# Why did men's hats go out of style? Will they ever come back? **URL:** \ **Category:** Factual Questions\ **Created:** [September 28, 2004, 9:32am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-did-mens-hats-go-out-of-style-will-they-ever-come-back/266453 "2004-09-28T09:32:38Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 2
**Author:** ![Frank](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/f/3d9bf3/32.png) [@Frank](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Frank)\ **Post date:** [September 28, 2004, 3:06pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-did-mens-hats-go-out-of-style-will-they-ever-come-back/266453/21 "2004-09-28T15:06:19Z")
I wear a fedora now and then. I’d like it if they came back in style; not only would I suddenly be stylish, the hats would be easier to find. I believe ball caps should only be worn in ball parks. ---
**Author:** ![hammerbach](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/h/73ab20/32.png) [@hammerbach](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/hammerbach)\ **Post date:** [September 28, 2004, 3:16pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-did-mens-hats-go-out-of-style-will-they-ever-come-back/266453/22 "2004-09-28T15:16:14Z")
I have a great fedora, but the sizing is gone. Does anyone know where I can get it resized? Please? ---
**Author:** ![Nonsuch](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/nonsuch/32/2922_2.png) [@Nonsuch](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Nonsuch)\ **Post date:** [September 28, 2004, 3:39pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-did-mens-hats-go-out-of-style-will-they-ever-come-back/266453/23 "2004-09-28T15:39:34Z")
> [@Zebra](#): > > Not to mention that old conventions were tossed aside with reckless abandon. If the Beatles wore hats they would have been the fashion but then, they wouldn’t have been the Beatles. The Beatles frequently wore hats in their Sgt. Pepper days and beyond; it was practically part of the psychedelic uniform. Hats went away roughly just as jeans shifted from being “work clothes” (farm and outdoor work, that is) to accepted casual wear. There seems to have been a culture-wide casualization of dress that consigned hats, vests, pocket watches and other formerly standard accoutrements to the little corner of the mens’ store dedicated to guys who like dressing the way their grandfathers did. Why this happened is anyone’s guess: suburbanization? A post-war relaxation of attitudes? ---
**Author:** ![Martin\_Hyde](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/47e85d/32.png) [@Martin\_Hyde](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Martin_Hyde)\ **Post date:** [September 28, 2004, 3:47pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-did-mens-hats-go-out-of-style-will-they-ever-come-back/266453/24 "2004-09-28T15:47:09Z")
> [@twickster](#): > > Your chronology is off. Fedoras disappeared during the early '60s, baseball caps didn’t become common till the '80s. The baseball hat has been worn by millions of young boys and girls and young adults for 50+ years. Although it didn’t become common to wear it off the field until much later ;). ---
**Author:** ![Kent\_Clark](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/kent_clark/32/105_2.png) [@Kent\_Clark](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Kent_Clark)\ **Post date:** [September 28, 2004, 3:57pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-did-mens-hats-go-out-of-style-will-they-ever-come-back/266453/25 "2004-09-28T15:57:11Z")
> [@AskNott](#): > > The final crushing blow to men’s hats was in 1959 and 1960, when cars became “longer, lower, and sleeker,” so that only a short man could wear a fedora while driving. I’vew heard this argument before, but I don’t ever remember my father actually wearing a hat when he drove – either pre or post 1959. He either set it on the seat next to him, or on the shelf of the back window. On the other hand, a hat was just one more thing to keep track of when he traveled, so I’d be at least as inclined to blame the shift from passenger trains to jets. ---
**Author:** ![VernWinterbottom](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/v/c67d28/32.png) [@VernWinterbottom](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/VernWinterbottom)\ **Post date:** [September 28, 2004, 4:23pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-did-mens-hats-go-out-of-style-will-they-ever-come-back/266453/26 "2004-09-28T16:23:20Z")
Was it Vatican II that allowed women to stop wearing hats in Roman Catholic churches? My grandmother always carried a little kerchief in her pocketbook that she could drape over her head if she wanted to duck into church for some reason. A number of old men who regularly wore hats in the '40s and '50s still wear them today. You can still find 'em in Wal-Mart. Personally, I almost never leave the house without a hat, which is usually a billed cap of some sort. A balding head and a fear of sunburn are among the reasons, although I also do historical re-enacting which requires men’s headwear. ---
**Author:** ![VernWinterbottom](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/v/c67d28/32.png) [@VernWinterbottom](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/VernWinterbottom)\ **Post date:** [September 28, 2004, 4:26pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-did-mens-hats-go-out-of-style-will-they-ever-come-back/266453/27 "2004-09-28T16:26:21Z")
> [@VernWinterbottom](#): > > You can still find 'em in Wal-Mart. Both the hats and the old men. . . ---
