Recent content by stevechasmar

My ebay hat victories have been few. It seems I really need to try on a hat to see not only if it fits, but if it looks good on me. Of the six hats I've bought so far, I am really happy with only two.

I have to agree on the coolness of smoking jackets. I especially like the Chinese-made ones from the 1920s and 30s. On ebay I bought a silk smoking jacket made in 1920s Shanghai. The name and address of the tailor are on the label. Shanghai and Hong Kong had the superior tailors back then. I...

KILO NOVEMBER: Thank you for the reply. Maybe it's just a matter of hair re-growing -- which I am happy to say is finally happening. Best, Steven

Vintage Montecristi Panama Hat by Knox I bought this Panama hat a couple months ago to replace one that was stolen during my move last year (and yes, I could strangle the movers). It's a vintage Montecristi made for the Knox 35 line of hats, and I'm guessing it was made in about 1950 -- please...

Glasses with Mixed-Metal Frames I've been looking for a vintage frames like these for ages, and now finally found a pair, courtesy of one of my favorite ebay sellers. I spent way too much on them, but knew I would kick myself if I missed out. I will get these fitted with bifocals -- the old...

Art Nouveau Opium Poppy Cuff Links These were an ebay find last year. The cuff links are American made and date to around 1900. I have no idea what the gold content is, but the metal is rather soft. I will wear them with the linen suit I had made in Bangkok a couple years back...

I visted Cairo and saw the ruins upcountry via a Nile cruise in 2002, and a straw was certainly the thing to have. Even though the heat is very dry (think Las Vegas or Palm Springs) and the sweat tends to evaporate rather quickly, I think things would heat up in a hurry under a felt lid. If...

Hi Jack, That's actually a very good idea. The art of dressing stylishly but with comfort in the tropics has been completely lost -- at least here in Southeast Asia. That rigid dress code to which Westerners held themselves while in their Asian colonies was, I suspect, what kept such fashion...

RBH and J.T.Marcus, thank you for your comments! The Thai are indeed very, very easy people to get along with, especially if you pick up a bit of their language. I've been living in Thailand just over eighteen years now and it's hard to imagine living anywhere else.

Outlaw Chic Cookie, thank you for the kind words. I have posted here a close-up of the snapshot of the Frenchman in Indochina that appears on the cover of my book. As one Amazon reviewer remarked, "Getting addicted back then was no doubt as painful and ruinous as it is today, but they sure...

Favorite Hat This is one of four hats that I own, all straws -- it is just too hot here for felts -- and my favorite. The hat was an eBay purchase earlier this year and is my only panama. The brand is Adam, and except for the size (7 3/8), there is no other information printed on the hat. If...

Thank you, RBH. I'll do just that!

Origins of Campaign Hat Here is a photo that I found in an old album that belonged to an American officer based in the Philippines in the early 20th century. I'm guessing that this hat is the "Montana peak style" that John in Covina mentions in his post. The photo was taken around 1910 at...

Air Cav Uniform and Hat The guy on the left looks so much like Robert Duvall's character in Apocalypse Now that it's hard to believe the character wasn't somehow based on him. I found this slide in the photograph archive of Bangkok's Mahidol University School of Tropical Medicine while looking...

1950s Orientalia This pair dates to the early 1950s...