Hat style advice.

[elvisroe]

Seems like you've pretty much got it sorted but here's my two-bobs-worth anyway - I agree that the dimensions of the Panama sit well on you. I also have a long face and, while I love the idea of a ye olde big blocky crown, I have found that they really don't sit too well on me.

Others may disagree but with a long face I'd steer clear of the Akubra Campdraft and the Fed IV. I have the latter and while I love the hat, it took a fair bit of reshaping to get it to suit. As far as the Akubras go I'd suggest the Fedora/Sydney. It's a really nice soft hat with a 2.5 brim and an open crown with a bit of taper that is slightly fuller than most modern styles.

Of course if you learn anything from this site it should be that you'll never find the "one-hat-to-rule-them-all" - there's always just one more to buy!

God luck

 

[Doggy Darb]

If I may suggest staying between 2.75" and 2.375" on the brim width. Try to keep at least a 4" center-dent crown. Being as tall as you are, a 3" brim will start to reduce your appearance; meaning that it will make you look thinner. If you wear a hat with a stingy brim, you will appear even taller. You want the mass above the brim to be less than the mass below. Your face should still appear be the greater portion of your head. A c-crown will put to mass above the ears and will overwhelm your jaw and chin. Try to use a thicker ribbon of a slightly darker color than the felt. This will serve to reduce the mass of the crown.

These are some things that I have found to work for me. My facial structure is similar to yours. I am also tall and thin, not quite as much, and have faced the same issues as you.

My personal method:

I stand in front of a mirror facing myself. With my arms relaxed at my sides, I imagine a parabola following the outer edges of my upper arms, going off my shoulders, intersecting the edges of the brim, tangent to the crown in two places, the focus of the parabola should be the top of the hat, and the vertex should be in the space above the hat. If I can't imagine the parabola, the hat isn't right for me. I'm not comfortable with the proportions.

This helps me, but for the other math, science, and engineering geeks, this should at least make sense.

 

[Yeps]

If I may suggest staying between 2.75" and 2.375" on the brim width. Try to keep at least a 4" center-dent crown. Being as tall as you are, a 3" brim will start to reduce your appearance; meaning that it will make you look thinner. If you wear a hat with a stingy brim, you will appear even taller. You want the mass above the brim to be less than the mass below. Your face should still appear be the greater portion of your head. A c-crown will put to mass above the ears and will overwhelm your jaw and chin. Try to use a thicker ribbon of a slightly darker color than the felt. This will serve to reduce the mass of the crown.

These are some things that I have found to work for me. My facial structure is similar to yours. I am also tall and thin, not quite as much, and have faced the same issues as you.

My personal method:

I stand in front of a mirror facing myself. With my arms relaxed at my sides, I imagine a parabola following the outer edges of my upper arms, going off my shoulders, intersecting the edges of the brim, tangent to the crown in two places, the focus of the parabola should be the top of the hat, and the vertex should be in the space above the hat. If I can't imagine the parabola, the hat isn't right for me. I'm not comfortable with the proportions.

This helps me, but for the other math, science, and engineering geeks, this should at least make sense.

This is the most fantastically logical method I have ever encountered. Despite being a musician, my natural inclination is generally to think like an engineer. Although this definitely means I need to get myself to a hat store and try on some hats, if only to see the styles in the mirror before I fish an old one out of the bay.

 

[Chinaski]

To my eye, the panama and the Bailey have similar crown heights and taper, and you wear both of them well. I would recommend sticking to that type of crown.

 

[zetwal]

I need to get myself to a hat store and try on some hats, if only to see the styles in the mirror before I fish an old one out of the bay.

When it comes to evaluating shapes and color, that is the single best thing you can do! You can also learn much about fit that way. Enjoy

 

[GClark]

To my eye, proportions on hat number two (straw) look best on you.

Agree - that one looks the best!

 

[fluteplayer07]

If I may suggest staying between 2.75" and 2.375" on the brim width. Try to keep at least a 4" center-dent crown. Being as tall as you are, a 3" brim will start to reduce your appearance; meaning that it will make you look thinner. If you wear a hat with a stingy brim, you will appear even taller. You want the mass above the brim to be less than the mass below. Your face should still appear be the greater portion of your head. A c-crown will put to mass above the ears and will overwhelm your jaw and chin. Try to use a thicker ribbon of a slightly darker color than the felt. This will serve to reduce the mass of the crown.

These are some things that I have found to work for me. My facial structure is similar to yours. I am also tall and thin, not quite as much, and have faced the same issues as you.

My personal method:

I stand in front of a mirror facing myself. With my arms relaxed at my sides, I imagine a parabola following the outer edges of my upper arms, going off my shoulders, intersecting the edges of the brim, tangent to the crown in two places, the focus of the parabola should be the top of the hat, and the vertex should be in the space above the hat. If I can't imagine the parabola, the hat isn't right for me. I'm not comfortable with the proportions.

This helps me, but for the other math, science, and engineering geeks, this should at least make sense.

Amazing idea! Thanks!

 

[Tomasso]

I need to get myself to a hat store and try on some hats

That's really the best method. Try the Hattery.

 

[chippy]

So on that chart, would I fall in the long slender face category? I am never quite sure with those things, because the drawings have very exaggerated features.

I was standing in front of my mirror a while back and couldn't decide what shape my face fell into either..so I grabbed a marker pen (lipstick or wax pencil etc would work as well) and traced around the outline of my face onto the glass ..sounds a bit dopey I guess but it makes it extremely clear and easy to see the outline 'shape' of your face

 

[Yeps]

So, the lounge is finally working for me again, and in the mean time I have found a solution. You will never guess what this hat is. Well, you probably will, but anyway...

