Men in Hats
I was never much of a hat person while I was growing up. I had a full thick head of hair where I could walk for twenty minutes in the rain before the first drops would make their way down to my scalp. My hair started to thin about fifteen years ago. Now I’m at the point where I can feel the mist in the air on my scalp even before I can see it.
I remember seeing the commuters standing at the train station every morning when I walked to school. All the men wore hats and oddly that tradition went by the wayside in the mid 70s. It seemed everyone had a hat. Even my father had a floppy pork pie hat that made him look like J.R. Oppenheimer.
After moving here I took to wearing a baseball type of a cap when I’m out doing chores around the yard to either keep the rain or sun off my head, or to keep sweat from getting into my eyes.
About six years ago I realized it was time I had a more formal hat. I was at a department store and I came upon a display of hats made by Country Gentleman. It is easy to buy a hat that wears you, and I wouldn’t settle for one that did that. I found a kaki version of the hat pictured above. It looked good on me. So I bought it and adopted its use.
Oddly at that same time there seemed to be a resurgence of hats among those I associated with. I would go to a conference and we were all wearing hats. I liked my hat so much that I purchased another just like it, just so I’d have another when I wore my original hat out.
Oddly, I haven’t worn that hat very often in the last couple of years. I keep it in the back seat of my truck in the event I get stuck in the rain, but even then I normally just rough it and take the drops. My peers have stopped wearing their hats as well. I kind of miss it.
I was meeting another Blogger for a drink the other night. Yes, I had a drink, Campari on ice. It was raining pretty hard when I arrived, so I brushed off my hat and put it on and dashed for the door of the bar. It felt good being reunited with my hat again. I think I'll have it ride on the front passenger seat for the winter rainy season. I'll be more apt to wear it that way. When I put stuff on the back seat I call it the collection in my sub conscience. I put stuff there I wish to forget.
posted by The Guy Who Writes This at 4:34 AM
3 Comments:
Hats are cool. I have a black fedora that I adore, but since it's a "men's hat," I don't wear it much. Hats add the finishing touch to an outfit or costume--and I've created several costumes. Unfortunately, hats are also hard to dance in, otherwise you'd never find me without one.
I have a few guy friends who say, "There's nothing more sexy than a girl who can wear a baseball cap." Are they right?
Guy, my E-mail is on my blog profile. Awaiting pics and will do a search of all the local shops, many still make shoes here.
As for hats. Now I'm retired after needing to wear one often for work, I own only a knitted ski cap, somewhere here. To paraphrase the NRA, 'I'll wear a hat when they jam one on my cold, dead head!'
Jaggy, I bet you look great in hats. Only some women look good in baseball caps just like only some women look good in bib overalls.
Mike, I made a commitment to myself early in life to never take a job that requires a hat.
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