Hat seasons

[gekisai29]

Are there any "unwritten" rules such as tou don"t wear white shoes after Labor Day that appliies to hats? For example is it a no no to wear fur fely after Memorial Day?

 

[epic610]

white hats

as long as you have your walking stick, it is permissable to go strolling with your white or mustard yellow homburg

 

[gekisai29]

can i wear my cape too

 

[scotrace]

An actual answer

Yes, there are seasons. Actually official dates, Old School.

See this thread:

http://www.thefedoralounge.com/showthread.php?t=3149&highlight=straw+felt

 

[GA Wildlifer]

I guess I had better talk to Panama Bob ...

because I adhere to the Labor Day - Memorial Day traditions about white bucks, madras and seersucker. Now that I am a hat wearer, I had better get properly outfitted.

As a matter of fact, Bob replied to my PM while I was typing this reply. I am eager to see what he suggests for me.

GA Wildlifer

 

[Andykev]

Play Ball!

Yes, but in certain states, ie. California, you sometimes have to wear what the weather dictates. We, for example, have had a week of "spring weather", last week. Warm, sunny, blue skies. Definately a Straw Hat week. This week, we have rain, and tonigt it is supposed to snow down to the 2000 foot level. Felt hat is the rule of the day.

I have heard that when baseball season ended, the traditiion was to toss your hat onto the field. Anyone else heard that?

 

[gekisai29]

I recently read an article in the sports section of the NY Times which I think indicated the same thing about basesball. Scotrace thanks for the info... more stuff to remember but stuff that is so cool to know.

 

[Shademaker]

We have no rules in Arizona. It seems to be a different place but you can get away with just about any fashion thing you want to. Things are mostly casual. Most of the time we are looking for a hat that protects from the sun and keeps the head cool. That includes winter. There are mornings where I will wear a fur hat in winter but even they seems to be measured.

 

[tonyb]

I have heard that when baseball season ended, the traditiion was to toss your hat onto the field. Anyone else heard that?

Heard the same thing from an old-time baker I interviewed a couple of years ago. I happened to be wearing a straw that day, which prompted a conversation on this very matter. His bakery is across Rainier Avenue from the site of the since-demolished Sick's Seattle Stadium, the longtime home to minor-league clubs, and, in 1969, the Seattle Pilots of the American League, who, by the following season, became the Milwaukee Brewers. The old guy parked cars at the stadium's lots, back when he and the ballpark were youngsters. He said it was customary back then to buy a new straw hat at the beginning of the season and toss it onto the field immediately following the final out of the season's final game. It was also a custom, he said, to put one's fist through the top of a boater before giving it its final fling.
As to that Memorial Day to Labor Day thing: If it's sunny and over 60 degrees, I'm in a straw, whatever the date. It's been unusually cold up here over the past couple of days, but quite clear and bright. Day before yesterday, my wife wore her big straw hat, the one with the wide brim that curls up at the edge all the way around. Seemed sensible to me. It kept the sun out of her eyes.

 

[Panamabob]

Isn't it always Montecristi season?

 

[Feraud]

In reading the book Hatless Jack by Neil Steinberg, he tells of acts of assault against citizens who did not comply with the accepted hat rules! Men having hats knocked off their heads by an ignorant youth or two. There were apparently other more violent acts committed on people who rebelled and refused to have strangers assault them over their choice of headwear!
With regards to particular customs, I am glad to see the times have changed.