What did they do? They went with an even darker hat than every other Indiana Jones movie . I have one word...ugly.
You know, two hats that were made for Ford were actually the same lightness as an Hj I had in the shop. Not the same undertone in color, but they were not darker than the Raiders fedora. When I grabbed the next hat from this run, it was a darker color, so, I pounced it lighter to match the first two. Somewhere, somehow, before the hats made it to the filming, someone did something to the other non light hats to bring back the original color that I had cosmetically altered. Now, getting a hat wet will of course bring back the original shade, that is true. But, if you will watch the film closely, you can see these lighter hats. Then the darker ones. To say blanket wise that all CS hats were darker is not a fact. And I have not mentioned this until now.
So, two differently colored hats in the film. And I agree the jacket should be darker than the hats. To match up with the lighter jackets, that is, a hat lighter than the jacket, would have required a very light brown(and this would have been inaccurate too), as the HJ hat in lightness would still not have been lighter than his CS jacket.
There were also variances in the jacket color, or it seems so to my eyes, going by the row of jackets shown on the DVD special features.
Apparently, when I got in the order for the hats, two bodies were from a totally different run, with the remainder 12 dozen bodies from the same run.( I found out differently later on) But, it was too late, and not enough time for me to get an identical run from my supplier to match the first two. And, I had already sent the first two in. Silly me, I figured two hats would suffice for the film, whereas, they used more than two of the 9 brown fedoras we made for Ford. Later on in the run, for the stunt hats, I came across a few more of the lighter shaded bodies, but you never know this until you actually pounce out the hat. By then, it was too late to send these as a "Ford" hat. And the sizing was larger as well.
I know this is a jacket thread, but I had to set the record straight regarding the hat color versus the jacket color. It appears to me that not much thought was given to the wedding of the hat color to the jacket. In hindsight, I would have used a whiskey color, and then darkened it up with oil to get it "not too light" but lighter than the jacket. But, this was beyond my pay grade, although I did match up the lightness factor prior to sending in the hats. I had two different sample hats I had made,(sent back to me after the fitting) and both were used to match colors. My hocus pocus was nulled an voided by something that was done to the hats after I sent them in.
While some of us have stated the hats were "ugly", I am glad the Big Three did not agree.
And, while I was trying to please 'us", I was trying to please THEM more.
One more thing, it has been said that the CS fedora looked like a western hat, instead of a true dress hat. I would just suggest that you check out old films. Not all fedoras were made of the cheaper porous felt, that some associate with a true dress hat. If you had the bucks way back, you could have owned the creme ala creme of dress hats, a beaver Cavanagh, or a 10x Stetson, which folks with money owned. Show me a Cavanagh that looks like the typical porous felt dress hat. I have never seen one. Even the blends in this brand looked beaver like in the nap and texture.
And lest you forget, the LC hat was by no means the typical porous rabbit felt that some associate with a true dress hat. Anyone ever own an early 90's HJ? It looks "western in felt" compared to the Raiders fedora. So no new ground was broken in regards to hats. And, all wanted a LCish fedora for the last film, but one that would see mucho water. That was a prime directive from Bernie in our first conversation.
What is funny to me, is that if CS had of been the first film, using what they did, we would be debating the shortcomings of the HJ and the jacket used in Raiders if it appeared in the last film. I bet the same folks would be trashing the HJ and the N and B. Funny, but understandable. Few like to see variations in costume. Doesn't matter if a real life Indy would have changed brands either. For me, it is nonsensical that Indy would be wearing the same clothes, from the same folks in the 1930's that he would be wearing in the 1950's. Times change. And it would not have taken a real Indy long to figure out his rabbit hat and lamb jacket was actually not up to the real rigors of adventuring. Therefore no surprise that he changed his gear's materials. Afterall, hats and jackets ought to be tough enough for what he does.
But, I guess we would rather see him like he was in Raiders. With costume quality clothing. It fits in with the rest of the films, like UNBELIEVABLE!!!! If you can buy into Indy and the things he went after with their magical properties, it is not a leap to believe he wore lamb and rabbit hats on his very intensive and wear producing adventures. But who here would actually take an HJ and a lamb jacket on such an adventure? You might find yourself hatless and jacketless in a very short time.
But its Hollywood-right?
I was taken aback by the cheap looking other dress hats in the new film. Nowhere was there a charming hat like the gray Nazi hat, or Toht's black hat. Looked like they shopped ebay and bought the low quality hats that used to be made years ago. No Dobbs, no Cavanaghs, no Knoxes,(or even the higher end Stetsons) which were the great hats of yesteryear. And glad they did not put Indy in one of those bound brim short crowned, stingy brimmed wonders. I don't think Indy would have ever worn one myself. A bound brim hat is certainly not adventure material. They have their place, but not on an adventurers head.
Sorry for the hijack. But here is what would have been used....if K.T. had not prompted Peter to tell Bernie about Marc and I. (so a long and belated thanks to you K.T. )
This was the best that a hatter could do in replicating an Indy- ish looking hat. And, I would join in the club of critiquing Indy's hat if this one had of made it. It's rabbit, but not the porous type of rabbit found in economy hats way back when. So please don't confuse the economy dress hats of yester year with the really fine vintage hats. You make a huge mistake by doing so. Ebay used to be filled with Royal Stetsons, and if you use that price point hat as a reference, you have not done your hat homework. But it is understandable that some do this. The heavier weight dress hats could be had for a price in the vintage era, but with hats being so relatively expensive, most folks bought the really lightweight versions, and many folks today confuse the heavier weight dress hats with western hats!! Just don't forget that hat factories starting skimping on fur weight when furs were becoming more scarce. It was not consumer driven, but supply driven. And most folks ended up with hats that were not substantial enough for the rigors of outdoor use. Fine with a suit and limited outdoor wear though. Fedora
