I know people are going to have opinions from all over the place on this (ranging from, "Are you kidding? Just wear it." To, "well, you have to coordinate carefully what you wear." but it's a legitimate question in my opinion.
How do you go from a t-shirt and jeans kind of guy to "that guy that wears the fedora" without getting a lot of jokes cracked on you from friends and family and a lot of strange looks - or has that even been your experience? I'm getting my first fedora in a short time and I've never been an incredibly "stylish" person so something like this is going to draw attention in a way I'm not accustomed to.
Are their certain NON-INDY GEAR wardrobes that really work best with the Indy fedora? Or perhaps the better question, is there a type of clothing that just really should be avoided (i.e. cutoff jean shorts and grateful dead t-shirt)?
Any stories to share from getting the folks around you used to your wearing a fedora? ...not that we care what people think, right?
I've been a t-shirt, jeans kind of guy all my life and never wore a hat until about a year and a half ago when I found one of the cheap $50 Dorman "Indy" hats here in WA. My friends liked that hat. Then last November I got a real Indy fedora Penman hats. It's a MUCH taller hat and at first I had friends who joked that I looked mafia or like the Godfathers pizza guy. I wear my hat daily with all kinds of clothes and now people are just use to me being the guy with the fedora. I've had a lot of compliments also.
Really doesn't matter what people think, it's all about what YOU like.
I'm thinking about getting a Havana hat to wear with shorts though. Penman makes one, but I really like this one with the wide 3.2" brim. http://panamahatsdirect.com/iframe/Havana.htm
Last edited by lantzn on Tue Jul 20, 2010 9:47 pm, edited 1 time in total.
...be prepared not only for "Nice hat, Indy", but also "Nice cowboy hat".
I think the friends and family just kind of got used to it after a short time. It's the random strangers that tend to make the snide comments. But then, some people will try to find anything to take a dig at, it just depends on whether you're self-conscious about it or okay with who you are and what you're wearing.
No matter what you wear with it, you will have to endure the dumb comments and looks. But you'll also get the compliments. Now, I've never been a t-shirt and jeans guy, but I remember the transition into being a regular fedora wearer. It feels awkward, but you will probably feel like it's worse than it really is. As you get more comfortable, people will see you more positively.
As for what to wear... the guys around here have proven time and again that it's hard to go wrong as long long as you stick to a style that's "you" and not what you think you should wear.
Really, it's a right of passage and you just have to go through it. When you first go out wearing a fedora (or when I did anyway), you feel very self-conscious. And yes, you'll get the remarks (especially from those that know you) and the looks from strangers. But, if you'll just keep wearing it, it will feel much more natural for you and the remarks will fade away. There will still be some times you're a little self-conscious of it or somebody will try to act cool at your expense but those occasions get more and more rare as you wear it.
...hmmm. I suddenly fear public ridicule from strangers for the first time . I hope I have the guts to wear it places outside my home and camping trips.
crismans wrote:Really, it's a right of passage and you just have to go through it. When you first go out wearing a fedora (or when I did anyway), you feel very self-conscious. And yes, you'll get the remarks (especially from those that know you) and the looks from strangers. But, if you'll just keep wearing it, it will feel much more natural for you and the remarks will fade away. There will still be some times you're a little self-conscious of it or somebody will try to act cool at your expense but those occasions get more and more rare as you wear it.
This is pretty accurate^^^
I hardly ever get comments on it anymore. Not anything negative anyway. But it does feel pretty awkward at first.
Until like 7 months ago, I had long hair and wore jeans and t-shirts. I decided to clean-up for my last semester of college. Bought some nicer shirts and eventually a fedora. At first, I got all sorts of comments. Lots of students on campus would mock me-- but after a short awhile it became my style and unless you I'm in an unfamiliar place, by and large people don't mention it.
It's par for the course, man. You wear something that went out of style 40 years ago, you're going to hear it from folks who think they're being funny.
Either develop thick skin, or mail that hat to me and get yourself a nice baseball cap so you can look like everyone else!
