My New Keppler Bogie

[Brad Bowers]

Well, today was an exciting day for me; I got the thrill of receiving a big box from the postman. My new Keppler Bogie had arrived! I don't normally wear a hat indoors, but I've been wearing this one all evening.

This is a beautiful hat. The darker gray is the perfect shade I was looking for, and the underwelt is finely done. It has a 1-7/8" ribbon with the flying double bow. The best part is Lee's hand bash, which is superb. I've been comparing it to the "Maltese Falcon" tonight, and it looks spot on. I'm still too nervous to try Lee's hat softening technique, though.

My digital camera takes lousy shots indoors, they always come out too dark, so I'll take the hat outside in the daylight tomorrow to photograph it, and post those.

All in all, I couldn't be happier with my hat. If anyone is thinking about getting one, I highly recommend it, it's a great hat. I'd like to get one of these in black, with a bound edge, but his latest Indy is probably next on my list.

Until tomorrow,

Brad Bowers

[MK]

I look forward to your photos.

[Brad Bowers]

Here's a link to the album. I hope that will do.

My New Keppler Bogie

It's overcast today, but I shot some photos.

I'm still pleased as punch with the hat. I really like the underwelt. Lee hadn't seen one of their hats with it yet, so we took a chance. It turned out nice.

This darker grey only comes in the 5X, but the lighter grey is 6X, an even nicer felt. I've had a light grey in the past, and always wished for one darker. This one is perfect for me.

Brad Bowers

[Nathan Flowers]

That's a nice looking hat. How does it look on you?

[Bogie1943]

Now that is a great looking lid Brad, I love it. I have to say by far the Bogie style of fedora is my favorite. I don't know if most people know but most of the fedoras you saw on Bogie were his personal hats. So the style is truely his and not just something the studio cooked up and thought looked good on him.

[Andykev]

Bogie also wore his own suits in many films. You can see that in the many books written.

Remember, many of his films..he played detectives, cops, gangsters...all wore contemporary clothing for the time.

Bogie just looked so great, esp. in Maltese Falcon and the Big Sleep.

[Brad Bowers]

Thanks for the Fotki info, Zohar. I don't know why the MSN URL has trouble here. It works fine to link photos on COW, but something here keeps putting breaks in the html code of the photos' URL, so they don't show up. Strange.

Anyway, I love the look of the hat on me. I'll get some photos up soon. I've been wanting to show off my new suit, but was waiting for the new hat first.

I didn't know that about Bogie. Jimmy Stewart always insisted on wearing the same hat in his Westerns, and John Wayne had the same basic hat in all of his later films. Brand recognition, I guess, but their hats became an integral part of their characters. Tom Selleck seems to do the same in his Westerns, too. Pick a style that looks good on you, and stick with it. However, I don't think Harrison Ford could get away with wearing a fedora in every movie, so it only works nowadays in period pieces.

Brad Bowers

[Matt Deckard]

Well well well.

My hat is off to Lee. That hat looks great. I would change nothing about it. Good job.

Congrats on your new hat.

[fedoraguy]

Wow, that is one good looking hat. What is the cost for a lid like that?

[Brad Bowers]

It's about the same price as Lee's Indy fedora, though I ended up paying about $150 before shipping because the underwelt costs extra. Well worth it, though.

Thanks for the compliments, folks.

Brad Bowers