In this thread, we learned that the decline of hat-wearing among fashionable men went out with JFK, who never wore a hat.
Fast-forward to yesterday. A photo in today’s paper shows Bill Clinton :rolleyes: at Chelsea’s graduation from Stanford, wearing a fashionable hat. Also note that President Bush undoubtedly dons his 10-gallon cowboy hat from time to time, for informal occasions anyway. Clearly, the current and most recent chief executive are bringing the trend back, albeit slowly.
Here’s hoping. I’m only 30 and I’m already starting to go grey.
With a name like that, you should realize that you’re only refering to certain segments of the population.
As Mayor Willy Brown will attest, the Black community never became hatless. Nor, of course the devout Islamic and Jewish populations. Nor transvestite men.
I think that hats should definitely come back in style. I agree with Zenster, and as a teenager, I’m saddened and dismayed that barely any of my peers wear hats. And those who do stick mainly to baseball caps.
I have personally tried to buck this depressing trend by wearing my favorite hat, an old-style fedora, pretty much everywhere. I just really like the way that they look. And I think that a three-piece suit and a fedora is one of the absolute most hard-asses looks a guy can get.
Just don’t have enough money for the suit yet…
Oh, I’ve also got a few other nifty hats (I collect them), and the one I wear most frequently besides the fedora is an Irish scally cap.
I like men in hats. I mean, real hats, not ball caps. I think it’s because my grandfathers wore them, and they just looked so…I don’t know, so regal and sophisticated. A man in a suit with a really good fedora cuts a very impressive figure.
Don’t misunderstand–ball caps don’t totally suck. But I really hope that hats on men comes back in to real style. It’s just soooooo cool!
My pet theory isn’t that it wasn’t just JFK. Around that time most every American got a car, and it’s annoying to wear a hat in the car (or did they have more headroom? or did everyone always have cars?).
Anyway, I walk 1/2 an hr. to & from my work, and wear some kind of hat every day. Protect myself from those ultraviolet rays (which you don’t get in a car).
And if men can wear those annoying ball caps, why can’t they wear hats with decent brims?
Do I love hats? I do. To an almost unmanly degree.
My hats (not counting the all-purpose baseball caps):
Woolen Afghan/Pakistani hat (think Jihad)
Fleece beret
Wool beret
Wool beret (military)
Waxed cotton hat from NZ (from LLBean) for rain
Stetson “Boris Badonov” hat – $10 at flea market
Brown suede cowboy hat from 1970s
Straw cowboy hat from Mexico ca. 1978
Black Chinese peasant’s cap with brim cut off (looks very bebop)
Bushwacker with snap-up brim
Prana boating hat – the closest to a regrettable mistake of all the hats I own.
If anybody knows a source for Chinese peasant hats, please reply. I’d love to get a few more in my size.
Personally I think it will take someone with more substance than either Slick Willy or Shrub to bring hats back to the mainstream. I don’t have the substance for the job, but God, do I have style.