Seriously, you're going to get the comments, so you need to decide if that is ok with you.
I started wearing mine regularly about a year ago. I've had a few comments, but I'm with crismans - If you seem self conscious about wearing it people seem to detct than an rib you more about it (although not as often as you'll be thinking right now). When you get less conscious about wearing it, the ribbing will just diminish. You'll probably get a lot more positive comments then negative, but I guess it's natural just to focus on the negative ones.
I wear mine with almost anything - defo with jeans and a tee-shirt. I've worn it with shorts before now. To me they go with just about anything.
My main worry is that they become fashionable again at some point.
Just trust in yourself and you'll do fine. I bet you'll be terrified at first, but you'll get used to it. I wear my indy fedora mostly with black heavy metal tees, cargo pants, MK VII bag and M41 field jacket. Sometimes when it's too hot, I find myself annoyed by the fact that I can't wear my hat.
contra wrote:Just trust in yourself and you'll do fine. I bet you'll be terrified at first, but you'll get used to it. I wear my indy fedora mostly with black heavy metal tees, cargo pants, MK VII bag and M41 field jacket. Sometimes when it's too hot, I find myself annoyed by the fact that I can't wear my hat.
Awesome!!
I was wearing mine with my black Rammstein tee-shirt and wested the other day. I also get annoyed when I can't wear it either in strong wind or it's too hot. If I leave the house without it on, I feel like I've let myself down or something.
In addition to everything written above, you may even find, as I have, that people will eventually comment when youre not wearing your hat because theyve gotten so used to you in (or rather - under) it.
Remember that the ignorant usually criticise what they fear - like a person self-confident enough to create his own style rather than just buy fashion. Revel in the backward compliment that you are seen as a wolf not a sheep.
Looks like this thread struck on a common bond that I wasn't aware existed between Indy fedora enthusiasts. The idea that it's a rite of passage to take the jeering comments and to grow in your confidence through those experiences is a rather fascinating personality study. Isn't it funny how something as simple as a piece of gear can necessitate certain changes in your character and perception of yourself?
And that confidence is key. You've probably read the "are you wearing the hat or is the hat wearing you" bit around here. You can tell the folks around these parts who are serious hat wearers, because they wear them confidently and as an extension of their own true personality. Some folks I see around here are wearing "costume hats." Others I see wearing the exact same hat, and it looks like it belongs on their heads.
If you haven't worn a fedora before, it may take a bit to get comfortable with it as a part of your attire. Heck, even changing to a hat with a taller or shorter crown than what you're accustomed to can take some getting used to. And then you have to be honest with yourself on what kind of hat actually looks good on you. Some folks look better with a tapered bash than with a stovepipe, with a taller versus a shorter crown, or with a shorter over a wider brim. Few can pull them all off.
As to what to wear with it, as you get comfortable with a fedora, you can get just as comfortable with what you wear with it. You can't go wrong with a decent pair of trousers and a nice button-down shirt, though. As to the comments of passers by, you will get compliments and snide remarks, but that can be said of so many other things that don't involve hats. Get used to it. Also be aware that what you may take as jest may be a person's way of trying to compliment you. I go tan Elliot Ness compliment this morning, and I was wearing colored braces and a straw hat!
Indiana Sloan wrote:Looks like this thread struck on a common bond that I wasn't aware existed between Indy fedora enthusiasts. The idea that it's a rite of passage to take the jeering comments and to grow in your confidence through those experiences is a rather fascinating personality study. Isn't it funny how something as simple as a piece of gear can necessitate certain changes in your character and perception of yourself?
Indeed, I find that becoming a hat wearer has improved my confidence over the long term. There's no doubt about it - wearing a hat has changed my life.
The first is finding the hat that actually looks right on you. As bink said, this could mean actually changing the hat. Not everyone looks good in an idol grab HJ Poet.
Second, YOU need to get used to wearing it. For a long time you'll be aware that it is there, and you will see yourself differently. You'll be super aware that you now stand out apart from just about everyone else, except maybe the naked cowboy in Times Square. You'll be constantly wonering what people think of your hat, like that pink poodle in "Go Dog Go". Eventually, you'll tire of this and you just won't think of it anymore, and this takes you to phase 3...
