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On the subject of fancy hats
AkimboEG
Mr. FancypantsWears very fine pants indeedRegistered User regular
Mr. FancypantsWears very fine pants indeedRegistered User regular
Hello H&A!
Recently I've been looking into buying myself a fancy hat and I'd greatly appreciate some knowing advice. Specifically, I'm interested in a acquiring a Fedora, but not one of them newfangled types all these young hipsters like to wear nowadays, but an actual, old style classic hat. Now, my hat knowledge is limited at best, so if there's some professional terminology to differentiate these hats (or if, indeed, these new types are not fedoras at all,) I'd like to know.
As for some guidelines: My head perimeter (is that the correct term?) is roughly 60cm (23.6"), which, according to Bailey, translates into a XL. As far as style, since there seem to be quite a few, from Bailey's collection, (to which I link simply because it's what I found through Google,) I like the Stanza, the Corvin, and perhaps the Barr.
So, H&A, what should I be looking for in a Hat? Who's considered a recent manufacturer, what's a reasonable price, what fabric should I be looking for, how reasonable is it going to be to try and get a hat for my huge head, etc' etc'...
Oh, and a quick reminder - I live in Israel, so I'm not likely to find anything here. This means adding cost of shipment to whatever price tag there is on these babies.
Thanks in advance.
Recently I've been looking into buying myself a fancy hat and I'd greatly appreciate some knowing advice. Specifically, I'm interested in a acquiring a Fedora, but not one of them newfangled types all these young hipsters like to wear nowadays, but an actual, old style classic hat. Now, my hat knowledge is limited at best, so if there's some professional terminology to differentiate these hats (or if, indeed, these new types are not fedoras at all,) I'd like to know.
As for some guidelines: My head perimeter (is that the correct term?) is roughly 60cm (23.6"), which, according to Bailey, translates into a XL. As far as style, since there seem to be quite a few, from Bailey's collection, (to which I link simply because it's what I found through Google,) I like the Stanza, the Corvin, and perhaps the Barr.
So, H&A, what should I be looking for in a Hat? Who's considered a recent manufacturer, what's a reasonable price, what fabric should I be looking for, how reasonable is it going to be to try and get a hat for my huge head, etc' etc'...
Oh, and a quick reminder - I live in Israel, so I'm not likely to find anything here. This means adding cost of shipment to whatever price tag there is on these babies.
Thanks in advance.
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AkimboEG on
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generally I would say just don't do it. The hat hasn't been in style for decades. A fedora will make most gents look like they're playing dress-up.
If I were to guess, the closest that resembles the one I own is the 6105 Madison or the 3810 Executive (since it was wool, I guess the latter), without the feather.
My biggest recommendation is to find a local hat store and try them on. I was there for an hour (ok so I tend to not make up my mind sometimes) and just tried on a fair bit of hats. It surprised me how immediate you can tell if you look decent or not in a hat. I found a handful of hats that looked good, my hesitation was more how much did I want to spend.
From what I remember of being at the store, there were two kinds (the styles that you are looking at): wool and felt. Though the felt was nice, they did not have my size and were considerably more expensive. When I bought mine, it was I think 70 bucks Canadian, where the felt were in the 90-200 range (Beaver were the most expensive, but it might not have been that high).
However, I remember looking online at the store that supplied the store I bought it from (It was a store from Montreal, I was in Vancouver), and the same hat I could have got it for half the price.
The reason I chose a fedora was I liked the look of it, and since I wear suits all the time, other hats (such as ball caps that I wear when I'm not wearing my suit) did not feel right.
edit: Guess I should mention that when I went to get a hat, the brand was not a factor though I could see it being for others. I simply went with one I liked how I looked in it.
If you can find a specialist hat store manned by hat-wearing folk, go there. Since a hat goes on your head, it's pretty damn visible and getting your hat wrong will look terribad. You need to know what goes with your skin, your hair, your head shape, your facial hair and also the outfits that you're planning on wearing it with. A good store will also fit your hat to your head specifically, stretching it or padding sections out with foam to make it comfortable. If wherever you're shopping doesn't have a hat stretcher, go elsewhere.
I'll plug http://www.cityhatters.com.au/ for any other Australians stumbling over this thread. They're awesome. Any brand that they stock will be worth putting on your head (I wear a Black Akubra Bogart).
Also, don't be 'that hat guy'. Hats are practical things for wearing in harsh sun and light rain (ie. 95% of australian daytime weather). They also look great if you're dressing fancy, but if your not dressing fancy for an occasion, swanning about in a hat for no reason makes you look like a bit of a silly goose. They make us honest hat-wearers look bad.
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I think that speaks volumes about your decision to buy one. I mean, if you are going to be the only one wearing a hat, why stick with something normal and plain, go for the Dr Seuss hat. I can find fedoras in a number of clothing stores here in the States, and yet I still don't see them worn but rarely.
I mean, I don't know if you're an old dude or not...But I can't tell you how many people I see, every day, that look like silly geese because they woke up and thought "You know, I'm going to wear an ugly ass hat today!"
Edit: Unless this is the style in Israel, but I'm speaking as an American college student. Also ugly hats include fedoras, those stupid cabbie hats, and basically anything in an attempt to make an already ugly outfit look uglier.
But put it with the right suit and jacket and suddenly
If you are in the seattle area, I suggest you check out this store (terrible website, because it is an awesome classic classy store): http://byrnieutzhats.com/
I got a fedora there I fell in love with. They have $40 dollar ones, or $180 ones, which is dependent on the type of material, and everyone there knows a ridiculous amount about hats. They also have a hat steamer and other fitting and shaping tools, as well as a huge selection of types of stripes/ribbons to go across fedora's and like everything you could ever imagine.
I would definitely look for a specialty shop, they make a world of difference.
I made this flowchart
ARE YOU BOGART? YES
> Wear a fedora
NO
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Do not wear a fedora
It's literally impossible to answer the question "what kind of fancy hat should I wear?" when we don't know what his face looks like, what his budget is, what kind of clothes he would like to wear the hat with, and on and on.
OP, go to a nice shop in Tel Aviv (if it's not too far) and try shit on. See what looks good. Take cameraphone pictures and post them here if you have questions. Easy!
If you don't care, your city should have a hatter (?) That's probably your best bet