Feathered fed?

On occasion I wear a green quaker parrot feather in my Federation. This thread reminded me that I haven't done so for a while so I might wear one this evening.

Feather free forever!

I like the feather, but it depends on the hat and depends on the feather. It should be tasteful and fit the hat.

I like the feather combinations that Bowlerman, Chepstow, and Rick Blaine (the blue hat) are showing, and find myself agreeing with brothelcreeper - they do seem to go better with the shorter-brimmed fedoras. I wonder if that is because we are conditioned in that way, the feather became a standard part of hats during the later years when the brims were shrinking. However, putting a feather on a western thin ribbon or on a bold 1940s style wide-brim fedora just does not seem the same, detracts from the 'bold' or strong look of those classic fedoras. Or, maybe we are just conditioned that way also, as the feathers were not popular (definitely not as popular) during the period when the 2 1/2 inch+ brims were standard.

Does anyone else see the ribbon as 'softening' the overall look of the hat? I see the stingy brims as an anti-hat hat, a comical caricature of the wide-brim fedoras with their 1 1/2+ inch wide double bow ribbons, and as a caricature, the feather seems to fit right in.