my coworker had an interesting theory of the demise of fedora's/hats in the 60's. as most of you know, a gentlemens hat back then (and prior to that era) was as common in a man's wardrobe as baseball caps today.
his theory is that JFK was the first prominent figure in history that did not usually don a gentlemen's hat. he was a celebrity figure/icon that people respected and wished to emulate and therefore men stopped putting on their lids when they left the house.
what do you guys think? does his theory hold any weight in this forum? should i steal his lunch tomorrow?
There is a fine book called Gentleman Jack: The President, the Fedora, and the History of American Style by Neil Steinberg.
Steinberg discusses the history and demise of fedora wearing throughout the 20th century. Basically the fedora had been on the decline since the early part of the 20the century. I believe the author traces a noticable decline in the early teens or 20's culminating with the frantic actions of hat manufacturers to get a fedora on Kennedy by "any means necessary".
Kennedy's vanity put the nail in the coffin. We should recognize Kennedy disliked wearing hats but did, even at his inauguration wear one. It was a top-hat of all things!
It's a shame that the fedora, a functional piece of attire, would fall out of fashion after so many decades of prevalence, yet we're still stuck with the ****** neck tie!
Not to be political, but what would the reaction be if the next President did wear a fedora?
Would people start wearing them widely again?
Personally, I believe that pop-culture would be that inspiration for a rise in fedora popularity. Have a few more blockbuster films of guys wearing sharp lids and people will start wearing them again. Our hero was directly responsible for this in the 80's. Even now, would you be wearing a fedora if there had been no Indy? I know that I wouldn't be...
From past reading, the Secret Service really frowns on the President wearing a hat now.... that is, unless ALL of the folks around him wear one, as it identifies him in a crowd. Should someone want to do him harm, they can find him immediately by the hat.
THAT'S why LBJ's folks always wore Open Roads around him when he was traveling, as it confused folks as to who the President was. As tall as LBJ was, I'm not sure how well that worked, but that was the reasoning.
There is a fine book called Gentleman Jack: The President, the Fedora, and the History of American Style by Neil Steinberg.
Steinberg discusses the history and demise of fedora wearing throughout the 20th century. Basically the fedora had been on the decline since the early part of the 20the century. I believe the author traces a noticable decline in the early teens or 20's culminating with the frantic actions of hat manufacturers to get a fedora on Kennedy by "any means necessary".
Kennedy's vanity put the nail in the coffin. We should recognize Kennedy disliked wearing hats but did, even at his inauguration wear one. It was a top-hat of all things!
I highly recommend this book -- I believe everyone here would find it extremely edifying.
Guys, Kennedy almost always wore hats. He was just almost never photographed in the. He wore them to keep the sun off his fair complection, and to keep his hair from being windblown before photos were taken. He would remove his hat for photos and speaches, and then put it back on. In many of the pictures I have seen he has his hat in his hands. And yes, at the end of the forties the wearing of hats was in a nose dive. Younger men returning from the war just didn't bother to wear them. Between the beatle, Elvis, television in general(it was pretty new),and JFK in the early 60's, hairstyles became more a part of a person's look. If your hairstyle is a part of your look, and you are spending good money on it, which most men were doing for the first time, why would you cover it up. There were many factors, JFK just gets most of the credit.
Guys, Kennedy almost always wore hats. He was just almost never photographed in the. He wore them to keep the sun off his fair complection, and to keep his hair from being windblown before photos were taken. He would remove his hat for photos and speaches, and then put it back on. In many of the pictures I have seen he has his hat in his hands. And yes, at the end of the forties the wearing of hats was in a nose dive. Younger men returning from the war just didn't bother to wear them. Between the beatle, Elvis, television in general(it was pretty new),and JFK in the early 60's, hairstyles became more a part of a person's look. If your hairstyle is a part of your look, and you are spending good money on it, which most men were doing for the first time, why would you cover it up. There were many factors, JFK just gets most of the credit.
Jimmy
I agree. Hats were already in a nose dive, that started even before WW2. Or so the Henderson books says. JFK and the longer hair of the 60's may have been the coffin nail. Hair dressing went out as well during this time. Fedora
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