...which is keeping your cool when (not if) but when you get the comments from people. You'll either ignore, you'll tip your hat and smile, you'll stop and correct or scold them, or you'll punch them in the face. The jury is still out on which reaction is best. Let me know how each of them turns out!
I have two fedora's a charcoal grey fed and a brown fed.
My rule. Never with shorts, never with a t-shirt. That my rule, doesn't mean anyone else has to follow it. I see that a fedora is classy, therefore, I should dress better then tshirt and shorts.
I wear it with jeans and a pearl snap, sleeves rolled up. Or when I'm all dressy for church, etc. Never with short sleeves.
I also take it off when I go indoors. Again, just my rule.
I live in a small college town, but I've had a few cowboy comments, but most my friends at work, think I'm a bit odd for wearing a fedora but all the girls LOVE it.
You will get comments. It is that simple. Who cares. As said above it is your confidence and how you react to comments that matter.
I recently went on a family trip to Hawaii and, of course, wore my Fed IV. On the airplane I had an older lady (probably late seventies) stop as she was passing me, look me in the eye and say, "I like your hat...Do you like mine?". Having kids and read that book over and over, I chuckled. She then said, "No, I really do like the hat," and kept walking. I thought it was a nice compliment.
Next, we were walking in town during a street fair and some gnarly looking beach/surfer guys sitting on the seawall looked at me as I passed with the family. One of them nodded and said, "Nice hat, bra. I like your hat. You just need a whip, ya?". I laughed and said thanks. Did he mean something else? Was he trying to provoke me? Maybe...but...Who cares.
Take compliments when you get them and ignore the rude comments. Enjoy wearing your hat.
maboot, there's a 4th stage....it's the point where you've worn your hat everywhere for SO long that you get the dickens from friends (and even complete strangers) when you AREN'T wearing your hat.
Wow, I'm in the 4th group, too! In fact, I've had friends not notice me standing next to them on the commuter train on the very off day I don't have a fedora!
Yep, and I bet there are a LOT of 'us' in that category now.
Don't worry, you can and will get through those steps as fast or as slow as YOU decide, once you get up the steam to do it on a regular basis. I guarantee it.
Well these are all great insights and good stories. Thanks everyone for sharing so far. As far as the short-term "phase 1" goes I guess I just have to wait for my lid to arrive and decide if it's the right look for me. The wait is excruciating but thats part of the fun ... right?
...RIGHT!?...
Indiana Sloan wrote:Well these are all great insights and good stories. Thanks everyone for sharing so far. As far as the short-term "phase 1" goes I guess I just have to wait for my lid to arrive and decide if it's the right look for me. The wait is excruciating but thats part of the fun ... right?
...RIGHT!?...
Sure it is. Around here, "the wait" is what we call that magical time period where we start wondering if we bought the right (hat, jacket, shirt, etc.) or if we ordered the wrong size, or if maybe we should wait for the next version, or if there might be one cheaper or.......
I'm a stage four too. If you ever watch Father Ted that's a whoooole different thing.
"ah, can we not keep him Ted?"
I feel odd WITHOUT MY HAT. When meeting with friends they identify me and my wife by MY silhouette in the dark or HER flame red hair in daylight
I don't think I'm at the 4th stage yet. I still get the occasional comments/snide remarks from family that don't "get" my hobby/interest. Oh well, its better than it was when I first started wearing a hat.
On the other hand, nobody questioned my desire to wear a lid when being pallbearer for my grandmother this past weekend. I guess they do expect me to be wearing one after all. They just don't comment when I don't.
Indiana Sloan wrote:
Or perhaps the better question, is there a type of clothing that just really should be avoided (i.e. cutoff jean shorts and grateful dead t-shirt)?
Yes.
