New Old YIJ hat

In-depth discussion of the Fedora of Indiana Jones and all other hats appearing in the Indiana Jones movies

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Tremolo
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New Old YIJ hat

Post by Tremolo »

As some of you know I am a big fan of the Young Indy hat, I recently got a very nice Agnoulita Voyager which I reworked a bit (here is the thread)and a little bit over 10 years ago I had a great Christy´s Adventurer that I custom ordered from Hornet Hats with a 3 Inch brim and added a brown 2 Inch wide ribbon to it.

Up until recently I assumed that this hat somehow got missing when I moved with my family but now, while trying to sort some chaos in the attic, I suddenly held it in my Hands. It was in terrible shape and a far cry from its former glory.
However, it still was too nice to just throw it away. So over the last days I´ve been working on this hat on and off.
I reattached the sweatband, put on a more accurate ribbon and reblocked the hat. Short back story to the block: Back in 2010/11 my late Father and me built two hat blocks, one to mimic the shape of the YIJ hat in the first Season and one for the second and TV movies. Due to the overall shrunken state of this hat I went with the second block. Also as I´m currently working on my third try at the Young Indy Diary and just recently finished "the Treasure of the Peacock´s Eye" I chose to go with that look.
I always liked the idea that they didn´t have that many hats while filming the series, so we can really see those hats transform into the rather shapeless thing featured in the extra scenes they shot later.

Alright here it is:

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While the bash is very easy to do it took a bit more work to get the brim looking right. I had to loosen the brim break quite bit, because otherwise it would have been too new looking and the hat would miss the YIJ downward swoop. The hat still features a 3 inch brim but because of all that brim "drip" it looks more like 2.75" to my eyes.
In case anybody is wondering, the color back then was called Cork and appeared to me to be closer to the actual color in the series than sable. I also based that decision by the Richard Swales quote that the hat in series was Taupe/Mushroom brown colored.

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I also added those faint dents on the backside. I don´t agree with the idea that the production team turned the hat backwards during filming the second half of the second Season and resew the bow, ribbon and sweatband. I mean in many episodes we can already see that the hat was handled without a lot of care.

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I´m pretty pleased with how this resurrected hat turned out. To be fair, it may not be my favorite Indiana Jones hat, but it was a fun little project , and it feels good to have that hat back in my collection. Here is a picture of it being worn
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Michaelson
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Re: New Old YIJ hat

Post by Michaelson »

One of best conversations I’ve seen in quite a while! Nicely done!!

Regards! Michaelson :M:
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Re: New Old YIJ hat

Post by Western New York Indy »

Beautiful work!! Wow, that is such a nice color! And I think you really nailed the way the brim swoops. Stunning work :TOH:

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Re: New Old YIJ hat

Post by Indy Magnoli »

Great work! I'll always have a soft spot for the YIJC fedora. :TOH:
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Re: New Old YIJ hat

Post by Howard Weinstein »

Excellent! I always liked the casually broken-in look of this particular version of the Young Indy hat -- like a hat Indy regarded as purely functional. To me, that's what gives this hat its charm, and you've captured that perfectly :TOH:
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Re: New Old YIJ hat

Post by ChrisW »

Wow that is spot on and it looks great on you!
Thanks for sharing this!

I have a soft spot for this YIJ one. This one feels like it was the hat he loved since childhood and has a warm charm to it.
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Re: New Old YIJ hat

Post by Indiana Croft »

That is a very nice lid.
Arrrg, so many hats to buy, I’ve always liked this lis, but I want a DoD too.
Wonder if AdC
Vantage does a YIJ in the Harrison collection.

But that does look gtreat and you wear it well.

Croft :mrgreen:
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Re: New Old YIJ hat

Post by WConly »

That really is superb :TOH: , :tup: ! W>
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Re: New Old YIJ hat

Post by Tremolo »

Thanks everybody! Great to see that there is so much love the Treasure of the Peacock’s fedora :TOH:
Croft, with another ribbon the Harrison would work, however it has has a smaller and dimensional cut brim while the YIJC fedora doesn´t have that feature and is wider. But I think it still would look great. I think someone around here once posted his Harrison styled as a YIJ fedora. Howard Weinstein, that´s exactly a point that I love about this hat, although the filming of the series wasn´t chronological you can kinda see the hat age together with Indy.

Here is the latest part of my Young Indy fedora quest :D
The Agnoulita Voyager (here is the original thread ) that I got a while a ago had a nice shape but now I kept thinking that there was more potential hidden in it. So, over the weekend I disassembled and reblocked it.

This time I used my other hat block, the one meant to represent the earlier episodes. Overall the block is more uniform and a lot more straight sided with a rather flat, just slightly domed top. I didn´t loosen up the brim break as much this time, so it could resemble the "newish" London 1916 look. As a side effect this will also make the 3" brim appear wider than on the Treasure of the Peacocok´s Eye fedora.

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When you see both Young Indys side by side you can easily see how different the identical 3” wide brims appear. I went with a classic Indy 5.5" open crown height for for this one when I reblocked it and the front pinch ends at a height of 4.5". My TotPE fedora here on the other hand has a 5.25" crown height with the front pinch at 3.9". For both hats these heights seem to work when you compare them to the hats in both episodes and use the 2" ribbon as a guideline.

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Here are a couple of pics of it being worn:

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Re: New Old YIJ hat

Post by whiskyman »

I love it! I'd love to an Indy hat with a 3" brim to turn into a Raiders hat. Most offerings to my mind just don't have enough brim width -fine for the look of the other movies, but not Raiders. Does anyone offer a 3" brim these days outside of a custom made hat?
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Re: New Old YIJ hat

Post by Howard Weinstein »

whiskyman wrote: Tue Oct 15, 2024 2:09 pm I love it! I'd love to an Indy hat with a 3" brim to turn into a Raiders hat. Most offerings to my mind just don't have enough brim width -fine for the look of the other movies, but not Raiders. Does anyone offer a 3" brim these days outside of a custom made hat?
Maybe look on eBay for a gently used western hat within the correct color range, then cut the brim down to 3" or whatever width you like? There are usually quite a few to choose from.

I did that once with a Resistol hat that was a great match for the Raiders brown. It had enough crown height to be converted into a Young Indy hat first, and then a Raiders hat. I liked it, but eventually sold it after I started getting AdVintage Indy hats.
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Tremolo
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Re: New Old YIJ hat

Post by Tremolo »

Yes, converting a western hat is a lot fun. I also once did that with a Resistol but the felt was very thick and (of course) stiff.

Over the course of my YIJ fedora quest it was always hard finding a fedora with a 3“ wide brim and an high enough Indy style crown.
That’s why I was so amazed when I saw that Agnoulita offered one for the price of an AdVintage Harrison while still offering lots customising options and a lead time of about 4 weeks.
Whiskyman, maybe that would be an option for you to get a Raiders hat with a 3“ wide brim if you don’t want to go with the more high end custom hatters around here?
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