**Author:** ![Sattua](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/sattua/32/11906_2.png) [@Sattua](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Sattua)\ **Post date:** [September 28, 2004, 4:29pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-did-mens-hats-go-out-of-style-will-they-ever-come-back/266453/28 "2004-09-28T16:29:39Z")
I have spotted dapper gentlemen in New York–in front of the Millionaire’s Club, and in the Met, specifically–wearing the whole kibosh: three piece suit, polished shoes, flower in buttonhole, camelhair coat, silk muffler, walking stick, and a nice hat. ---
**Author:** ![Diceman](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/22d042/32.png) [@Diceman](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Diceman)\ **Post date:** [September 28, 2004, 4:33pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-did-mens-hats-go-out-of-style-will-they-ever-come-back/266453/29 "2004-09-28T16:33:57Z")
> [@elmwood](#): > > Belts are replaced with suspenders… Don’t you have that backwards? The only people I know who still wear suspenders are all collecting social security. What on earth are “sock suspenders”? I’m imagining something like a garter belt. ---
**Author:** ![Zebra](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/z/c0e974/32.png) [@Zebra](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Zebra)\ **Post date:** [September 28, 2004, 4:36pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-did-mens-hats-go-out-of-style-will-they-ever-come-back/266453/30 "2004-09-28T16:36:46Z")
> [@Kimstu](#): > > **Zebra:** \*the dreaded ‘hat hair’. (very similar to bedhead \* > > 😕 I thought “hat hair” was all squooshed flat (from the pressure of the hat) whereas “bedhead” was the opposite, all rumpled up (due to not having been groomed since you got out of bed). Yes, the direction of follicle mangling is how to distinguish hat hair from bedhead but in both cases an outside object has created the undesirable effect, whereas a bad hair day is internal forces in your own hair that make you look like a total dweeb. ---
**Author:** ![burundi](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/3ec8ea/32.png) [@burundi](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/burundi)\ **Post date:** [September 28, 2004, 4:41pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-did-mens-hats-go-out-of-style-will-they-ever-come-back/266453/31 "2004-09-28T16:41:56Z")
They can’t come back soon enough, if you ask me. I love a man who can wear a hat well. ---
**Author:** ![plnnr](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/p/7ea924/32.png) [@plnnr](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/plnnr)\ **Post date:** [September 28, 2004, 4:42pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-did-mens-hats-go-out-of-style-will-they-ever-come-back/266453/32 "2004-09-28T16:42:01Z")
> [@Diceman](#): > > Don’t you have that backwards? The only people I know who still wear suspenders are all collecting social security. > > What on earth are “sock suspenders”? I’m imagining something like a garter belt. Good quality suits will have buttons sewn into the waistband just for suspenders (or braces, as they’re also called). They make the suit pants hang much better, and pre-date the use of belts. I’ve got several very nice pair of suspenders that I wear on a regular basis, and I’m a looooonnnngggg way off from Social Security. “Sock suspenders” are also called sock garters and go around a man’s calf to hold his socks up. Nothing says “unprofessional dork” like a patch of bare leg showing as a result of having your socks around yourn ankles. ---
**Author:** ![Spectre\_of\_Pithecanthropus](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/spectre_of_pithecanthropus/32/12343_2.png) [@Spectre\_of\_Pithecanthropus](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Spectre_of_Pithecanthropus)\ **Post date:** [September 28, 2004, 4:44pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-did-mens-hats-go-out-of-style-will-they-ever-come-back/266453/33 "2004-09-28T16:44:55Z")
> [@Nonsuch](#): > > Why this happened is anyone’s guess: suburbanization? A post-war relaxation of attitudes? The real problem with wearing hats, these days, is there’s no place to put the damn thing when you get somewhere. If you’re eating out, you need an extra chair just for the hat. Bars and nightclubs don’t have checkrooms anymore, so you’re left holding it. I have a fedora, but living in L.A. I can only wear it about three weeks a year. ---
**Author:** ![elmwood](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/elmwood/32/3060_2.png) [@elmwood](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/elmwood)\ **Post date:** [September 28, 2004, 5:18pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-did-mens-hats-go-out-of-style-will-they-ever-come-back/266453/34 "2004-09-28T17:18:44Z")
> [@Diceman](#): > > Don’t you have that backwards? The only people I know who still wear suspenders are all collecting social security. I was in an ADD-induced time-space distortion field. My bad. ---
**Author:** ![asterion](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/4da419/32.png) [@asterion](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/asterion)\ **Post date:** [September 28, 2004, 5:24pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-did-mens-hats-go-out-of-style-will-they-ever-come-back/266453/35 "2004-09-28T17:24:48Z")
> [@plnnr](#): > > Good quality suits will have buttons sewn into the waistband just for suspenders (or braces, as they’re also called). They make the suit pants hang much better, and pre-date the use of belts. I’ve got several very nice pair of suspenders that I wear on a regular basis, and I’m a looooonnnngggg way off from Social Security. I have a pair of suspenders I use for my tuxedo and my dress shirt/pants/blazer combo (I don’t have an actual suit yet.) I agree that using the suspenders looks much better than using the belt. Now, getting the suspenders buttoned in properly and on me is another problem. ---
