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Cars and hygiene killed the middle-class hat

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Re: Cars and hygiene killed the middle-class hat

#51

Sometimes I wear a cowboy hat for fun, but they are terrible in any condition. Outside they blow away because of the wide brim. If you forget to take it off before getting in a car it will either catch on the door frame, or the headrest will knock it off your head. If you wear it inside the brim will knock into something and make you look like a doof.

Common etiquette says that you dont wear hats indoors unless you are in service or a woman, I heard somewhere.

Re: Cars and hygiene killed the middle-class hat

#53

> dried up in just a few generations I think a decade from now they'll be analyzing the even more rapid demise of suits and briefcases. I remember when 'casual dress Fridays' started. A leading men's shop took out full page ads in the newspaper extolling the virtue of looking professional vs. casual . They've since gone bankrupt.

> demise of suits and briefcases I still have my Samsonite briefcase my dad got me as a graduation present. Having a hard shell, it is perfect for my laptop, wires, and other junk. I also enjoy being the only person with such a briefcase. A pic of what it looks like: https://www.ebay.com/itm/Vintage-SAMSONITE-Gray-Slim-Hard-Sh...

I still want a Zero Halliburton briefcase. It would be wildly impractical for me, but I want it nonetheless.

Re: Cars and hygiene killed the middle-class hat

#54

My wife is Japanese. She trained as a Milliner, and has been desinging and making hats for decades. She's a damn great milliner. She won 1st prize in The Worshipful Company of Feltmakers of London competition, in the 90's. She worked for Philip Treacy. She's been in numerous magazine and newspaper articles. There is only one problem: no one buys hats these days :/

What’s the significance of her being Japanese in relation to her career as a milliner?

They're both facts about his wife

Re: Cars and hygiene killed the middle-class hat

#57

My wife is Japanese. She trained as a Milliner, and has been desinging and making hats for decades. She's a damn great milliner. She won 1st prize in The Worshipful Company of Feltmakers of London competition, in the 90's. She worked for Philip Treacy. She's been in numerous magazine and newspaper articles. There is only one problem: no one buys hats these days :/

What’s the significance of her being Japanese in relation to her career as a milliner?

> She's a damn great milliner. She won 1st prize in The Worshipful Company of Feltmakers of London competition, in the 90's.

> She worked for Philip Treacy.

> She's been in numerous magazine and newspaper articles.

It's noteworthy when someone wins awards or achieves elite status in their profession in a country/culture that is different from the one into which they were born.

Re: Cars and hygiene killed the middle-class hat

#58
I think the key to the whole thing might be buried towards the end of the article: "Students began to go without hats as a sign of status".

Is it not likely that as car-owners began to shirk hats - and presumably they would have been more affluent - hats were increasingly worn predominantly by poorer people? Not unlike a tan was originally considered unfashionable as it meant you had been working in the sun?

I bet you could find other examples that confirmed that this was a fashion driven by lifestyle changes amongst the upper-middle class.

Re: Cars and hygiene killed the middle-class hat

#59
I have 3 hats: A seaweed one for summer (very light, protection from the sun), a felt one (warmth and some rain protection) and a faux-leather stetson (sun/rain and very sturdy, so I tend to take it on flights and for festivals). Mainly utilitarian, but I also like how they look. And I find caps hideous.

While there aren’t many people with hats, there are some (most, but not all, older than me; I’m 34). Never gotten a weird look or comment regarding my hats. We have a dedicated hat-store (split, one for women and one for men) 2 streets over and usually when I walk past there is at least one customer.

Re: Cars and hygiene killed the middle-class hat

#60

I've come to really appreciate good hats, especially good bush hats (think Crocodile Dundee type cowboy hat) when I'm in the bush. They don't just keep the sun out of your eyes. They keep your head warm when it's cold outside and cool when it's sunny. They keep your head dry when it's wet, but don't end up drenched in sweat.

Though everyone keeps referring to me as cowboy, I love wearing my Australian Barmah hat. It keeps my head and glasses dry when I go for a walk in the rain. And in the summer it keeps me cool and prevents the sweat from running down into my eyes. Best feature is that because it's kangaroo leather I can mistreat it more (like folding it into my pocket) than wih a cowhide leather hat.
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