A Fedora Question and a cool link

[MDFrench]

Hey all,

Was looking at my fedora today idly, and started wondering... was there an inventor of the fedora? Probably not, but...if it was an evolution, when was the shift? How did it develop and why? Does anyone know or have sources they can send me to? It's a question I'd like to research.

Oh, and as far as the death of men's hats is concerned, many people attribute that to JFK.... but this website has serious, compelling evidence to suggest otherwise. By the way, this is a real research link, not some ham-handed attempt at humor on my part. So don't worry, you won't be sent to wallyworld.com or anything.

http://www.snopes.com/history/american/jfkhat.htm

Anyway, take it easy guys and gals.

 

[rick5150]

Snopes is the best website. I visit frequently - especially when a new chain-letter or computer virus makes the rounds. I started going there due to the Urban Legends section.

But Truman's successor, Dwight D. Eisenhower, who frequently went hatless throughout his eight years in office, wore a homburg rather than top hat to his 1953 inauguration,

Hatless? He also frequently went hairless. Maybe it is his fault so many men are going bald,

 

[Feraud]

This is a good subject to research. I assume that the fedora evolved as oppsed to being invented. Men have been wearing headgear for a long time. The cowboy hat style looks to have preceded the fedora. Wide brim high crown, etc. Maybe you can start working backwards from there? I have seen a lot of Victorian photographs of men wearing the homburg and derby style. I do not recall a "fedora" style. I know that during the American Revolution and the Fur Trade period men wore hats that had a wide, downbent brim. I am not sure how this carried into the "civilian" lifestyle. I would love to see a men's headwear time line from the 19th Century to today.

Regarding JFK and the death of the hat. I think a quote from the article sums up the truth towards this rumor.
From Snopes:

an article of faith which has become an accepted "fact" through sheer repetition, rarely questioned by those who cite it.

Good link. Thanks.

 

[K.D. Lightner]

We have posted some thoughts on the demise (and possible comeback) of the fedora on earlier threads and I believe there is no one conclusion as to what happened. Here are some of my theories, which I am certain can be elaborated by others who contribute to this site.

First of all, there was a switch in the early 20th century from the agrarian to the urban by many, many people. Those who were used to using hats would continue to do so, no matter what their setting, but, within a generation, the children of those former farmers were working in factories and offices. Less need perhaps to be sheltered from the elements? No longer a necessity?

After the war, hair styles changed for women and started to change for men. I doubt women could even wear hats with some of the hair styles of the 50's and 60's. And, within a short time, women were hatless. In the 60's. about the time of Kennedy, men also moved from barber shops to stylists. A guy sporting a classy haircut, or long styled hair, was certainly not going to cover it up with a hat.

An association with the criminal element may have stopped most straight-laced younger guys from wearing fedoras. Now, obviously, criminals in the earlier years wore them, but so did the good guys, including the cops, so that balanced it out -- and there were differences in who wore what. By the 70's, you had "Superfly" fedoras and, from there, police profiling of men who wore them (or men who wore beards for that matter), unless they were older guys wearing a Sinatra-type fedora.

Coming out of the Victoria era, there was a whole shift in styles of clothing. People looked overdressed and were overdressed. Can you imagine what those styles were like in hot weather? After the 20's, people were not so overdressed and there has been a shift to casual ever since. That includes clothes, shoes, hats, outerwear, etc. People used to dress up to go to town, or to attend a movie. Can you imagine mall dwellers today dressing up to go there? Wouldn't happen.

The automobile, also, took us out of harm's way in the elements. And, once the shift from hat wearing, car manufacturers started making cars that had a lower ceiling, making it difficult for anyone to wear a hat.

All that has to happen is for one generation to stop doing something and it is off the map, sometimes for good. My father wore a fedora until the early 60's; his son never did wear a hat, except ball caps when he golfs. His daughter has been wearing fedoras and cowboy hats since the early 80's, and is considered eccentric. But, hell, I do it anyway... I love my hats.

I am probably leaving out some reasons; this is possibly a partial list as to why things changed. Later, I will elaborate why things may change again, given the fickleness of the human animal and the instability of the ecosystem.

karol

 

[Sam Spade]

FYI - JFK

He never wore hats because he was incredibly vain about his hair. That's also why he would not try on the hat given to him by Peters Bros. on the morning of his assassination. Regards.

 

[Fedora]

He never wore hats because he was incredibly vain about his hair. That's also why he would not try on the hat given to him by Peters Bros. on the morning of his assassination. Regards.

A big mistake. PB's Bulletproof fedora could not have hurt. No joke intended here. Fedora

 

[MDFrench]

Yeah - that is a shame. And now, not only has the fedora all but disappeared, but vanity is running rampant.

And honestly, I don't understand how someone can be vain when their pants are hanging off their rear and bunching on the ground while they wear a visor cap backwards and upside down.

Do they have a mirror at all?!

 

[The Wolf]

My personal theory about fedoras is that they evolved. Cowboys creased, bashed and reshaped their hats various ways.
A homberg looks like an evolution of a derby. Perhaps by continual grabbing (i.e. pinching) of the front of the hat evolved into the fedora. I believe the "Scopes Fedora Trial" went into more detail than I can go here.

 

[Doctor Strange]

This page (and others at the site) offers some interesting observations:

http://www.hathistory.org/dress/felt.html

 

[jamespowers]

Very informative link.
The thing they left out was the shortage of shellac during both World Wars that allowed the soft felt hat more acceptance as time went on. You could not make a bowler or Homberg stiff without stiffner or shellac. So their availability was limited if available at all.
Later, when faced with a choice between a stiff bowler or Homberg after having worn the more comfortable soft felt fedora, it is obvious why the fedora (or Trilby in England) made great strides after WWI and great gains thereafter.
I would trace the fedora or Trilby back to the countryside and outside of the cities. Country folk always wore fur felt hats that were simply made without regard to a bound edge or ribbons around the crown. They were not stiff because stiffner cost money and making a stiff hat required more expertise than a simple farmer had anyway. They were work hats with wide brims (wider than our current fedoras) to protect the wearer from the beating sun. The country folk's hats became popular in finished form when choice was limited and comfort won the city dwellers over.
The easiest way I can show an example is to remind you of the old Grizzly Adams TV show. The hat worn by "Mountain Men," who made thier lives trapping animals for their pelts, is a fur felt predecessor of the fedora.

Regards to all,

J