**Author:** ![Horatio\_Hellpop](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/h/e5b9ba/32.png) [@Horatio\_Hellpop](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Horatio_Hellpop)\ **Post date:** [September 28, 2004, 5:30pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-did-mens-hats-go-out-of-style-will-they-ever-come-back/266453/36 "2004-09-28T17:30:03Z")
My all-time favorite TV show, **Homicide** , had characters who knew how to wear hats, esp. Munch and Pembleton (although they did tend to come off looking like undertakers). Lewis had that weird snap-brim thing, but he made it work. I vaguely remember another cop show, set in the 40s, called **The Hat Squad**. I think it was about the same precinct as **LA Confidential**. ---
**Author:** ![Acsenray](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/acsenray/32/4519_2.png) [@Acsenray](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Acsenray)\ **Post date:** [September 28, 2004, 5:30pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-did-mens-hats-go-out-of-style-will-they-ever-come-back/266453/37 "2004-09-28T17:30:52Z")
> [@plnnr](#): > > Nothing says “unprofessional dork” like a patch of bare leg showing as a result of having your socks around yourn ankles. Are these kinds of generalizations necessary, especially given how fast fashions change? When I was in junior high gym class in the early '80s, you were a dork if your socks sagged. In the late '90s, you were a dork if your athletic socks were pulled up. Things change and change fast. Nothing says “self-important and clueless” like setting down a sartorial rule as if it’s set in stone. ---
**Author:** ![Exapno\_Mapcase](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/exapno_mapcase/32/1051_2.png) [@Exapno\_Mapcase](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Exapno_Mapcase)\ **Post date:** [September 28, 2004, 5:31pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-did-mens-hats-go-out-of-style-will-they-ever-come-back/266453/38 "2004-09-28T17:31:04Z")
> [@obélix](#): > > Oh, come on people: we shouldn’t blame Kennedy for ruining headwear. > Snopes doesn’t: [Kennedy WORE a hat at his inaugration, apparently.](http://www.snopes.com/history/american/jfkhat.htm) Unfortunately, that’s one of the worst articles on Snopes. It keeps being undercut by the very evidence it uses to make its case. Yes, Kennedy wore the traditional silk hat on his inaugural day. And parenthetically, what different could that possibly make to the wearing of fedoras everyday; did people also wear formal cutaways because he had one on? It was a special occasion, after all. It’s only when you do something out of the ordinary on a special occasion that everybody pays attention. And in fact Kennedy **took off** the hat to make his inaugural address, the one image that everybody remembers from that day. And Snopes is also forced to admit that: > [@](#): > > It is true that Kennedy almost never wore a hat after becoming president… Now maybe it’s also true that: > [@](#): > > his hatlessness was much more likely the continuation of a trend that had long since begun, not its origin. but they never present one single piece of data to back that assertion up. ---
**Author:** ![Crandolph](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/7cd45c/32.png) [@Crandolph](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Crandolph)\ **Post date:** [September 28, 2004, 5:53pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-did-mens-hats-go-out-of-style-will-they-ever-come-back/266453/39 "2004-09-28T17:53:03Z")
> [@Nonsuch](#): > > Why this happened is anyone’s guess: suburbanization? How about (partilally, although other factors mentioned above make sense too) urbanization and suburbanization? The US, at least, was still a largely agricultural society right up through WWII. It makes a lot of sense to wear a hat with a brim if you’re out all day, and I imagine this carried over into non-agricultural areas, and held over for a while post-GI Bill. ---
**Author:** ![Crandolph](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/7cd45c/32.png) [@Crandolph](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Crandolph)\ **Post date:** [September 28, 2004, 5:59pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-did-mens-hats-go-out-of-style-will-they-ever-come-back/266453/40 "2004-09-28T17:59:33Z")
> [@Spectre of Pithecanthropus](#): > > The real problem with wearing hats, these days, is there’s no place to put the damn thing when you get somewhere. True, but this seems to be because people aren’t wearing them, not the other 'round. People used to make interesting hat storage even in tight spaces. There’s a former oratory auditorium near me (now the Blue Horizon boxing venue) which still has seats from several decades ago. Each folding wooden seat has a wire frame attached to the underside which you could slide your hat into upside-down before you sat. Simple but brilliant. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-did-mens-hats-go-out-of-style-will-they-ever-come-back/266453.md?page=1) [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-did-mens-hats-go-out-of-style-will-they-ever-come-back/266453.md?page=3)