is far less necessary in this day and age and the brimmed hat has moved into being more of an accessory as a result.
Right, and one of many factors was the "sexualization" of men's hair. You might want to look at it as the resexualization of men's hair in western society.

Originally Posted by marc237

Finally, the notion that clothing popularity is directly linked to one's sense of a need for "protection" is fanciful at best. At most, the suit exist to the degree it does because it has taken on an aura of seriousness and. therefore, is worn in professions where seriousness and professionalism are considered important attributes - e.g., law, banking, newscasting, politics. However, even for all of those, there has been considerable erosion.
I dont think for a moment that the only reason the suit is still worn is for protection purposes, there are a number of factors. I think one reason the suit endures while the hat does not is because the hat no longer offers protective properties whether real or social.

 

[yachtie]

Originally Posted by Film Noir Buff

I dont think for a moment that the only reason the suit is still worn is for protection purposes, there are a number of factors. I think one reason the suit endures while the hat does not is because the hat no longer offers protective properties whether real or social.

Au contraire. Maybe not in NYC, but certainly elsewhere. There is still a real practicality to hats that's often overlooked. Just wait til January and see the teeming masses of the well coiffed with their runny noses and tell me the same thing.

 

[Film Noir Buff]

Originally Posted by yachtie

Au contraire. Maybe not in NYC, but certainly elsewhere. There is still a real practicality to hats that's often overlooked. Just wait til January and see the teeming masses of the well coiffed with their runny noses and tell me the same thing.

And people still wear hats for protection, like those Russian fur hats but the classic fedora and trillby dont really offer that sort of protection, they are in many ways, a fashion or social standing hat.

 

[yachtie]

Originally Posted by Film Noir Buff

And people still wear hats for protection, like those Russian fur hats but the classic fedora and trillby dont really offer that sort of protection, they are in many ways, a fashion or social standing hat.

Trilby, probably not. I look better broader brims so mine afford more protection than a stingy brim would. (keeps head warm and rain/snow off of my glasses)

 

[Film Noir Buff]

Originally Posted by AlanC

If you think it's too incovenient then don't wear one.
I don't, I won't.

Originally Posted by AlanC

Why try to convince everyone else it's too inconvenient for them to bother?
Well, if you think Im getting everyone in the world who might try one out to shy away, I'll stop.

 

[dopey]

Originally Posted by dopey

colors - all. Many shades of gray and brown and a few green

Most of mine are vintage, with a huge number of Boralinos from Bulgaria - I kid you not - there was a guy who liquidated a bunch of NOS Borsalinos from a warehouse somewhere. I bought about six or seven - one was ruined in transit, but the rest are beautiful. They must be old because they predate the little corrugated thingie Borsalino puts between the sweatband and the hat to increase airflow. They have been doing that for at least twenty years or so. If I remember, I will put in the name of the store for which they were made. I remember that it was in Sofia.

Felt really is one of those things that isn't as good as it used to be. I learned that when the first hat I bought - an English made trilby - wore out and I tired to replace it. Nothing new that I saw was close. I hit the vintage market and accumulated lots of hats till I found what was really good - vintage Borsalinos, especially ones made for the European market. Finding NOS ones was tough, but not impossible, and I don't mind used ones as long as they are in really good condition. If you can find a Borsalino marked Grand Marque Luxe (like this one) buy it, whatever the condition, just for the education. I have a few. Also some lesser grades. My favorites were made for the Neopolitan and Florentine market (you can tell by the name of the retailer). The Bulgarian market ones are not as good - or at least different.
. . .

I am wearing one of the Bulgarian market Borsalinos today - A Lords style. The retailer it was made for is Simeon Zlateff, Sofia, Rue Alabinska 31. The store also has a seal: Fournisseur Royal.
Te hat itself is labeled Borsalino Trionfo. All the Bulgarian hats were for the same store, though they weren't all from the same Borsalino line.

 

[Film Noir Buff]

A chance the brimmed hat does have. If before the manufacturing know how for them disappears they are disassociated enough from foginess to become natty again to a large number of men, then you have some possibility of their becoming a staple again. Aside from that, it's heading for extinction.