Recent content by donnc

Like I said, I pinched mine just to make mine fit better. It seems trickier to me, though, as a typically stiffer hat, as the process of messing around with it will tend to make it less stiff in spots? Not to mention the challenges involved in modifying a pencil curl. Of course, mine wasn't...

Just another ill-informed surmise here, but I believe this style has been preferred by black men, who we can thank for the continued existence of the Homburg in the US. Hence the surprising range of light colors, for men who dress up for a broader range of social occasions than most in the US.

Also, if Meyer's in New Orleans is geographically convenient, they advertise a Biltmore, which I think is where the Miller hats usually come from.

Well, I can't complain about my Beaver, but I got it pretty cheap from someone who couldn't wear it due to change of hat size (!) It's just as well, as I had to mess around with it a little to get a comfortable fit. It's my size, but they're stiff hats and of course it doesn't conform exactly...

I prefer my wool beret, to a hypothetical beret made of anything else. As to my wool crusher fedora, if I ever get it back, as it was spirited away to a remote Canadian island village shortly after I got it, I'll let you know. It is, or was, Golden Gate's "Softee" material. I suspect that fur...

Well, I have little knowledge of this myself, but maybe if we make enough questionable assertions here, someone will be annoyed enough to offer some specifics. My impression has been that the hats you see in Westerns do indeed have more curl, than the European homburg, but by this I mean the...

It looks great to me. If you decide it suits you, I hope you'll follow up with your observations and maybe a photo or two.

Oppenheimer agrees:

I have a couple hats here at hand, and am trying to guess what kind of swoopy we're talking about? When I wear a hat that's a little rounder than my head, which is usually the case, it seems to exaggerate the `snap'. The worst case is actually the perfectly unswoopy brim - no snap, no...

I'd be even uglier without one, so I feel somewhat compelled to wear it, for the sake of others.

Just from the picture, and "crushable", if you hadn't said it was fur felt, I would have guessed wool. At any rate, it's a casual style, and if it suits you, for $20 it's a deal. For more of a "dress" style, that's where it gets difficult. It might be a good idea to look for something with...

I'll be thinking of you when I put mine on Sunday. I believe I'll be playing tuba - I've tried my hand at the damned squeeze box, but it doesn't seem to be in me at this point. If our squeeze box player wears a hat, it will likely be a baseball cap.

I'm not a big watcher of movies, but I think the bowler shows up in enough Westerns to have a little of that connotation, in the US. On town folk, as alluded to by rlk. But I think a more vivid image is `carnie' - maybe a very nice light colored suit with tails, or not all that nice with just...

For what it's worth, I found your perspective on this point very interesting and informative.

Don't forget, "Mad Men Hat".