I'm genuinely creeped out by this video recommendation. Yesterday I was trying to remember which US President was the last to wear a hat in these fashions. The very next day I get a video.
I wear a buzz cat, as a result I wear hats most of the time. In the summer - to avoid a sun burn, and in the winter - to avoid getting a cold. I wear jeans and a simple T-Shirt, so the natural option for me is a baseball cap.
I love your content, the way you deliver it, and your classic, elegant look. I wish more women saw the beauty of classic style, whether it’s their hair, simple red lipstick with soft, pale skin, or a lovely hat to complete their look!
I found this "suggestion clip" besides the one I was watching about Languages curious, and then I couldnt stop getting distracted of what you were saying however your very lovely voice, because I realized how beautiful your distinctive face and expressiveness is, and you even have natural waves in your hair!!!...so against everybody else with ironed dead flat hairs like if coming off a clones fabric somewhere. What a RELIEF you truly are. THANK YOU And Im afraid to say *I love you* too already. You must be married obviously, and Im just a new fan.
I own 2 hats that I love to wear: a raspberry beret in the winter (from a second hand store of course) and a white fedora with a baby blue ribbon in the summer. the fedora gets the most stares and judgements. I don't care. I love my hats.
Ooh man I had so many "hats" for my wedding lol. I had multiple flower crowns I switched out, a veil, a faux pearl hair chain, and in the morning for tea ceremony I had a red hat with my ao dai. I don't usually enjoy wearing hats but the photos turned out great.
I remember a TV biography of JFK from decades back. One scene goes something like this: He returns from the Pacific and is entering his first political campaign. He is going to march in a parade to smile, wave, and shake a few hands. His 'handler' runs up to him as the parade is about to start saying, "You forgot a hat," holding one out. JFK refuses it. The handler insists citing that hats are expected (maturity, norm, decorum). JFK takes the hat and says, "I spent 3 years in the Pacific wearing a helmet every minute of every day. I will carry this hat, but I refuse to ever again put anything on my head." Creative license, maybe. But try and find a photo of Kennedy wearing a hat.
The rule that women always wore a hat to church survived for many years, Also I saw a little scene recently--An elderly gent wearing a hat met a lady in the street and took off his hat to talk to her, that was the rule in days gone by..
At least for men, the car was very influential in making hats less useful and even bothersome. Until the 1950s, car had high cealings, but with the new models of the late 1950s and more in the 1960s, a hat became a problem. You had to remove your hat to get in your car and put it back on when you get out, to remove it again once you are indoors. My grandfather wore hats until the 1960s, but I never asked him what made him stop wearing them.
I’d never thought about this. I guess I thought it was just colder in the past. How ridiculous. Cool vid. I once bought every kind of hat I could find from an online store with the full intention of returning them all. I kept a few but only keep the ones for winter.
I never thought about the fact we don't wear hats any more. I wear hats occasionally as do quite a few people - i have some cute funny ones, a really awesome stripy warm one, one for weddings, one for the summer, but it really is situational and I don't wear them the vast majority of the time as they can be impractical. When next I go outside, I'm gonna see how many people wear hats XD
In the north of England clothes are going out of fashion. The Super-Market fashion statement is now pyjamas, dressing gown and slippers. What is so difficult about having a wash and slipping on a clean track suit and trainers?
I dunno about you guys but I've been wearing hats every day even indoors since 2007. It was only during the COVID-19 pandemic that I haven't worn hats because I wasn't out much of the time.
I soooo wish fashion was still targetted at adults. Nowadays it's considered a thing of the youth to care about their looks and adults just don't give a crap, but it just pollutes the visual public space. People spreading positivity with telling people in sweatpants and leggins "wear what you want, don't let society dictate you anything" ... Yeah, sure... But maybe it should be a matter of common sense and your own dignity to look representatively? And it also kind of doesn't work both ways - I've heard of Europeans studying in the US and being mocked for dressing up when going to school or to the city (and in this context dressing up meant simply jeans and a nicer blouse... and maybe some lipstick). I miss people looking like gentlemen and ladies. I try to wear nice things and I even wear hats. And I try to combine the old elegance with the modern simplicity. But I guess that's just my opinion and taste. Can't force anyone.
Hats made a comeback in in the 80's because it was the decade of excess, and hats for women were regarded as decadent. At the end of the day, the trend against hats, gloves and even purses is tied to anti-capitalist and anti-consumerism.stances: people, specifically women, don't want to have to buy more and more shit.
