My father hated hats. He's of that generation. You know, the Kennedy generation of men who came to adulthood in World War II and built the country in the 50s and 60s. JFK reportedly hated hats too, and rarely wore one. He was the first president to be inaugurated without a top hat. (Look at the pictures, it's true. Before him they always showed up in cutaway coats with gray top hats.)
I read speculation once that the reason those men turned from hats was the rigid hat-related discipline in the military during the war years. I don't know: that seems a bit simple.
I like hats. I think they're helpful (I dislike both umbrellas and having rain on my head) and stylish. I miss the social signals that could be sent with them. In the day, you knew that a man in a top hat was of the upper classes, and a man in a soft hat (like a fedora or a panel cap) worked for a living. You knew where a person was headed by his dress and headgear (see above re: cutaway coats and top hats). You could make a political statement by, say, wearing that soft fedora as a member of the aristocracy, thus showing you weren't as stuck up as your parents and peers and sympathized with the working man. And if you wore a bowler, you were a stand up, respectable member of the middle classes, a pillar of society.
from Tumblr
Hats seem to be making a bit of a comeback on the fashion runways, but we all know the connection between that magical fantasyland and reality is a distant one, made more of symbolism and metaphor. They may show guys dressed in crepe paper suits tie dyed in vibrant neon hues with flip flops and ties made of lettuce, but the signal to be read for the everyday streets is: the fit's a little snugger this year. Still, it would be nice if this meant something.
Of course, it's not like I couldn't buy a bowler. They're more than available today, but then again we return to the question of social signals ... and frankly of looking like a fool.
That's not to say I'm in favor of all hats. Lately I've been seeing a lot of pictures in fashion-related stuff of women wearing these big, boho, floppy hats, both casually and sorta' formally. Ladies: these are ugly. They're big and ugly. Someone may say it's a great, funky way to just throw something on when you're having a bad hair day. They're full of it. It just makes everyone wonder: What's she trying to hide with that big, stupid, shapeless hat?
They should be burned.
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