Originally published at: The umbrella hat is a ridiculous item. Here's why it exists | Boing Boing
…
1 Like
22 Likes
So, a hat.
19 Likes
One reason the traditional, upturned brim on the old Vaquero-inspired sombreros was largely supplanted by the style of cowboy hats we know today is that rainwater would collect in the upturned brims instead of being diverted away. You can tell that whoever came up with the Asian conical hat had more experience dealing with precipitation.
16 Likes
A conical hat would fit my conical head pretty well…
14 Likes
Having spent a lot of time pounding the pavement in rainy London over the years, I have an almost pathological hatred of umbrellas and their users.
London pedestrians, particularly in and around the West End which has a high quotient of tourists, are blissfully unaware of their surroundings at the best of times.
So further reducing visibility and increasing the physical space they take up by having them wield a large fabric mushroom is a recipe for being poked and prodded by brolly spokes.
I refuse to use a brolly myself, seeing them as ultimately being inconsiderate and selfish.
But I am also aware that this is a uniquely personal and eccentric opinion.
But brolly hats? Yeah, I could get behind those.
Quite literally.
8 Likes
10 Likes
Of course, Joel (from MST3K) had a pretty good invention for the invention exchange part of the show. A hat with rain gutters and a downspout down the back.
5 Likes
Not a hat. I think you’re misremembering the gutter-bumbershoot.
7 Likes
Ah, you are correct, sir. No wonder I couldn’t get a match on my internet search!
3 Likes
As I recall, it was less supplanted, then “evolved from”. Those sombreros were less upturned than the modern stylized ones would lead you to believe. And rain could be easily be dealt with by pinning or molding up the sides of the brim. Basically creating a gutter.
This is why the brims of cowboy hats are typically upturned at the side. Also how you get the tricorn hat, which are basically just an at the time typical broad brimmed hat. Pinned up to channel rain.
It’s also why the umbrella hat is ridiculous. Is does nothing a whole hell of a lot of wide hats havn’t been doing for centuries.
7 Likes
Well yes. Pretty much all the American cowboy stuff was an adaptation of the vaquero stuff.
3 Likes
Ironic it was invented in Seattle since they famously shun and hate umbrellas. It’s weird the article’s only excuses mention hubris or light but constant precipitation. In my experience (which are shown in the article’s pictures) umbrellas are incredibly annoying to deal with when there’s wind–which is what I saw in Seattle.
Then there’s the most recent fashion trend in hands-free rain gear
4 Likes
Being from a place where the weather gets straight nautical on the regular. Heavy, directional wind gusts along with heavy, roving, precipitation. And frequently enough in the winter salty, sub freezing sea spray.
It’s annoying. But sometimes necessary. A sturdy umbrella (usually a golf umbrella) held in front of you can be the only way to stay dry, and using it as a wind break helps keep your hair and cloths from getting whipped around.
1 Like
5 Likes
Support for Pawnee Community Radio comes from the Wendell G. and Muriel Fathwright Korbleman Foundation, and Sweetums Cares, a nonprofit group that puts umbrella hats on homeless people when it rains.
2 Likes
Tingley Rubbers!
I still have my pair I bought in 2002, and they’re still going strong.