Cars, and specifically car headrests. We stopped wearing hats when the government mandated car headrests. Before headrests, we still wore hates in cars. Cowboy hats were commonly worn in pickup trucks. But with the advent of headrests, you cannot wear a full brimmed hat in a car. That is why the only common hat these days is the baseball cap. You can wear a baseball cap in a car because the brim is only in the front.
I wish we were a hat society like then, in fact I just started to wear a hat, a distressed leather cowboy styled hat heavily creased and I'm hooked. I figured I lived the first half of my life hatless, I'm going to augment my receding hairline and eventual balding with hats. My next hat acquisition is going to be a Panama hat, or Monte Cristo hat, the hat of a man of leisure. As of now in the cold I wish I had a bomber hat, they have some really cool ones, I should just order it.
I work in the creative/commercial industry and beanie hats at totally acceptable and worn often at jobs among the designers and artists. I've knit a few recently to add colors to my options. Just one exception to hats being worn today.
Maybe you should check out the military forces around the world, in most nation's militarys, both men and women wear hats and they wear them all the time(usually EXCEPT indoors), and I don't mean helmets, that's something else again.
My oldest sister is the only one I know that can carry off a hat without looking pretentious or silly. You have to wear the hat, not let the hat wear you.
Early 20th century the highest coase of death were lungdiseases as pneumonia. A hat could prevent sinusitis, which could lead to bronchitis and pneumonia. After WW2 antibiotics were available to cure those sort of infections. So hats were no longer a necessity and became primairy a fashion statement.
Well, to wear a hat as a woman you have to have long hair for the most part to pin the HAT to. Women do not have long hair anymore for the most part to pin said hat to, making it more difficult even if one wanted to do so.
My first boss used to wear a hat every day, and she always looked incredibly stylish even when her outfit was very basic. It definitely made an impression on me. I love adding a hat to my outfit, particularly when it hides the wrinkles on my forehead. 😁
I never had an easier time getting a date as when I worked 5th Ave and wore a suit, coat and hat to work. People will open doors for you, act more respectful and genuinely more open. I was in my early 20s so I don't think it's an age thing. I think most people underestimate the power of dressing well without became absorbed in vanity.
You overlooked the most obvious reason: Haircare developed to the point that a woman's hair was presentable and no longer needed to be covered with a hat. Dandruff is manageable and haircare products abound. It's now just as easy to be presentable without a hat as it is with a hat.
People in modern times wash their hair more frequently and have easy access to good hairstylists. I think this plays a role in not needing to wear hats as much. I know a lot of guys who wear ballcaps all the time. Some of them seem to do this so they don't have to worry about clean or well groomed hair. Just shove a ballcap on your head and you're good to go!
Theres a lost knowledge to vintage pieces..hats were also a mark of status and class...a working man wouldnt have worn a top hat or a Stetson ...Also the ladies hat pin had a double function either to keep their hat from flying off OR as a means of protection when her husband or brother wasnt there to keep mashers and riff raff away. It was an early form of mace in the handbag.
I don't know if this means anything to anyone, but when I started wearing a fedora, random strangers always came up to talk to me. Not the crazy ones....the normal ones :) Try it!
Shampoo. The first shampoo was invented and hit store shelves in the late 1920's. Before this hair washing practices were harsh and not done multiple times a week. This is why the excuse "I have to wash my hair" really meant "i'm not available this ENTIRE evening". You couldn't just go buy shampoo. All sorts of methods were used to clean hair, from lye soap to filtering water through ashes to get lye water, egg whites were used, vinegar was use, plant powders that would not wash all the way out till your hair was dry. Almost all of it was damaging to the hair and could leave a frazzled looking mess. Now the first shampoo wasnt that great either but it improved and became more commonly used in the following decade modern hair washing became more frequent. As a result there was less need to cover up hair for being greasy.
1. I always match my hat to my coat: overcoats get the Homburg or Derby, leather jacket gets a flat cap or baseball cap, warm weather means the Boater. I would also never wear a formal hat with gym shoes. 2. I've told my daughters numerous times that they all look better in my hats than I do. 3. People trying to bring back fedoras, should notice that men in movies of the 40's were wearing suit coats all the time. A Fedora without a jacket is just affectation.
Rich people wore hats that showed off their position, but hat wearing was normative in society among the common people because so much of life was lived outdoors, where hats provided were necessary shelter. So the rich who didn't need that merely wore different hats. Now, the vast majority of the population works indoors with central heating during winter. Hats are not needed except when outdoors temporarily under the most extreme weather conditions.
The wedding thing is interesting. Now in modern day times If I see a woman with a hat on a posh hat that is, I think wedding or funeral. They have become a special occasion accessory. But not just a birthday or party special occasion a formal event like meeting the Queen.