All kidding aside, I want to echo some sentiments from others in this thread. I would say that unless the Indy fedora looks like a total natural for you, I would ease into hat wearing with a different hat. Something with a shorter crown and narrower brim. I guess it really depends on your head shape and facial features. For me personally, I know I look best with a 4 1/2" crown and and 2 to 2 1/4" brim. There are tons of hats from the 60's that fit the bill that come up on ebay all the time, or can be found in antique and vintage clothing shops.
I wore a Federation III for a spell, but it was just too much hat for me. I have never gotten a negative comment while wearing any of my other hats.
I think a big factor may be what part of the country you live in. I've been wearing fedoras here in Colorado for the past couple of years, and have had only two comments directed at me. One was at a theme park as I jogged past some teenagers to get to my family ("watch it cowboy!" I was wearing a Hawaiian shirt, shorts and sandals - go figure). The other was just the other day when a guy made a point to tell me sincerely that he liked my hat. I've just never really experienced the negativity from others. I've certainly noticed people looking at the hat, but just haven't gotten the comments.
The other day I walked into a Tommy Bahama shop in my regular Summer attire: Hawaiian shirt, cargo shorts, sandals, and my Adventurebilt. You should have seen the way the salesmen were staring at me. Not because they didn't approve, but because I looked like I had just come home. Too bad for them that I couldn't afford their shirts.
Forrest For the Trees wrote:
I wore a Federation III for a spell, but it was just too much hat for me. I have never gotten a negative comment while wearing any of my other hats.
Happy hat wearing!
Do you still have it? Do you want to sell it? What size and color?
Sorry, I cant figure out how to PM in this new setup.
In my experience, I have been pretty lucky. I have rarely had negative comments about my hat. And women do love the hat and notice it more; I have had several complements about mine while in the lobby at where I work. The snidest remark I ever received was from a co worker that said "Love the hat, where's your whip at Indy?" to which I replied back "You know Indy always killed anyone that ever gave him trouble, right?" his buddy then said, "Maybe you should leave him alone..." I laughed and went on. The only thing that keeps you from wearing the hat is you; don't cheat yourself of these wonderful gems!
Dude...when I first wore a Peters Bros. fedora, I felt kind of goofy. Like: "Man, this thing sticks out!" I swear, every time I heard someone laugh in public, or was around anyone in public, I felt like they were either laughing at my hat or staring at me. Seriously, everywhere I went I had these problems. Most of it was in my mind. There are a lot of people who will talk trash to you just to do it, but what you've really got to do is learn how to roll with it. Get creative, man. When someone says: "Hey, Indy!" to me now, I just go: "That's me," and then go back to what I was doing, or I will respond with: "Huh? Who?" You're also going to get people tweedle-dee-ing the Raiders march to you at random. You have got to come to expect this, roll with it, and take no offense. People hum Raiders around me now, and I pretend I am throwing punches at someone. You can get a lot of play from the hat, or the hat can play you.
On that same note, I once had a little girl in a mall in Ontario, California poke her head out of a shop JUST to say: "Yee-haw, cowboy!" I remember a friend of mine who only had ONE comment for me when he saw my first hat: "So, rockin' the fedora now, huh?" "Yep. I like it." "Cool. Cool."
As has also been said, I used to get @#$% in CA for NOT wearing the hat after so long. I once had a friend drive right past me as I was trying to cross an intersection on foot. Dang near ran me down, so I called him on his cell to tell him that the dude he almost hit WAS ME. I kid you not, he says: "That was YOU? How was I supposed to know!? You didn't have your hat on!" Of course, to see me hat-less now is normal, since the weather's too stupid out here to wear a hat as often as I did in California.
Forrest For the Trees wrote:
I wore a Federation III for a spell, but it was just too much hat for me. I have never gotten a negative comment while wearing any of my other hats.
Happy hat wearing!
Do you still have it? Do you want to sell it? What size and color?
Sorry, I cant figure out how to PM in this new setup.
