Club Obi Wan

In clothing display and advertizing, there is certain size (or small range of sizes) for any given article of clothing which is standard.
Mannequins are sized to fit these and vice versa. In mens' clothing, it is roughly a 42 jacket and 32 waist if I remember correctly. (we buy manniquins at work, but we display miltary clothing and body armor on them!)

What size is standard in the mens' hats realm for photography and display to best present proportion?

Well, there's an original question! I believe a 7 1/4 is a very common hat size these days, so you can't go wrong there. But keep in mind that depending upon the style of the hat, your overall look of your display could be widely different regardless of the size of the hat. A 7 1/4 with a taller crown and wider brim will look far different than a 7 1/4 with a shorter crown and a stingy brim. But if you're after the hat size only, for the sake of a manniquin, then I would think a 7 1/4 should work alright for you.

I was at work today and totally forgot to take a tape measure to a manniquin's head.
But, I was not really asking what size looks best for any given hat style. (Which may in fact be the case.) Rather, do any of the pros know if there is a somewhat standardized size which fits display heads or is considered ideal or standard for a living model etc?
This is somewhat of a matter of idle curiosity combined with looking over some of the vintage ads available online and attempting to get a rough idea of scale from size.

As always,
thank you to all,
and truly I wish you a
Happy and Prosperous New Year,

Rambler

Sizes 7 1/8, 7 1/4, and 7 3/8 are known as "the gut". In general for mend hats nearly 3/4 of the hays sold used to fall into this category. Over the past several years this seems to have shifted up to include size 7 1/2 while the 7 1/8 is starting to become less common. I will rarely see a man's head that is a seven anymore.

Jimmy[/u]

I agree with Jimmy. He nailed it. But our heads seem to be growing too. 100 years from now, I expect for it to be 7 1/4, 7 3/8, and 7 1/2.

But right now, the 7 1/8, 7 1/4 7 3/8 seems to be the major part of my business, with 7 1/4 and 7 3/8 head sizes being the most common head size. But you would be surprised at the number of folks whose actual head size lies between these three. That's what I work off of head measurments instead of off the shelf sizes. When you add to that, that hat sizing charts are inconsistent(I have seen a 7 1/4 listed to fit a 22 5/8 head, a 22 3/4 head, and and 23 inch head, depending upon the hatter and his chart) I moved to using head measurements early on due to the amount of returns that did not fit the customer. Since that time, I have had only a few. But I digress. Fedora

Since the average size is growing, I wonder if the advertisements and catalogs from decades ago depict considerably smaller hats. Unless the crown and brim grow proportionately, the hat will look different in the various sizes.
As I said above, i am toward the larger end of the size chart with a head measurement of 24 1/8" round oval.
If the crown height and brim stay the same, a hat will look dramatically different in my size as opposed to one in say a size 7 1/8 long oval.

That's interesting. I wonder why our heads are growing? Are we getting smarter? And why hasn't Al Gore informed us via documentry of this global growing threat to sweatbands.

Johnny