This seems like a silly question but if you look at old films everyone wore a hat most of the time. It was a thing. So why did it just disappear. It was like everyone had the same idea at the same time, hey lets stop wearing hats. Freaky stuff.
For men, it is said that it was JFK who ended the era of men's hat and fedoras. JFK refused to wear a hat and was rarely if ever photographed in a hat. He briefly wore a top hat at his inauguration in 1961, mainly to salute his Father who was present. In fact on the morning of his assassination he was presented with a Texas 'Stetson' and repeatedly refusing to put in on his head, making light of it and joking instead. Sadly, over the years, what has taken the place of the Fedora is the ubiquitous baseball cap.
I'm a male (46) and I usually wear a black Stetson (Fedora) or a deep blue Borsalino (also Fedora). When it is hot outside a usually wear a straw hat. I started wearing hats over 15 years ago. I don't know why exactly but wearing a hat appealed to me. I have been approached by a lot of women over the years who have always said, that they like my hat and that it looks nice to see a well dressed man. :)
I always thought that modern hair dryers made it so we could have fresh clean hair daily, not needing a hat to cover non-fresh hair. I was hoping hats would come back in style with salons being closed.
One factor which contributed to the demise of the hat at least for the ladies is the fact that it is not seen necessary for women to wear a head covering when they would go to church. By the way, if you ever want to see hat wearing by women in all its glory, just go to an African American Church. There you will see some people decked out in their Sunday best which for some will include a hat.
You didn't mention the beehive hairstyle for women in the 1960's and Vatican ll which said women did not have to cover their heads in church any more. i wear dresses, hats and gloves whenever I go out. I've never gotten bullied, some women get jealous (haters gonna hate), but get many compliments. Children just stare.. Poor things. They've never seen an elegant lady before.
It also might depend on how folks were taught in school. At my school in the southeastern US in the 80s and 90s, a hat was just something you were forced to keep up with in a book bag because you couldn't wear them inside. After years of that, chances are you'll not wear a hat.
I think fashion radically changed towards the late 60,s and hasn't changed much ever since, women and men still wear casual clothes like jeans and t-shirts in every day life.
You did not mention one big reason that men stopped wearing hats in the 1960’s. Aerodynamically styled automobiles. The lower roof line took the hat right off your head as you entered. And, the car is warm in the winter. Great story. Thank you.
I'm relieved no one wears hats. I hate hats. On anyone, not just myself. One minute you think someone has a weird shaped head, the next minute it's just because you realize part of that head is the hat.
I don't get it... I do like hats, and invariably get a handful of compliments when I wear one. ( I never get compliments on anything else, ever) I feel good wearing hats, I'm not worrying about my hair. It's not hard to match a casual hat with a casual outfit, and that's all I wear. People like hats, yet hardly anyone wears them. It's a mystery.
Fashion is a sas affair in our era. No one can dress. The OP looks well sorted out though. I own more than a dozen hats, could use quite a few more. Remember, one can never be overdressed, its everyone else who is underdressed.
"Imagine a 16 years old high-schooler showing to his class in a fedora" Honestly at my school (maybe more precisely my class) we just do that kind of thing and everybody loves it
People still wear hats, they just tend to be more utilitarian and functional than before. Beanies, baseball hats, visors, garden hats, all are still just as popular as ever, because instead of being ostentatious and overly formal fashion accessories each serves a direct purpose. Blocking sunlight, keeping people warm, etc. This is indicative of modern fashion trends, which tend to lean very much on the functional working class aesthetic over the more bougie fashion. - Look at the most common form of modern pants, Jeans, which were literally invented as a uniform for Miners that could be easily reused without needing to be washed due to it's sweat-resistant properties. T-Shirts were invented by 19th century factory workers who would cut off the sleeves of their shirt to keep cool, and then were mass-manufactured as an undershirt by the US Navy. We all literally dress like we're ready to jump into a mine or a factory floor. Our clothes are designed with working class functionality in mind. So why did this change? - Yeah, we can say it didn't fit with "youthful" clothes, but I don't think that's a real reason, you could always manufacture different types of hats to go with any outfit. I think the real reason goes a little deeper. Over the last three centuries there has been a profound reorientation of society. Where we had, for millennia, lived under a monarchy and aristocracy, now we live under a democracy. The things we value are shaped by the society we live in. When royalty is considered the most desirable thing to imitate, people will want to dress like the royals do, all their fancy impractical clothes designed for someone with unlimited money and dedicated staff positions to dress them, clothes for people who will never have to work a day in their life. - Some lower class people will buy these clothes to make themselves look above their station and thus to try and give the best impression and open opportunities to themselves. There's a clear class hierarchy, with the nobility on the top and the peasants on the bottom, and the fashion trends reflect that hierarchical world view. But in a democracy there is no hierarchy. At least not formally. We