I own just one hat. A big wide-brimmed sunhat. I wear it in the summer and in the winter. At night and in the middle of the day. I am sure I look quite dorky wearing it.
But I like the way it makes me feel. That’s a million times more important to me than how it makes other people feel. That said, occasionally people will pay me a compliment about it and I do appreciate when that happens.
I think when people get compliments on their “cool” hat it’s more like a reactionary thing by the compliment-giver. It’s what they’ve trained themselves to have come out of their mouths instead of “Woah, a hat? Are you kidding me? You are no Frank Sinatra, my friend, and it’s 2013…”
I’ve never been attracted to a dude who wears a fedora and they usually make me snicker when I see them in dating profiles.
But, I’m sure there are people who like them and those are the people to whom the profiles are targeted.
So now you expect them to worry that you think they think they’re cool?
This is getting a little too meta for me.
Nope. Not dorky at all. Not a chance.
I can’t see wearing one in warm weather, but any time I have a jacket on I also have a fedora.
I couldn’t find a decent picture, but here’s a lo-fi selfie in 7F weather with a Borsalino fedora keeping my head warm.
And if it looks dorky to some, that’s their own problem. I like it just fine 
Granted the hat seems to draw attention to his post-adolescent zit scars and barely-there beard, but I don’t think removing the hat would help him at this particular juncture in his life.
Anyone who wants to argue that fedoras are dorky should find side-by-side pictures of the same person with and without.
I’m wearing cut off jeans (daisy dudes) with my boxers peaking out, cowboy boots, a tie-dyed wife beater, Ray Bans, and a fedora with a 2’ long bright orange feather.
Hey, it’s outlet mall day!
Yep, that’s what I was talking about. Bogie is wearing a hat; the hipster has a hat on. There’s a difference. Minor7flat5 is wearing the hat in his pic.
I have a pork pie and a bowler.
Wearing a stocking cap with my dress coat in winter looks stupid while my hats look better to me. My real hats do an amazing job of keeping me warm. They also look nice with my old beater leather jacket.
If my 12 year old daughter was embarrassed by me that would be bonus points. She however approves … or has learned not to encourage me … hard to tell.
I don’t want to look cool. I’d be uncomfortable looking cool. I am a nerd. I am a dork. I wear what I like. Oh okay … if my wife lets me. (She has veto power when we go out together … she likes my hats and has even warmed up to my pince-nez, very much like this one.)
I don’t think that guy is a hipster.
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Yes. That’s either good or bad, depending.
This, to me. Fedoras are the equivalent of bumpits, summer scarves, statement necklaces, etc. They are designed to draw attention to the wearer and not so much for comfort or convenience. Baseball caps are standards for players of sports and they do a great job of keeping the sun out of your eyes. Visors work for golfers. Cowboy hats attract women who are into cowboys. Umbrellas are good at keeping the rain off your clothes. Fedoras are good for silently screaming “Get me, I’m into Kerouac, steam punk, and all good bands sell out after their first album”. But a lot of girls are into it, and if you wear the fedora at the used book store and vinyl emporium you’ll probably find like-minded folks who dig fedoras.
Not saying a fedora wearer is an attention whore, but wearing something that is decades out of fashion is an obvious attempt to set yourself apart. Problem with that is you lump yourself in with all the other fedora wearers and we already have some preconceived notions about them.
I am 65, baseball caps look like crap on me, I don’t care for western, the fedora style is the only thing I feel comfortable in.
You’ve earned it. No one is likely to mistake a 65 year old for a clove smoking, vinyl worshiping hipster.
I think they are practical. So in that way I guess they are dorky.
You can always get a hat with no practical value, then it’s only fashionable.
I like a wide brim to keep the sun out of my eyes.
They are god protection from the sun. I’ve had my scalp sunburned in the summer because of not wearing a hat. The brim in the back may be helpful shading your neck, possibly.
Of course they can also keep your head warm.
I think they start to fail in wind and really cold weather where you need some ear protection.
I’ve got one hat with a cord and a bead to keep it on my head in windy weather.
The first few times wearing a hat may feel dorky, like you’re playing dress-up. Like it’s a “look at me” thing and people are wondering why you are wearing a hat.
Really, why aren’t they wearing a hat?
I don’t get why we gave up on something as useful as hats in the 60s. It’s probably hippies to blame.
Kerouac, indie bands, vinyl? These aren’t stereotypes associated with fedoras. Steampunk, yes.
Fedoras are a dork/nerd/neckbeard thing, not a hipster thing
I don’t agree that it’s about setting yourself apart, at least after 40. Young folks with fedoras probably wear them for fashion; some succeed and others don’t. Older folks (like me) wear them for the practicality that Aquadementia described.
In colder weather I always have my hat, and I never have an umbrella. If it rains, I’m still ok.
I also agree with “The first few times wearing a hat may feel dorky, like you’re playing dress-up.”
When I was in my 20s my wife bought me a cheap fedora one year for Christmas and I just didn’t feel that it was “me” so I couldn’t wear it for several years. Then it started feeling natural.
The hipsters I’m familiar with wear thrift store finds including or especially accessories from previous eras, what do your hipsters wear?
A few years back, one of my son’s friends (Emo, I think, or maybe Scene. I’m too old to tell the difference.) left his hat at our house. After several failed attempts to get him to retrieve it, I put it on.
It looked amazing.
My husband borrowed it one day to tease me.
It looked amazing.
My 8 year old wears it when she’s been especially nice to Mommy.
It looks amazing.
This simple, cheap plain black fedora looks good on everyone. It gets passed around at parties, and it looks good on every single person. I’ve never seen anything like it. It’s a little eerie.
A year or so after I claimed it, I was wearing it and the boy who left it at my house recognized it.
He did not get it back.
No. But he WANTS TO BE one.
But the majority of those fedoras shaming pictures are of neckbeards and nerds, not hipsters.
