Men’s fashion is dreadfully boring, but one thing we used to have was a profusion and proliferation of different hats we could wear.
I know the m’lady meme and mall ninjas have forever cursed the fedora (as well as the actually, that’s a trilby crowd), but those memes postdate the decline of the hat by several decades.
Currently, we only have baseball caps and beanies in common circulation, with impractical-for-sidewalk-use cowboy hats being the only extant outlier.
Does anyone long for the return of the hat and/or have any insight into what caused their decline?
The current state of modern men with hats.
i see his friend in the blue cap on the other side figured out what the brim is for.
The price of being cool
You know you can still buy hats, right? Like any kind of hat you want. They’re still made. It’s just, we spend much less time outside, and outside is also much less dusty.
I know. And every time I try to find a hat in a store, they are all too small. So I guess that leaves online, but that’s a different experience to trying on the exact hat you’re going to buy.
I’ve played with the idea of buying a hat stretcher to broaden my thrifting possibilities…
I once found a Sterkowski flat cap in my exact size at a thrift shop. Been riding that high ever since. I also ordered online from them once with good results. Those are caps rather than hats, but it scratched the same itch for me.
Fashion should be about your expression, not about what is popular. If you long for something, wear it. The only thing that really made the fedora/trilby toxic was that a bunch of people jumped on a hype train because they viewed it as a short cut to being fashionable. Making it inherently inauthentic. The speed at which they ditched those hats only proved the point that they were wearing it not for themselves, but for the opinion of others.
Authenticity will always be fashionable. Not everyone will like your style/fashion. What matters is that you love your style more than anyone, because then the opinion of others won’t matter.
People still make those old hats. Measure the size of your dome. Find one you love. Wear the shit out of it.
Cars. Blame cars for the lack of hats.
The car has a roof and climate control. Hats are much less needed for staying comfortable when moving around outside if you’re taking a car.
Any type of hat that has a brim on the back cannot be worn in a car with headrests. Many cars lack the headroom for tall hats. You have to remove your hat to get in the car. Its enough of an inconvenience to cause its decline.
The one kind of brimmed hat that is common today is the baseball hat. The brim is only in the front; the hat isn’t tall. You can just wear it in the car without thinking about it like most other garments.
So unless you’re content being the “hat guy,” (you can definitely make the hat work) your only option is to abolish the automobile as the primary mode of transport. Good luck!
Perfect. I hate cars, love hats. I have my villain origin story now. Thanks.
“Hat guys” wear bucket hats and flat caps these days
eta
“Flat” or “curved” is the absolute peak of fashion impoverishment.
eta: I actually do have one of those if I’m going to be in the sun; it’s entirely utilitarian.
This one?
Doesn’t shade the ears unfortunately.
What’s your question exactly?
That’s a handsome hat.
I was refering to the fact that you can wear flat-billed baseball hats or curved-bill baseball hats and that is largely the limit of your structural choices for headwear.
“flat cap” is the name for the hat in the above image.
I wear a couple hats like that. One is from the Canadian air cadets and the other is a souvenir from Peru.
Quite nice. Keeps the sun and rain off very well.
No one is stopping you from wearing anything. You can wear a Fez covered in glitter if you want.
I’m bringing back the Fez. Aaaaayyyyy…
Brother, that’s the Fonz.
Fez is from That 70s Show.
I still wear a covid mask. It’s still useful for disease prevention and looks nice.
And that is 100% okay. I just recently stopped but sure enough I put it own anytime I go to the dr or pharmacy. And all my coworkers that say they don’t feel good I just say go home. We will make due with out you.
Wear whatever you want. People are boring dipshits on average anyways, so why value their whining.
I’m a keen wearer of hats. Balding man living in the skin cancer capital of the world. My daily is a felt pork pie hat, but I have a few fedoras in various brim widths and colours, and my most recent was a genuine Panama hat that I probably spent too much money on for special occasions that I actually haven’t worn much. I somehow lost my old faithful flat cap, which still upsets me, and I have a beanie with the slogan ‘bald as shit’ embroidered on the front for winter. I feel a bit naked if I go outside without a hat these days.