are, ostensibly, all equals. There is no Royalty, Nobility, or Peasant class, there are only citizens. - Yes, some people are much richer than others even still, but you have no requirement to treat them differently. Bill Gates may have as much money as a King, but you don't have to call him lord or bow when he enters the building, you can stand tall look him in the eye shake his hand and call him Bill. This sense of no man being fundamentally greater than another, of all men being created equal, informs how people view the world around them, and how they choose to portray themselves. Suddenly the nobility aren't the most desirable thing to be, they're Marie Antoinette starving her people and heads rolling in the streets. But all of that was hundreds of years ago, why did the fashion trends take so long to catch up? Well... I'm kind of ignoring something obvious, aren't I? I said there is no hierarchy, but that's not really true. There was no stiffly enforced class hierarchy, but there was a different form of hierarchy that was very strictly enforced, a racial hierarchy. Fancy clothes function to set you above those around you, visually. They were used by the nobility to set them apart from the peasants, and they were used by white slave owners to set them apart from their African slaves. THIS Hierarchy would continue to be enforced, through slavery and jim crow and disenfranchisement up until... well, up until the modern day really, but it had significant drop offs in popularity after the civil war, and more importantly after the Civil Rights movement. This was the true death knell of the hat, and most fancy clothes in general. Clothing makes a statement, fancy clothing says that you think you're better than those around you, above them, where functional simple working class clothing says that you view yourself as an equal. - A manager who wears a tux to work will feel more aloof than one that just wears a simple dress shirt and pants.- And in a culture where Hierarchy in general has fallen out of fashion in favor of more egalitarian flat power structures fancy clothes have simply become passé. Resource shortages during WWII certainly may have contributed, but I don't think they were the actual cause. Rather the stresses of the war meant society had to reshape itself towards equality to survive. - You can't afford to prevent women from working when all of the men have been sent off to war and they're the only thing holding the domestic economy together. You could not afford to ban black servicemen from defending their country, you needed everyone. - The history of the civil rights movement and the history and aftereffects of WWII are fundamentally connected. Prior to World War II there were approximately 4000 black men in the US armed forces, afterwars there were approximately 1.2 million. Philip Randolph threatened to march on Washington in protest of the discrimination in the armed forces and as a result Roosevelt issued Executive Order 8802 which prohibited, “discrimination in the employment of workers in defense industries and in Government because of race, creed, color, or national origin.”. (continued)
This meant that an unprecedented number of black men were fighting right alongside white men as equals. - While in the beginning of the war they were limited to low-ranked positions, the high casualty rate meant that many were rapidly promoted simply because all of the white men occupying those positions were dead. But then, after the war, or when they were simply off-duty, they would be treated with the same kind of racist bullshit that they always had been. The transition between being a respected and obeyed officer of the US military putting his life on the line for his country to a second class citizen in said country had never been more apparent. Meanwhile at home domestic jobs became more accessible to african americans for the same reason they did women, with all of the white men ran off to fight and die in war, somebody had to pick up the slack. This meant more black workers working side by side with white workers at home just the same as in the military. This experience of fighting and dying for a country that did not care whether they lived or died spurred the civil rights movement. James G. Thompson wrote a letter to the Pittsburgh Courier titled, “Should I Sacrifice to Live Half American?” that really got to the heart of the issue and I'd like to quote it here: " "Dear Editor: 1. Like all true Americans, my greatest desire at this time, this crucial point of our history, is a desire for a complete victory over the forces of evil, which threaten our existence today. Behind that desire is also a desire to serve, this, my country, in the most advantageous way. 2. Most of our leaders are suggesting that we sacrifice every other ambition to the paramount one, victory. With this I agree; but I also wonder if another victory could not be achieved at the same time. After all the things that beset the world now are basically the same things which upset the equilibrium of nations internally, states, counties, cities, homes, and even the individual. 3. Being an American of dark complexion and some 26 years, these questions flash through my mind: ‘Should I sacrifice my life to live half American?’ ‘Will things be better for the next generation in the peace to follow?’ ‘Would it be de-manding too much to demand full citizenship rights in ex-change for the sacrificing of my life? Is the kind of America I know worth defending? Will America be a true and pure democracy after this war? Will Colored Americans suffer still the indignities that have been heaped upon them in the past? These and other questions need answering; I want to know, and I believe every colored American, who is thinking, wants to know. 4. This may be the wrong time to broach such subjects, but haven’t all good things obtained by men been secured through sacrifice during just such times of strife. 