The Gentleman Mason » fedora

And that is why I use Hats Direct…

Jeff Naylor — Wed, 07 Jul 2010 18:40:54 +0000

Those two hats I ordered in the previous post?

I ordered them on 7/4, and I received them today, 7/7.

From Australia.

As I said, I’ve never heard of anyone getting better service from one of the American Akubra retailers. I can’t recommend either Hats Direct or Everything Australian highly enough for your Akubras.

Starting to think about Fall

Jeff Naylor — Sun, 04 Jul 2010 21:51:48 +0000

Yes, I know, it seems a bit early, but it’s really not. A couple of things on my list, I’m going to have my friends at Bookster make an odd jacket or two for me in a nice Donegal tweed, and maybe a pair or two of their outstanding moleskin trousers while I’m at it. I’m still thinking about what I want there, I’ll say more about that after I’ve decided.

More to the point, I have a rather large gap in my hat collection, namely a dark gray fedora. I have a light gray that I had my friend Art Fawcett make up for me a couple of years ago, and a couple of brown ones, but nothing in a darker, more formal gray.

Akubra Capricorn in Grey

Akubra Stylemaster in Carbon Grey

I like my Akubra Stylemaster in fawn quite a lot, in a size 59 it fits perfectly and I think it’s just about the perfect size and shape for my head, so I’ve ordered a stablemate for it in Akubra’s “Carbon Grey” color. Hopefully it’s not too dark, but we’ll find out in a couple of weeks when I get a box from Hats Direct in Katoomba, Australia. Sounds like a long way to go for a hat, but Hats Direct is one of the outstanding internet retailers, I’ve had really good luck with them, as I also have with Everything Australian. There are a few American retailers, but I’ve never heard of anyone getting an Akubra any faster from them than from the Australian sellers. While I was at it and paying for the shipping from Down Under, I also picked up a grey Akubra Capricorn to go with my tan. They’re inexpensive and bulletproof substitutes for a proper Panama.

Akubra is an inexpensive and outstanding everyday hat, highly recommended, as are either of the retailers I mentioned.

Bringing Back the Hat

Jeff Naylor — Sat, 22 Aug 2009 16:45:44 +0000

I have an admission. I’m a hat wearer. I think hats are great, I always have, it’s such a great, classic look. When I was young I had a distant uncle who’d had a rather severe stroke many years before I ever knew him. He’d lost his ability to speak and wore a brace on one of his legs, but that’s not the thing I remember the most about him. He was the first, and really the only, man I knew who wore a hat. In the winter I never saw him without a hat and a proper overcoat and it made such an impression on me. He controlled what he could and took his dignity where he could get it. Always immaculate, always a gentleman. I wish I’d known you before, Uncle Frank. You made quite an impression on a little kid.

The hat is the ultimum moriens of respectability.

From: The Autocrat of the Breakfast-Table. viii.
Oliver Wendell Holmes

A cap, by the way, is not a hat. It is a cap. A hat has a brim that goes all the way around. The fedora, the Homburg, the Trilby, the top hat, the Panama, the coke or bowler, those are hats.

There are rules about wearing hats. The most basic rule about the hat is that if you’re unsure whether you should remove it or not you probably should. The custom of tipping or removing one’s hat is said to come from the same place as the military salute. In medieval times, knights would lift the visors of their helmets to show their faces as a sign of respect and their empty hands to show that they weren’t holding their weapons and therefore meant no harm. It’s a custom that has persisted since that time.

A gentleman should remove his hat when he is indoors, except in those places that are equivalent to a public street or public location. Such locations include lobbies and corridors of public buildings, post offices, malls and department stores and in the elevators of public buildings EXCEPT when a lady is present. When a lady enters the elevator, the hat must be removed unless your hands are full of packages or the like and removal is impractical, in which case you should nod to acknowledge her. Replace your hat when you exit the elevator and enter the corridor.

When you remove your hat, take care to hold it in such a way that only the outside of the hat is visible. Consider the lining of your hat to be underwear, it should not be seen. (The same is true of braces or suspenders, by the way, they should never be seen.)

A gentleman removes his hat both indoors and outdoors when he is being introduced to a stranger or is saying goodbye to a lady or an elder. It is removed when speaking with a lady, an elder or a member of the clergy. In the United States it is removed during the playing of the National Anthem or when the American Flag is passing. It is removed during funerals and the passing of funeral processions. It may be removed when passing a lady on the street, but tipping (a slight lifting of the brim) is a quite acceptable substitute as a passing gesture.

It is considered to be an insult to tip your hat to another gentleman with whom you are not acquainted, it is akin to calling him a woman and is not done. It is, of course, a sign of disrespect and the mark of a cad to leave your hat on when it would be proper to remove it.

Sometime soon I’ll write on the different types of hats and caps and when they’re proper to be worn.