[quote=“fiddlingfrog, post:55, topic:63007”]
for those who do wear brimmed hats, why do you wear them? Fashion? Sun? Inclement weather?[/quote]
Yes. All of the above.
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OK, so a few years back, a bunch of young assholes seem to have adopted a particular kind of headgear, and some other young assholes took it upon themselves to deride the headgear and anyone who wore anything resembling it.
I was wearing hats–eight-piece caps (not flat-caps or riding caps) and fedoras (not trilbies or porkpies or bush hats) and Panamas–before any of these young assholes were born. In fact, the hats I started with were made before I was born. They were and are practical and good-looking, and nobody is going to mistake me for a hipster or pickup artist–not only because I’m way too old to fit either of those subcultures, but because my caps and hats are well-made and fit properly. (I also generally remove them indoors and never wear one at mealtime, unless said meal is a picnic.)
I suppose there’s a kernel of romantic nostalgia in my attachment to my hats and caps–after all, a gimme cap or watchcap and a hoodie could deal with the rain and cold–but I’d rather be thought to be channeling Bogie than vainly trying to gin up some street cred by dressing like someone a third my age. And I’d look really, really stupid in a lip-beard and black horn-rims.
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I don’t often wear hats, but if I am and it’s not the Tilley, it’s this:
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For every one dismissing the article because it simply recounts the very real backlash against fedoras of a few years back, that was an actual thing. And as silly of an approach as it was it was a response to a real and very weird situation. I remember the first time some one showed me a men’s rights forum as a “look at this crazy shit” sort of thing. Front and center there was a post titled “what my fedora means to me”. There were posts directing new users to get a fedora, because it’s what “we” wear. Angry rants about women who refuse to acknowledge the sartorial wisdom and virility embodied by wearing one with everything all the time. As the backlash started to kick off I remember seeing misogynistic blogs named with hat references, pick up guides with fedoras on the cover, serious trolls branding themselves with images of hats etc. There was a very real and very strange attempt by a particular brand of recidivist internet douche-troll to brand themselves, their movements, and mark themselves as members using a very particular type of brim hat.
Then consider the experience of a lot of people at the time, particularly women. It might have been limited to certain urban areas and younger age groups. And I don’t want to give the impression that roving bands of behatted knobs ravaging NY. But there was a while there where you couldn’t go out with having an awkward run in with a dude in a trilby. It was like 50/50 shot over whether he was a problem or just a dude in a hat. Most of the problem guys where just hipster douche bros who would play the worst music ever on the juke, then get too drunk and get thrown out. But more often then I liked you’d get a pack of pick up artists. One of them would awkwardly infiltrate your group, insult everyone, grope your sister and lecture you on white knighting if you tried to do anything about it.
So the fedoras did actually fall out of fashion quickly, and there was a big backlash against the sort of people they’d become associated with. Pretty legitimately if you ask me. But even before the vocal webernets backlash all the weirdness had put most of the people I know off brim hats entirely. And that’s one of the places the “that’s not a fedora it’s a trilby!” Defense comes from. Starting early I saw it in 2 forms. Decent people in hats saying " the douche hat is actually a trilby, so I’m fine over here in my fedora" and horrible human beings claiming they can’t be part of the problem since they’re wearing a trilby not one of those fedoras. The argument misses two important things. First since a trilby is a type of fedora it’s all just pissing in the wind. And second your brim hats are largely (but not entirely) out of fashion one way or the other. And women learning to hate and fear a particular kind of easily identified by hat type asshole was a not insignificant contributing factor. But your hat isn’t magically rad again just because you weren’t involved directly in ruining its image.
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When I lived in South Africa, after being enamoured of them for years) I managed to procure a genuine Akubra (a black Snowy River) that I wore everywhere because the sun there is ridiculously harsh. I got hundreds of unsolicited compliments (and a few “yippee-ki-yay” catcalls).
It’s a beautiful hat, but now, sadly, I live in Australia and it’s a hat either for tourists or country folk, and it gathers dust.
I did find a nice black straw panama hat that I wear n sunny days.
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Not to camp in the thread, but could I recommend a Tilley?
They come with a lifetime guarantee, float, have a chin strap and a handy pocket in the crown, and almost always look good.
Let’s just say that if you don’t look great at the end of a long hike, it’s not the hat’s fault.
I worked with Forest Service folk plenty back in the 90s, and they’d have been tickled for such a nice piece of kit.
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LOL when it’s not the Tilley or the casual ball cap, mine’s in houndstooth as well.
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I think they’re rad, sometimes. On the other hand, I don’t even give people crap for wrap around mirror shades or backwards baseball caps. Well… I try not to anyway. No reason for me to lie and say I’m sinless there!
I don’t have one anymore, but I like conical do’un/sugegasa type hats.
Unfortunately, they tend to stand out around here and attract too many comments. People seem to assume that I am making a special point (bad pun intended) by wearing one, which gets tedious.
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My fedora is a waterproof gray wool Stetson with an extra-thick, cushy sweatband, which means it clamps onto my head but good–maybe a tornado could blow it off. The only time it doesn’t keep rain out of my face is if the wind is blowing sideways, and umbrellas are no good then either.
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There is a Buddhist monastary near me (well, two actually) and sometimes you see the monks outside working in the yard with those on.
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Should we just have retired the thing after this guy shuffled off this mortal coil?
Because who else can wear it better?
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Those always look cool and quite functional.
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The hat in this photo is not a fedora - it’s a helicopter.
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You know that picture is an actor, who is actually quite amused by the meme.
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Pah, once again I post before reading the whole thread.
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C’est vrai?
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Dude…Panama isn’t in Cuba, it’s in Florida lol.One of my fav Van Halen songs tho.
/ducks & covers… 
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Fine, but it’s something I’m not going to stop wearing because a bunch of screaming asshats decided that it meant being mysoganystic pigs about shit.
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