Feathers? Why are they there...

[Firefyter-Emt]

Is there a meaning behind the feathers added in the band of some caps? Does this come from the old adage "A feather in your cap" for good luck maybe?
What is the feeling towards removing feathers from hats, is this a very improper thing to do? My curious mind wants to know!

 

[DerMann]

Modern hat companies do so because it adds a bit more flare to their hats and the hoi polloi seem to like them.

Most people on these boards remove them. Same with the pins.

You're more than welcome to leave it there, nothing wrong with it, if you can pull it off. The hat will look less ostentatious without it, though.

Nice avatar, by the way, the "51" is a marvelous pen.

 

[Marc Chevalier]

Yankee Doodle stuck a feather in his hat, and called it ... well, you know.

.

 

[bobalooba]

Up to you

It depends on preference, I own two fedoras and took the feathers out because I thought they looked silly. However I have a homburg with a feather I left in (until the rain ruined it). In this case I left it in because it was small and not too attention drawing, I also don't like how large the hats band is because it matches the hat almost exactly so I left the feather in it to make that look better.

 

[Firefyter-Emt]

Great, I am glad that pulling out the feathers will not be the "great sin" of hats. I am really not that fond of how they look myself!

PS.. DerMan, you are right. I love the 51's and have three of them myself. One is a really sweet 1946 cedar blue vac with a gold filled cap. The other two are gray and cordovan areo fillers. I also have three vacumatics, a Sheaffer snorkel and touchdown filler, a full color set of Esterbrook J's (Transitional body) as well as the famous "Ma Bell Esterbrook" and a clear taper desk pen. One of my best writers is my very sweet Mont-Blanc 244 with a broad italic nib, and a few other pens that do not receive major billing in this post. I am a serious fountain pen snob, I will not even sign a receipt at a gas station with their pen. lol

 

[Stan]

Wot is a 51?

Hi,

I presume it's a fountain pen from what little I can see in the avatar.

I have to admit knowing little about fountain pens, having learned to dislike them long, long ago. Not that this should mean that anyone else shouldn't just love them!

Being an ex-draftsman, I love the Rotring 600 series mechanical pencils and pens - using those nitrogen pressurized polymer ink cartridges that write on wet paper, even if it's wet with oil and even upside down.

That's about as far away from a fountain pen one can get, I think!

Later!

Stan

 

[MattJH]

I have no idea.

It goes in the garbage before I even try a new hat on, though.

Different strokes for different folks, but I think they look really silly.

 

[Stan]

Feathers

Hi,

Yes, back to the original topic. I, too, toss the feathers first thing - but in a little box instead of the trash just in case someone comes along actually wanting a feather or two! lol

Later!

Stan

 

[Feraud]

If my fedora has a feather in it, I will leave it there. Otherwise I do not add them.

A feather in a hat cannot look any less ostentatious than wearing a fedora in 2009.

 

[carter]

I give the feathers to my daughter. Ladies like feathers it seems.

 

[dhermann1]

I like them. If I recall correctly from my childhood they were reasonably standard back in the day. I've always surmised that they had something to do with hunting traditions. You know, you shoot a fowl, and take one of its feathers for your hat. The hats worn by those Alpine mountaineers always seem to have nice plumage.
And don't forget the old phrase "That's a feather in you cap".
Anioher thought. Going back to the Cavalier days, they had big plumes in their hats, as did Robin Hood. I think it's a mighty long standnig tradition.
I once found a nice little 4 inch long blue jay feather in my back yard. I stuck in the ribbon of my old beat up panama. When I got my new PanamaBob I transferred it there. It's not ostenatious by any means, but I just think it looks cool.

 

[Pduck]

Here's a photo of me with feathers in my hat:

 

[Torpedo]

Well, if you are to wear feathers, wear them with real panaché...

 

[Woodfluter]

Well, if you are to wear feathers, wear them with real panaché...

I don't know if that pic is from Captain Blood or The Sea Hawk, but I loved both when they were on late-night TV long, long ago. Have both on VCR now. Not sure I could pull off the Cyrano/Flynn look meself. At least not without the sword!

I agree, away with the wimpy little feathers, but I can't help saving them. They just look like they belong on Alpine sorts. Anyone know when they became popular in the bands of fedoras? My guess is early to mid-60's.

Pduck, not everyone could pull off that look but I think you've got something there. Watch out for groupies with pointy breastplates.

- Bill

 

[Marc Chevalier]

A feather in a hat cannot look any less ostentatious than wearing a fedora in 2009.

Quip of the day! lol :eusa_clap

.

 

[randooch]

Here's a photo of me with feathers in my hat:

Lookin' good. Maybe a hoola-hoop instead of the spear.

