Hats (Part I): Are you covered….
Most people may not realize it, or think it’s something made up for Hollywood movies, but wearing hats used to be an everyday occurrence for men. Long before the popularity of ball caps, men used to wear Bowlers, Fedora’s, flat caps and cowboy hats as part of their daily clothing. Now it has become somewhat rare to see a man put something other than a ball cap on their heads before walking outside.
What happened? Part of me wants to believe hats fell out of style starting in the mid-1960s. The teens and young adults began revolting against anything that was “establishment” and wearing anything other than a ball cap or beanie. At the same time, the “sophisticate” crowd in the east and west coast decided that western style “cowboy” hats were for rednecks, farmers and country western fans. All the anti-hat people grew into adults and didn’t wear hats (I’m not talking about ball caps.) unless they had to. Military personnel wore hats (even though we called them covers.), you wore winter hats and caps because of the cold, or your work required you to wear one.
All this translated into the next two generations looking at people wearing hats as being different. Sure, some of the hipsters took to wearing hats as a fashion statement – flat caps, Fedoras or Boaters, for example. But hats, as a rule for men, just aren’t that common. Surprisingly to me is that there are still shops specializing in hats in most major cities. Major department stores sell hats. Even places like Walmart and K-mart have small selections of hats in the men’s department. The question is who are buying the hats and why aren’t they wearing them?
My opinion is that people don’t want to bother with all the etiquette rules associated with proper wearing of a hat. Tip passing someone on the street. Take off your hat when entering a building. Take your hat off when talking to woman. Take your hat off before sitting down. You get my point. Many of the rules date back to before the turn of the 20th Century when society was different.
I would be considered “ungentlemanly” by the people who wrote those rules of etiquette because I seldom follow most of those rules. For example, if I am out shopping, I don’t remove and carry my hat when inside a store. I don’t tip my hat to women I don’t know in most cases.
I do believe in taking my hat off in restaurants though I usually don’t if wearing a ball cap in a casual style restaurants. You never wear a hat in a fine dining establishment.
Can everyone wear a hat?
A comment made by a friend the other day: “I try on a hat occasionally but it looks funny on me.”
The hats probably don’t look funny on him, the reflection in the mirror is just not what he is used to seeing. That being said, it is also possible that the hat doesn’t match what he’s wearing at the moment. I’m pretty sure that putting on a formal top hat while wearing a t-shirt, cut-offs and flip flops would look out of place. To me that’s about the same as wearing a beat-up baseball cap with a tuxedo. It just doesn’t work.
Other than that, the hat should fit your facial features also. If you are fortunate and have an oval shaped face you can wear any type of hat style. If your face is round, you do not want to wear something like a Bowler that would make your face look even rounder. If you have a square face, you may want to wear something like a Bowler where the shape of the hat will soften the sharp lines of your face. To find the hat that fits you best, I suggest going to a shop specializing in hats and talk to a knowledgeable sales person. Otherwise, just keep trying on the hats you find until you are happy.
Two of my favorite hat shops in New Orleans:
(© J. Gibson Creative Services 2017)
Comments
You mentioned that sometimes hats are worn because it’s part of the job. I thinks it’s a short walk from there to thinking hats are déclassé. In other words, highly educated professionals don’t wear hats; hats are for working class schlubs. BTW, I have several hats and while they each have a time and place, I feel fine about wearing them just going to the grocery store or to a restaurant.
Author
You have a good point. I don’t think it’s because higher educated professionals don’t wear hats though, I believe its more the fault of the cultural and fashion revolutions of the 1960s. The “Establishment” wore hats so those protesting the “establishment” stopped wearing hats. I think it’s also important to distinguish between hats and the ubiquitous ball caps.