For those of us not so fortunate, hats become more and more of a necessity. But how do you find the right hat? (Okay, I guess vanity does creep in here.) As a recent learned treatise pointed out, hats are highly personal things - a hat that looks natural, even necessary on one man looks like a stupid affectation on another. On my own personal head, back when I did lots of field work I used to wear your standard cloth broad-brimmed hat for sun protection, but that just won't do indoors, or in cold weather, especially after several years of being rained on and dropped in mud and dirt. Baseball caps - make me look like a 40-year-old teenager. 'Nuff said. Knit caps - warm and functional, true, but face it - not snappy. Make me look like a 40-year-old street person, no matter how many spatial dimensions are involved[1]. Also, I keep losing the damned things.
My own quirky-but-exacting standards of dress constrained me, therefore, to the same outcome as The Manolo - a wool ascot cap. Warm, but not sloppy. And, most importantly, actually available in town, after only about a week's search (apparently we should all be in the market for swimwear about now). My search eventually lead me to a navy blue wool Kangol 504 - at least, the inside says it's a Kangol, even though there's no little kangaroo on it, or any external branding, which is just fine by me.
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[1]Via Angie Schultz, who is blogging about far less trivial things than hats.
As a resident west of the Mississippi, you are of course eligible to at least try a Stetson. Not everyone can pull that off, but east of the Mississippi no one can.
Are you wearing your Kangol brim forward or brim backward? Around here those looking to emulate Samuel L. Jackson or Joey Pants wear 'em backwards.
Posted by: The Proprietor on March 16, 2005 06:15 PM
How about a yarmulka? I like this style, though it seems a bit pricey. Here's a nice one that's much more reasonable. I think it would look great on you.
Posted by: Jonathan on March 16, 2005 10:13 PM
...you are of course eligible to at least try a Stetson. Not everyone can pull that off...Trust me — I can't.
brim forward or brim backward?Forward. Backward, it looks like some kind of mutated beret, suitable only for a mutant Frenchman. This will not do.
How about a yarmulka?Never thought of that... my mental image of yarmulkes is of the thin, doesn't-really-cover-enough-of-your-head-to-stay-on beanie-like ones. I didn't know they came in such a variety of styles and colors. So, what quality differentiates a yarmulka from a mere hat? Brimlessness?
Posted by: David Fleck on March 17, 2005 06:59 AM
Yes, it's merely a convenient, brimless hat. If you're Jewish, any hat will do for religious purposes, so you may as well wear one that you like. I'm not a regular hat (or yarmulka) wearer but my favorite yarmulka is a Bukharan-style one that's of the same general configuration as the first one I linked to above.
Posted by: Jonathan on March 17, 2005 10:09 AM