Re: Symbol of Manhood-The Fedora

Posted by Michaelson from em12-686.utsi.edu on January 07, 2000 at 13:42:19:

In Reply to: Re: Symbol of Manhood-The Fedora posted by Anejo Joe on January 07, 2000 at 13:11:16:

: : : 1957,I'm four in a large department store. One whole wall is covered with 250 fedoras, The sight makes me ill, and I guess this is why- I can't think of any other article of eveyday clothing, other than a felt fedora, that an adult could wear but a youngster couldn't. A kid could wear a suit and a tie and wingtips-but absolutly NEVER a fedora. ADULTS ONLY. Must be over 21. Didn't see too many fedoras in stores after '57, with the youth culture starting to take over, defying Adult Authority, which is what the fedora seemed to represent. Thank you Indy, for restoring unto me, the symbol of manhood that I so feared, yet now am proud to call my own.

: : There's an exclusive men's store here that's been around since the early 1900's and the place I first looked for fedoras. A real old gentlemen there told me that from his experience the dress hat took a major nose dive whenever JFK was elected into office. It seems he was the first President not to wear a hat of some sort daily. He feels this one event was responsible for the demise of this fashion. I think he is probaly right. Sometimes fact is stranger than fiction. regards, Steve

: I never saw my father or my wife's father go out without some sort of hat. My father also wore the cap with the snap-down front also. This may have been in part to the fact that they were both bald, which tends to make the head hot in the summer and cold in the winter. But it was also about style. If you look at an old news reel of a baseball game in the '30's or '40's, everyone was wearing a hat, and most had on ties!

Just a couple of thoughts on the above writings....I agree with the JFK reference, and you can actually see the change if you watch the old ORIGINAL 007 movies with Connery. The first movie or so he has a hat, and wears it, tossing it on the hat stand when entering the main office for a briefing. By the second of third movie (all made in the early 60's) he just carrys the hat, but still tosses it at the hat stand as a standard practice. As time progresses, the hat disappears all together. I also remember as those times were progressing and I had interests in wearing a fedora or snap brim, my mom used to say you shouldn't wear them in warm weather as they can cause you to go prematurely bald. Now I don't know if that was the truth, or her attempt to get me into the mainstream of style (which she trys to do to this day (grins) or not, but that used to be the story at the time. The hat didn't cover the baldness, it CAUSED it because of year round wear. Well, I still have all mine, but stay tuned. Regards. Michaelson

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Re: Symbol of Manhood-The Fedora ROB T. 02:54:11 1/08/2000 (0)

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: : : : 1957,I'm four in a large department store. One whole wall is covered with 250 fedoras, The sight makes me ill, and I guess this is why-  I can't think of any other article of eveyday clothing, other than a felt fedora, that an adult could wear but a youngster couldn't. A kid could wear a suit and a tie and wingtips-but absolutly NEVER a fedora. ADULTS ONLY. Must be over 21.  Didn't see too many fedoras in stores after '57, with the youth culture starting to take over, defying Adult Authority, which is what the fedora seemed to represent. Thank you Indy, for restoring unto me, the symbol of manhood that I so feared, yet now am proud to call my own.

: 
: : :      There's an exclusive men's store here that's been around since the early 1900's and the place I first looked for fedoras. A real old gentlemen there told me that from his experience the dress hat took a major nose dive whenever JFK was elected into office. It seems he was the first President not to wear a hat of some sort daily. He feels this one event was responsible for the demise of this fashion. I think he is probaly right. Sometimes fact is stranger than fiction.  regards, Steve

: : I never saw my father or my wife's father go out without some sort of hat.  My father also wore the cap with the snap-down front also.  This may have been in part to the fact that they were both bald, which tends to make the head hot in the summer and cold in the winter.  But it was also about style.  If you look at an old news reel of a baseball game in the '30's or '40's, everyone was wearing a hat, and most had on ties!

: Just a couple of thoughts on the above writings....I agree with the JFK reference, and you can actually see the change if you watch the old ORIGINAL 007 movies with Connery. The first movie or so he has a hat, and wears it, tossing it on the hat stand when entering the main office for a briefing. By the second of third movie (all made in the early 60's) he just carrys the hat, but still tosses it at the hat stand as a standard practice. As time progresses, the hat disappears all together. I also remember as those times were progressing and I had interests in wearing a fedora or snap brim, my mom used to say you shouldn't wear them in warm weather as they can cause you to go prematurely bald. Now I don't know if that was the truth, or her attempt to get me into the mainstream of style (which she trys to do to this day (grins) or not, but that used to be the story at the time. The hat didn't cover the baldness, it CAUSED it because of year round wear. Well, I still have all mine, but stay tuned. Regards. Michaelson

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