I can recommend The Hat Store if you’re in Aus. Not sponsored, just a satisfied customer.
In summer I wear a straw cowboy hat, protects my neck and face from sunburn, cools my head. The same reason cowboys wear them.
Nice. I also have a cheap straw broad brimmed hat from Bunnings like the one pictured elsewhere in this thread if I’m going too be in the sun a lot, which I generally try to avoid. They’re prefect for that.
Aaand, bought myself a new flat cap. Which means my old lost one will probably turn up.
I have a minnetonka outback hat. Its leather and its 20 years old, I wear it whenever I have the chance. I get comments and compliments every time I wear it.
Be the example, wear that hat you long to see.
Mine makes me sweat like a horse. I love it but the weight and heat are often deal breakers when reaching for my trek hat.
That’s fair. I wear mine in cooler months.
Perhaps I need a summer hat.
Forgot to ask; how do you treat the leather? I had been using a conditioner and cleaner on mine but it didn’t do much for water repellency. I was reluctant to oil or wax it because it already ran hot. Like I said in my previous message, I love the damn thing and it looks great.
I also wear tons of outback hats. I get plenty of compliments!
I like the humble Ushanka
I wore these as my main winter hat for the longest time but had to switch to beanies when I worked in the trades. Now I’m struggling to justify the cost since I spend a lot less time outdoors in the winter…
But man, I love these hats.
I bought this beauty from a gent on the Internet. I have hat for days.
I have hat for days
Looka like you have hat for just one, specific day.
Touché!
Nellie’s Nest?
Nailed it!
A wildcard vote for the bunnings hat:
I’m listening.
I’ve seen that style hate for gardeners, wide-brim straw hat. Don’t know what brand name Bunnings brings into the mix.
Ha, bunnings is home depot for Australia and NZ, absolutely bottom of the barrel in fashion, but high in utility
Straw makes a good hat for hot weather; cheap and breathable. Here in the US, we have Panama hats which look like Fedoras, but made with straw.
And actually, shout out to all the Ecuadoran ladies sportig their fedoras. I don’t know what that’s about.
Panama hats are actually from Ecuador, that’s why ecuadorians wear them.
Yes, but the ones I see Ecuadoran women wearing look like felt fedoras, no straw panama, but I could be mistaken.
Ecuador has a ton of different indigenous communities, but the hats you’re talking about probably originate in Otavalo
It’s part of a uniform–fedora, braided hair, sweater, long skirt, black shoes. I saw it a lot near Quito, but didn’t get very far out.
Ah, then nevermind. There are a decent amount of ecuadorians near me too, but I’ve never noticed them wearing fedoras, I’ll have to keep an eye out.
The brand adds nothing. (Maybe a dad vibe?).
I believe a couple surf brands sell similar ones
The anti-hat people can fuck off, I wear what I like, although most of the timt it’s a Greek fisherman hat, and I own them in about eight different colours. I do have a trillby and occasionally wear it.
You can wear anything you want. But we will judge you for wearing a trillby
And you can fuck off. I don’t mean that personally, just to clarify. :)
I’d have to find that excellent video again but essentially the answer is pretty simple: cars. Basically the purpose of the hat pretty much disappeared over night once everybody started riding inside them (sun and rain protection). Moreover, they were very impractical to keep on while driving so people stopped taking them out with them and yeah, poof.
Anyway, this summer I did what I said I would never and bought myself a magnificent, expensive Panama hat. And yes, it so happens to be a fedora (I know, I know). I love it, I instantly got a dozen compliments on the first week, and I decided I would single handedly revive the fashion. Join me.
If we join you, then we are spoiling your ambitions of doing it single-handedly.
For a cause this great I am willing to share
Good for you. I bet it looks awesome.
I ignore fashion and wear hats for good sun protection because Australia… Trend to opt for a legionnaire large enough to cover the face if needed.
Something like this:
