Club Obi Wan

It's amazing to me how our hats can mark important events in our lives, be it from simple things, or big things, and many times are unconsciously reached for when that need arises.

I usually pull out my dark grey heavier beaver felt AB for winter times. Until this morning it really didn't dawn on me how many important events in MY life this hat played a part.

I wore it in July many years ago at the very happy time of my sisters wedding at Chautauqua, New York. (that's when I determined that grey AB was better used in colder weather. I about cooked, but wore it just the same. It was also when I determined a beaver AB was best worn in hot weather WITHOUT a liner! )

I wore it in a blizzard 2 years ago during the very sad time of my Dad's funeral and burial.

Just this morning my wife pulled out the photo album from several years ago of our eldest daughters wedding to her now ex-husband (I had never seen the photos before), and lo and behold, there was the dark grey AB on my head in those wedding photos.

Me in all my dark suit, vest and gold watch chain finery and there sat the dark grey AB. I just didn't remember wearing that hat then, but there it was in the photos.

All of a sudden this dark grey AB fedora has taken a much higher place in my stable of hats. It's been there for all the important times in the past few years...high points, and very low points, and seems to be the one I've reached for when that need arose.

Any other stories of a 'special' hat in your collection that, for what ever reason, seems to rise to the top when you need a 'special' hat for a special occasion?

Regards! Michaelson

What a great and original topic! It's got me thinking, that's for sure.

I wear hats every day, so it's easy for me to take for granted what any given hat has been witness to. Some of my hats hold a special place in my heart because they belonged to my grandfathers. Other, because they have been cherished gifts. Others, because they've been with me on countless adventures.

Just thinking off the top of my head, I have a vintage Dobbs Cross Country which was my "go to" hat for many years. In fact, Fedora refurbished that hat for me before starting the Adventurebilt Company. It has been worn formally and casually for a long time and it's part of my frequent spring/summer rotation. I've gone chasing that hat down busy parking lots when blown off, and I would do so again. There's a lot of sentimental value to that hat.

My first AB has joined me on my trip to Mexico as well as my adventures in Lebanon in years past. It has become a well used and well loved fedora. I've even had a few men in Mexico try to buy the hat off my head, and just recently a woman commented that this specific fedora looked very becoming on me. It has now become my "go to" fedora when traveling both locally and abroad. Of all my fedoras, it has become one of the most "binkmeister" hats in my collection, taking the true character of me.

I have an old Stetson Whippet which has become one of my preferred Swing dancing hats.

Another vintage grey hat (from a local haberdashery) is worn when I'm feeling jaunty, as the brim is highly flexible and has a lot of character.

My CS AB is worn frequently as a work/dress hat, though it handles a good adventure, too.

My grey AB has been worn to work, weddings, formal occasions... but looking back, it was the hat of choice during the first meeting of someone who would become a dear friend, partner, and likely future companion. It has accompanied us on other grand excursions, as well. It also tends to be one of her favorite fedoras on me. If anything ever happened to that fedora, I wouldn't be the only one heartbroken.

Regardless of which hat, it's amazing to think that hats, in general, have been with me at so many important stations of my life. If they could get together and talk, they would write my almost complete biography containing all the ups, downs, and in betweens of my life.

Well, I've owned many hats over the years. Most of them were ball caps, and are now gone the way of the dodo. As far as fedoras are concerned, I've owned many of those, too. Several of them have seen rain, sleet, snow, etc. They have been on my head during good times, hard times, times where my life was in danger, and times when I was asleep. Unfortunately, all those hats are gone. Sold for one reason or another. I have 5 hats left. The first Akubra Federation 3 I ever bought belongs to my wife now. God knows it's seen its share of times. I have one of John Penman's Rorschach hats that I don't wear too often. An AB that I got married in, and a black Akubra Fed IV which I don sometimes when the mood strikes me outside of wearing it for the costume I bought it for. I also have the blue hat that Art Fawcett made especially for me to go with my Spirit outfit, but it hardly ever gets worn. No real other occasion for a blue hat.

I guess the one that stands out that I still own would be my rabbit AB, that I was wearing when I got married. The other would have been the first "real" Indy hat I ever owned, a PB custom, which was on my head during a time where I was sure I was done for. Amazingly, I survived to keep quiet about the tale, but that hat is long long gone.

Years ago in October of 1984, I went on my first road trip to Vermont. I only had my license for a couple of months, with not alot of driving under my belt. I was very nervous, and brought with me my new stetson temple. Somehow wearing it made me feel a little at ease. Every year after that (at least in the 80's) I would take a trip up there and I had to bring that hat with me. It just seemed right, as if it was an old friend, I just could not leave behind. It's funny how you can connect a place or an event with a hat. I still have the hat and although it does not the compare to the Indy hats out there today, it was my first fedora. The sentimental value is really high on this hat. One day, maybe I will hand it down to my son. Well, maybe...