5. I suggest that while we keep defense and victory in the forefront that we don’t lose sight of our fight for democracy at home. 6. The V for victory sign is being displayed prominently in all so-called democratic countries which are fighting for victory over aggression, slavery and tyranny. If this V sign means that to those now engaged in this great conflict then let we colored Americans adopt the double VV for a double victory. The first V for victory over our enemies from without, the second V for victory over our enemies from within. For surely those who perpetrate these ugly prejudices here are seeking to destroy our democratic form of government just as surely as the Axis forces. 7. This should not and would not lessen our efforts to bring this conflict to a successful conclusion: but should and would make us stronger to resist these evil forces which threaten us. America could become united as never before and become truly the home of democracy. 8. In way of an answer to the foregoing questions in a preceding paragraph I might say that there is no doubt that this country is worth defending; things will be different for the next generation; colored Americans will come into their own, and America will eventually become the true democracy it was designed to be. These things will become a reality in time; but not through any relaxation of the efforts to secure them. 9. In conclusion let me say that though these questions often permeate my mind, I love America and am willing to die for the America I know will someday become a reality. -James G. Thompson" The ideas expressed by Mr. Thompson were at the forefront of many Americans minds at the time, as more white Americans worked side by side as equals with black Americans than ever before. And as the US Government pumped out propaganda against the Nazi Regime. - That letter was written in 1942, one year after the beginning of the Holocaust. America was fighting a war ostensibly against racism and fascism, and the contradictions inherent in it's own system of racist oppression had never been more clear. So when the war ended, the civil rights movement came home to roost, and this time stuck for good. The ideals of equality made manifest by the harsh reality of a world war and the necessity for cooperation of everybody with a working pair of hands meant that the ideals of equality and freedom, long espoused and long denied, finally became a reality. The true democracy Thompson spoke of was not achieved as a result of this double V campaign, but it would lay the groundwork for the later Civil Rights act to be successful 22 years later. This moment, in 1963, as a culmination of our changing culture, was the death of the hat. To wear fashion that sends the message of superiority, supremacy, and hierarchy would be to set yourself apart as an enemy of equality. And, finally, after three centuries, the vision of equality had won. I do not miss my hat, I do not miss my fancy dresses or my plantation. I do not miss the castles and the crowns. For while they might be things of beauty they are merely a hollow mask worn to hide the ugliness underneath. The shiny remnants of a system built on sorrow and powered by the work of the people it exploited. Our clothes may be plain or simple, but they are beautiful, because all of us can wear them. Those pretty dresses were only for the powerful, while the weak wore rags. When hats are looked down upon, like with the Fedora, it's because the people wearing it think they are better than other people, it marks them as a member of a hierarchy. - In the Fedora's case, it's associated with neckbeard misogynists who do not respect women as equals. A tophat might be associated with rich monopolistic industrialists. Many of the fancy old hats for women ended up being associated with the antebellum south, and the racists that treated their fellow citizens like they weren't even human, etc. And, whether intentional or not, when people wear them that's the message their outfit sends, that they are willing to associate themselves with such groups, that it does not bother them. However, not all hats have such connotations. As I noted as the start of this comment, there are plenty of hats associated with equal working class people. Hats anybody can buy and wear, hats that don't indicate any sense of superiority but rather a simple preference or function. Cowboy hats, baseball hats, trapper hats, straw hats, party hats, mortar boards, hard hats, helmets, floppy hats, etc, these are all still hats, still fashion accessories, what has changed is the message they send. They aren't trying to look better than other people, they aren't trying to be something that only the upper class can afford, these are all hats accessible to everyone, and therefore hats that do not reference class or enforce a hierarchy. The poorest citizen could wear a beanie just as easily as the wealthiest CEO. And personally I don't see that as anything but beautiful.
we don't wear hats because we are no longer outside much, I am inside house, then inside car, then inside work. then inside car then inside house. not much need to cover head
The car. The car made hats obsolete. The only hats that survive today are those that are compatible with the operation of a motor vehicle. But she deserves great credit for attempting the subject of fashion and lifestyles.
A milliner who was a friend of my parents blamed Princess Margaret appearing in public in a headscarf (1950s/1960s). He reckoned his business suffered badly.
I would love to see more elegant outfits. But I have to admit I’m to weak to give a shit about today’s society fashion trends. RIP hats. Thanks for this lovely video. Such a good background to understand the context and logically accept the change in fashion.
That was interesting. Surprised you didn't mention baseball caps though, which are still commonly worn by young people as fashion accessories (at least in part).