 

[jec]

Using feathers as a cover-up for moth holes

I normally agree that the feathers that come tucked in the bands of many fedoras are way too cute to be tolerable... but I have one hat - my everyday beater - that has a tuft of feathers in the band.
In fact, they serve a crucial role: they hide a nasty moth bite! When I received this old Stetson from an EBay purchase, it arrived in poor condition with numerous nibbles and holes - the worst of which was hiding right behind the feather that came with the hat (and which I promptly tore out and tossed in the garbage). But clearly I needed something to hide the moth bite -- so I put together a tuft of native wild turkey breast feathers to give the hat an authentic rustic and country look. As a birder and ornithological illustrator, I could never tolerate those falsely-dyed poultry feathers that come with most hats! But these I've grown to like.

 

[Goose.]

My Akubra Hampton arrived with plumage from HD.

A feather in one's cap
Meaning

A symbol of honour and achievement.

Origin

The placing of a feather in a hat has been a symbol of achievement that has arisen in several cultures, apparently independently. The English writer and traveller Richard Hansard recorded it in his Description of Hungary, 1599:

"It hath been an antient custom among them [Hungarians] that none should wear a fether but he who had killed a Turk, to whom onlie yt was lawful to shew the number of his slaine enemys by the number of fethers in his cappe."

The Native American tradition of adding a feather to the head-dress of any warrior who performed a brave act is well-known.

The figurative use of the phrase 'a feather in his hat', was in use in the UK by the 18th century. This is referred to in a letter from the Duchess of Portland to a Miss Collingwood, in 1734:

"My Lord ... esteems it a feather in his hat, that ..."

The children's rhyme Yankee Doodle is the best-known use of the phrase.

Yankee Doodle went to town,
Riding on a pony;
He stuck a feather in his cap,
And called it macaroni.

There are many version of the lyric. It has been suggested that this version originated with the British forces in the American War of Independence, in an attempt to mock the revolutionary militia. A doodle was 18th century British slang for simpleton (a.k.a. noodle). Macaroni was slang for a dandy or fop. This originated with the Macaroni Club, which was a group of London aesthetes who were anxious to establish their sophistication by demonstrating a preference for foreign cuisine. The thinking behind the theory is that the Yankees were so stupid as to believe that putting a feather in one's cap would make them appear fashionable.

Source: http://www.phrases.org.uk/meanings/feather-in-ones-cap.html (typos and grammar from the above are not that of the author...copied and pasted as is. Don't run witih scissors.)

 

[HungaryTom]

Origin

The placing of a feather in a hat has been a symbol of achievement that has arisen in several cultures, apparently independently. The English writer and traveller Richard Hansard recorded it in his Description of Hungary, 1599:

"It hath been an antient custom among them [Hungarians] that none should wear a fether but he who had killed a Turk, to whom onlie yt was lawful to shew the number of his slaine enemys by the number of fethers in his cappe."

Hansard must have meant this - fashion of Hajdú warriors from 1605 AD:
http://www.big.szerencs.hu/isk/kepek/pic05m.jpg
Those people were free men who were given a piece of land by the Prince for their services as soldiers.

Hats with feathers of Herons and cranes have been kept as part of the ornamental attire of the Hungarian nobility - until they became anachronistic:
http://static.168ora.hu/db/00/18/d00002018ce58311b0bf9.jpg
http://mek.niif.hu/02100/02185/html/img/3_205a.jpg
and got phased out after WW2 as the Hungarian nobility underwent.

 

[carter]

I never thought I'd write this but ...

I normally agree that the feathers that come tucked in the bands of many fedoras are way too cute to be tolerable... but I have one hat - my everyday beater - that has a tuft of feathers in the band.
In fact, they serve a crucial role: they hide a nasty moth bite! When I received this old Stetson from an EBay purchase, it arrived in poor condition with numerous nibbles and holes - the worst of which was hiding right behind the feather that came with the hat (and which I promptly tore out and tossed in the garbage). But clearly I needed something to hide the moth bite -- so I put together a tuft of native wild turkey breast feathers to give the hat an authentic rustic and country look. As a birder and ornithological illustrator, I could never tolerate those falsely-dyed poultry feathers that come with most hats! But these I've grown to like.

jec, Yours is the first post regarding feathers on a fedora that has a sense of personal utility involved. This one I can understand and even applaud. Those turkey feathers lend a certain professional panache to your hat while serving a genuine purpose.
:eusa_clap :eusa_clap :eusa_clap

However, I still maintain that feathers in fedoras are generally silly affectations and are more appropriate to fowl, fly fishing, and ladies hats.

This excludes plumes historically used on military hats and those found on [generally] European Hunting Hats.