I have had 6 Indy style hats. Each has their own story. The first one was one of those $40 wool felt ones that you can buy at disney, which is where I got it, and it was a disney birthday trip. It was my 15th birthday and the entire day was just a build up to buying the hat and seeing the show. Another was a cowboy hat given to me at christmas that I altered to become and indy hat. Numbers 3, 4, and 5 were $15 dollar fedoras that I found at burlington. 3 saw me through my first gf, 2 is now under the ownership of my ex fiances (different girl) father mainly because it fit him better, and 5 I wore to KOTCS and is still with me. #6 is my fed IV and has been with me through #### and high water.

But I have one more hat which is more special to me, its not an indy hat but its just as meaningful. Its a grey dobbs fedora that belonged to my great grandfather Barney Venable. He was a Sheriff for a while and became friends with Mr. Andy Griffith, rumor has it that the Andy Griffith show is based on my great grandad, as both him and the character Andy Taylor shared the same nick name of sheriff without a gun. Also thats how Don Knotts character got his characters name. Now this has yet to be confirmed but I like to think its true. My great grandad later became a detective and somewhere around here I have a magazine article that describes him solveing a murder case. Its pretty cool to have one of his hats around.

Michaelson wrote:Me in all my dark suit, vest and gold watch chain finery and there sat the dark grey AB. I just didn't remember wearing that hat then, but there it was in the photos.

You made me remember my brother's wedding last year. I brought my grey hat just to give some use to it, but it became the fact nobody will forget. Almost everybody ended having their picture with the grey fedora. I also had a pocket watch with chain that day, and the hotel I was sleeping at was a 30's one, so I made this picture:

Now I will never forget that grey fedora, wich doesn't see very much daylight as my browns...

Wow ... so many memories... I had this brown fedora I had bought in a vintage clothing store in 1977, took it with me to both my tours in Germany. I went all over Europe in those days and that old fedora went with me. It hung on hat racks in Alfredo's in Rome, Maximes in Paris, and the Texas Steak House in London. It was on my head as I climbed the Kehlstein in Berchtesgaden, and descended into the Holloch Caverns in Switzerland. It covered my noggin as I explored WWII bunkers in Italy and France, and I held it over my heart as I said a prayer for the dead at Anzio, Normandy and Luxembourg.
That old fedora is retired now, too beat up to be worn again, but I just can't part with it.

This is me old hat and I playing golf in Berchtesgaden:


Here's me old hat on the left:

I've got a light brown wool hat that my mother gave me years ago (pre college I think). Apparently, it was a cheapo $20 walmart hat, but it fits me perfectly and was my "close enough" Indy hat throughout college when costuming for Sci-Fi conventions and halloween. This was of course before I found Indygear and learned the truth. Defintely too hot to wear during the warm months, even spring and fall. But I wore it as often as I could during the cooler months for years until I bought my first Akubra from a member here way back in October 2007 when I first ordered my AB's and joined the forum.

Excelsior!
Riothamus

i wore my todds uptownwer to my aunts and uncles 50 th annivesary wedding, they renewed their vows . i was wearing my dress khakis and my toods shirt and my black tie and my hat . everyone said i looked like and old hollywood star. i of course took my hat off in the chapel . we had a great time and at the reception i wore my grey fedora from stetson from 84 and wore a white shirt and black tie and black slacks , we had fun at the wedding.

I got my Akubra Fed III around the time I started to Notice me OCD traits. "Hides away"

I'm still new to the hat scene, having not completed my first real year of wearing them, but my most prized one, the Akubra Federation IV, has been in my ownership since Christmas, six months now, and half a year later it's holding up just fine, despite showing some subtle signs of wear. The felt seems to be slightly more faded than the truly dark brown it was when I first got it, which is a good thing actually, as I prefer more of a slightly tan look to an Indy fedora, but I didn't want to go with the light tan of the Tawny Fawn color, though I may pick one up oneday.

Anyway, this hat has been with me to quite a many places, from the hills that I regularly hike, to the Mojave Desert on a hunting trip, to various restaurants, to the streets of Los Angeles and at the IMAX movie theater, and more. It's definitely acquired a lived-in look by this point, and that may even change in another six months. If possible, I plan on this hat lasting me the entire decade, and wearing it pretty frequently in rotation with other hats I may acquire during this time, such as a silverbelly Campdraft I may get eventually (it's on my next-to-get list)