Bringing Back the Hat

Our grandfathers were great hat-wearers, but at some point we as men have lost our way.

To many of us, throwing on a hat is a rare occurrence; usually a concession to weather or fandom:

It’s a shame that one cannot leave the house wearing a nice fedora without being subjected to quizzical looks (at best) or ridicule (likely.)

We should expect more from a society that tolerates bell-bottoms and mid-thigh belt-lines. The website “The Art of Manliness” takes up the topic in this article: “Bringing back the hat.”

Now if you’ll excuse me, I need to go shop for a new derby.

Update: One hat that has rightly passed from vogue is the stovepipe:

Impractical, inefficient and non-areodynamic, the stovepipe can safely be called the “Hitler-moustache” of hats. You’ll never see anyone outside of a Lincoln re-enactment club wearing one.

The top-hat is an interesting variation:

…but as my friend Bribo aptly put it, if you wear a top-hat, everyone thinks you’re trying to be Slash.

Slash really defined the look and pretty much ruined it for anyone who came after.

The beret is another hat that’s really limited in it’s application. Unless you’re a supermodel, a 1960′s communist revolutionary, or an 8 year old girl, it’s just a tough look to pull off.

And yes, I know that the Green Berets wear these hats, but it’s still a bad look (but I’m not going to be the one to tell them that.)