I don't think I could sell the hat. I've beaten the heck out of it. I re-shaped it so many times that it is a bit of a mess. I trimmed the brim on the sides a bit, and that looks fine, but it used to have a Raider's crease, and then I changed it to a Last Crusade pinch, but you can still see the ghost of the crease. I also once put in a teardrop crease on top, but then switched back to a center dent. It is a 55 Fed III Deluxe, and the felt is good stuff, but I feel like I've pushed it to the point of no return. Maybe a re-block would do it some good. If you really want a cheap project hat with some potential let me know. Anyway, we've drifted off topic...
The moral of the story, for me at least, is get a hat that fits your face instead of trying to force a hat that doesn't.
I agree that geography plays a part. Here in Cambridge, which is full of students and tourists from everywhere, I get the occasional prurulent or positive comment. In less cosmopolitan towns, like the little fishing village in Ireland where my dad lives, I get really ignorant shouts from across the street.
True, in big cities nobody bothers to comment on your choice of clothes. A few days ago, here in Copenhagen, I saw this guy in full Roman soldier attire walking down the street, some people just glanced at him casually, noone seemed to care.
Forrest For the Trees wrote:
I wore a Federation III for a spell, but it was just too much hat for me. I have never gotten a negative comment while wearing any of my other hats.
Happy hat wearing!
Do you still have it? Do you want to sell it? What size and color?
Sorry, I cant figure out how to PM in this new setup.
I don't think I could sell the hat. I've beaten the heck out of it. I re-shaped it so many times that it is a bit of a mess. I trimmed the brim on the sides a bit, and that looks fine, but it used to have a Raider's crease, and then I changed it to a Last Crusade pinch, but you can still see the ghost of the crease. I also once put in a teardrop crease on top, but then switched back to a center dent. It is a 55 Fed III Deluxe, and the felt is good stuff, but I feel like I've pushed it to the point of no return. Maybe a re-block would do it some good. If you really want a cheap project hat with some potential let me know. Anyway, we've drifted off topic...
The moral of the story, for me at least, is get a hat that fits your face instead of trying to force a hat that doesn't.
A 55 is unworkably too small for my 59 head. But I enjoyed, just now, reading about some of your hat's history with you.
I really like my III, compared to my IV. Gives a better Raiders look.
And to the OP, there will more than one style of hat that looks good on your noggin. When you find one of them, itll be easier to go out with it because when you put it on, youll look in the mirror and say, 'dayum, i look good!' Thats the starting point.
Kredepops wrote:True, in big cities nobody bothers to comment on your choice of clothes.
Not true here in Boston. I always get comments on the hat, ranging from Dick Tracy references to Raiders themes. One time I even got a comment on a simple shirt. I was wearing a Peruvian football shirt and some chick in full goth attire screamed in my face "What the #### are you WEARING??"...
...to which I replied, "it's a football shirt. The vampire store was all out of my size."
I wear my hat with anything; long-sleeved shirts, short-sleeved button downs, t-shirts, jeans, slacks and even shorts.
I only wear the hat with shorts when I just need to bring my daughter to school or when I'm running quick errands that don't require me to really step out of the car.
I usually just wear T-shirts and jeans with my hat.
Strangers here will seldom comment about it. Occasionally, I do hear stupid comments when they think I'm out of earshot, but never to my face. The only dumb comments come from friends or acquaintances who do it for fun. Strangers here will seldom say bad things about another person's appearance to their face. It could be just because they were raised to have good manners or they're afraid of getting into a fight... Hehe.
Kredepops wrote:True, in big cities nobody bothers to comment on your choice of clothes.
Not true here in Boston. I always get comments on the hat, ranging from #### Tracy references to Raiders themes. One time I even got a comment on a simple shirt. I was wearing a Peruvian football shirt and some chick in full goth attire screamed in my face "What the #### are you WEARING??"...
...to which I replied, "it's a football shirt. The vampire store was all out of my size."
It still bugs me that one of the most famous fedora wearers of all time, Dick Tracy, still can't get his name past the profanity filter. It's my Dad's name, for #### sake! I'm not even allowed to write my father's first name on here!!
. I hope I have the guts to wear it places outside my home and camping trips. 
](./images/smilies/Indy_wall.gif "Brick wall"){kind=small}
Shh.
