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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

#111
post #103

A question on a related topic, then: given that hats are dead, how can a person appear reasonably good if they want to wear a hat for comfort/practical reasons? Clearly one of the big no-nos is mixing formal and casual. Fedora wearers without a suit, also the weird college-student fad of wearing a waistcoat ("vest") with casual clothing, much ridiculed. But on the other hand, wooly hats and baseball caps are more cas…

Alongside casual vs formal I think we see workwear and sportswear consistently evolve into fashionwear. I see the baseball cap as an example of that. Baseball caps were originally worn by players. I think the bucket hat is another example, traditionally worn by fishers and farmers. Both of these hats came in around 150 years ago.

Knit or woolly caps on the other hand have been used for over 1000 years. I think it's safe to think the knit hat will be around for many more generations

Re: Cars and hygiene killed the middle-class hat

#112

> 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.

Briefcases were pretty dead by the 1990s weren't they?

I'm 43, I've never owned a brief case.

My father had them in the 80s.. but he had a laptop by around 1990 and the briefcase disappeared.

My father was an engineer and later manager in tech companies though, so maybe the briefcase hung around longer outside of the tech industry.

I don't think I've ever seen a briefcase in my career, which essentially started in 1996.

Re: Cars and hygiene killed the middle-class hat

#113

> 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.

Briefcases were pretty dead by the 1990s weren't they? I'm 43, I've never owned a brief case. My father had them in the 80s.. but he had a laptop by around 1990 and the briefcase disappeared. My father was an engineer and later manager in tech companies though, so maybe the briefcase hung around longer outside of the tech industry. I don't think I've ever seen a briefcase in my career, which essentially started in 19…

> Briefcases were pretty dead by the 1990s weren't they?

I'm 47 and not only own a couple of soft-sided small briefcases, I still see small hardsided briefcases, and the larger wheeled briefcases regularly (well, less so since I've been working from home due to the pandemic, but...)

> My father had them in the 80s.. but he had a laptop by around 1990 and the briefcase disappeared.

Soft-sided briefcases that existed before laptops and laptop bags are essentially identical, but for the padding in the laptop compartment.

Re: Cars and hygiene killed the middle-class hat

#114
post #76

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I find that putting on a big floppy hat is quicker and easier than applying sunscreen to my face. So I wear one during the summer when I'm outside. I keep an additional one at work for summertime lunch. The only obstacle is, when I'm outside, I'm often wearing a bike helmet.

> I find that putting on a big floppy hat is quicker and easier than applying sunscreen to my face. So I wear one during the summer when I'm outside. I keep an additional one at work for summertime lunch. The awkward thing is it to me years to learn how to do this. My family didn't wear hats, and no one I knew wore hats: the cultural knowledge/practice was totally lost. From my perspective, hats are lost advanced tec…

You had me until the very end...

Re: Cars and hygiene killed the middle-class hat

#115
post #34

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> I do get ridiculed for it now and then I have similar experiences with dyeing my hair in bright colours as a guy; most people react neutrally or positively, others ... not so much. There seems to be something of a cultural difference here too; in Ireland, New Zealand, and Indonesia I don't get too much grief from it, in the Netherlands ... meh. One guy (random stranger) even went so far as to shout "hey homo!" :-/…

the same thing happened to me with my hair bleached. got told I was in the wrong toilet... for your filter analogy, tattoos have a similar effect. one of my smartest friend has a great education with merit... and knuckle tattoos. he never wasted any time with a company that would not respect his life choices outside the job.

The opposite is true, as well: You attract the people who you're more likely to get along with.

A similar thing is said about guys with long hair (or any fashion/appearance niche): Not everyone prefers it, but for the ones who do, you're in short supply.

Re: Cars and hygiene killed the middle-class hat

#116

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I find that putting on a big floppy hat is quicker and easier than applying sunscreen to my face. So I wear one during the summer when I'm outside. I keep an additional one at work for summertime lunch. The only obstacle is, when I'm outside, I'm often wearing a bike helmet.

I think the hat a lot of men (especially those with less hair) are looking for is called a boonie hat. More than a few guys I've recommended this hat to have said it's exactly what they wanted, they just didn't know the name. These things cost 10 bucks at an Army/Navy surplus store. I've had mine for about 15 years now, it's held up great. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Boonie_hat

That's exactly what I wear, albeit mine is plain beige and not camouflaged.

Re: Cars and hygiene killed the middle-class hat

#117
post #10

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 :/

Any chance you could link to some of her work? Not that it would make that much difference in the overall scheme of things, but I bet a lot of people reading this comment are curious now!

Apologies for the late response. I've been a tad busy :)

https://tocofashion.com/ is her site. You'll find it's mostly high fashion designs for women, but she has (and can) design and make hats for men.

Re: Cars and hygiene killed the middle-class hat

#118

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 :/

Would you be willing to share some pictures of your wife's hats? I'm very curious! (also curious about the prices, maybe it's time for me to wear a fancy hat?)

Apologies for the late response. I've been a tad busy :)

https://tocofashion.com/ is her site. You'll find it's mostly high fashion designs for women, but she has (and can) design and make hats for men.

Re: Cars and hygiene killed the middle-class hat

#119
post #11
post #10

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Any chance you could link to some of her work? Not that it would make that much difference in the overall scheme of things, but I bet a lot of people reading this comment are curious now!

Yah, I’m always looking for a good hat.

Apologies for the late response. I've been a tad busy :)

https://tocofashion.com/ is her site. You'll find it's mostly high fashion designs for women, but she has (and can) design and make hats for men.

Re: Cars and hygiene killed the middle-class hat

#120
post #13

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 :/

I have about 30 hats, I don't wear a hat every day because I am usually not leaving the house, but when I leave the house I typically wear a hat. That's just how I grew up in the rural Midwest. I know it's dying out and I've had people make comments that I am old man in a young man's body, but nonetheless it's a habit I have. I'm always on the lookout for good hats so if you'd like to share a link to her work I may b…

Apologies for the late response. I've been a tad busy :)

https://tocofashion.com/ is her site. You'll find it's mostly high fashion designs for women, but she has (and can) design and make hats for men.

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