As it turns out, taking the pencil curl out of a homburg, or at least my St. Regis, and making it a fedora is really easy. All it takes is a bit of steam and some love. I hate to abuse old hats, but this was an experiment, and I think I will get more use out of it this way. Also, I think that it would go back to its original curl in a minute if I tried.

 

[CRH]

...All it takes is a bit of steam and some love. I hate to abuse old hats, but this was an experiment, and I think I will get more use out of it this way. Also, I think that it would go back to its original curl in a minute if I tried.

I like your attitude, Mr. Yeps. Thanks for the briminology lesson.

 

[The Lark]

So an upturned "Hollywood" brim is not recommended for tall/thin faces?

That's annoying, because I'm becoming quite fond of the upturned brim in my Akubra.

 

[Yeps]

So an upturned "Hollywood" brim is not recommended for tall/thin faces?

That's annoying, because I'm becoming quite fond of the upturned brim in my Akubra.

The main recommendation is against really wide brims. It actually recommends a tilt as well as a well rolled brim, and a snap, all of which are incorporated, sorta, in the hollywood brim.

And in personal experience, I think the hollywood brim looks fine with long faces.

 

[danofarlington]

Anyway, I am curious what y'all think a good hat style would be for me, what brim width and crown height and such.
Here are some quick and dirty photos so you can see my face shape

The best one in the pictures on you is the white one. Seems like you need a 2 5/8 brim to 2 3/4. I know these measures very well because those are the sizes that seem to work best on me, and now I watch brim size like a hawk. A brim of 2 1/2 is too short. On the crown, once again judging by what I prefer, I would go shorter. Vintage hats and the Indiana Jones hat have a high crown. That's one look, if you want to go retro. So as a young person like you, if you want to look like you're out of the 30s or 40s, definitely go in that direction. On the other hand if you want to look like someone wearing a modern hat in 2010, I would go for the shorter crown. A problem of vintage hats is the higher crown, which they all had. Fine, if you want a high crown. One of the reasons I like Borsalino fedoras available from Internet retailers is that they generally have a low crown, and they look very good IMHO.

Borsalino aside, many custom hatmakers seem to reflect buying behavior rather than originating it, judging by most websites. So I see on their websites a lot of movie star lookalike hats, Indy hats and other retro hats which are what apparently customers ask for, because that's all the customers are exposed to. There's a lot of old-time styles revived. So I look for websites that have a very wide range of styles, to make up my own mind, beyond the usual revival styles.

A saving grace of the process is that if a hat looks good to you on the website, there's a good chance that it'll work on you. There is a certain irreducible trial and error process you have to undergo, buying on the Internet, but soon you get it right, and can zero in on the styles that make you look good. After buying almost all my hats on the Internet, I've come to trust it. And when you buy new from a standard brand, you can get it returned if it doesn't fit; sizes sometimes vary. I suppose you could return a custom hat too, but it would cause the maker a lot of work.

 

[cptjeff]

So an upturned "Hollywood" brim is not recommended for tall/thin faces?

That's annoying, because I'm becoming quite fond of the upturned brim in my Akubra.

If you decide it looks good on you, it looks good on you. Trust your own judgment, and realize that a lot of it depends on a whole lot of things, and many different things can play a role. For example, I'm short, so every authority written tells me to wear tall crowns. I also have a longer face, and any sort of tall crown looks profoundly silly on my face.

If you like the upturned brims, or the hollywood brims... go for it.

 

[Chinaski]

If you decide it looks good on you, it looks good on you. Trust your own judgment, and realize that a lot of it depends on a whole lot of things, and many different things can play a role. For example, I'm short, so every authority written tells me to wear tall crowns. I also have a longer face, and any sort of tall crown looks profoundly silly on my face.

If you like the upturned brims, or the hollywood brims... go for it.

Sage advice, cptjeff. 'Taint rocket science here, afterall. A sommelier can tell you that you should like a certain wine, but your own tastebuds should tell you the real story. Trust your instincts.

 

[danofarlington]

depends on you

If you decide it looks good on you, it looks good on you. Trust your own judgment, and realize that a lot of it depends on a whole lot of things, and many different things can play a role.

I agree with that statement. You have to see whether the hat on you adds up to something, or not. In many cases that's a fairly instant decision in the mirror. In other cases you have to look many times. Wearing a hat is stretching your own self-image, and at first that doesn't come easy.

But it does depend on a lot of things, you are right. Not only your face, but what clothes you have on with it (hats are very clothes-specific), and your attitude. It takes a certain amount of nerve to wear a fedora out there now, and I had to work myself up to it, wearing them sparingly at first, and then more often, and now a lot (I'm sort of the "hat guy" around here).

In the case of women's fashion, they select models in large part on the basis of attitude--who can carry off the various styles. In men's fashion, with hats, you have to have the right attitude. You can only cultivate that by wearing them a lot, and forgetting you have them on. Only that way can you achieve the necessary insouciance that makes them look good. The first months you wear a hat, at least for me, was dominated by self-consciousness. Then I lost that.

 

[danofarlington]

on your hats

If you decide it looks good on you, it looks good on you.

By the way, that's a good bunch of hats you have on the rack in your icon. My kind of style, and a good range of colors.

 

[Yeps]

By the way, that's a good bunch of hats you have on the rack in your icon. My kind of style, and a good range of colors.

Thank you very much.

 

[The Good]

Yeps, that St. Regis homburg that you've converted into a fedora actually looks good on you. I think it works for the shape of your face. Personally I think that brim width suits you just fine, perhaps you could go a bit wider if you wanted to, or even a bit shorter? It's up to you to decide.

I agree with that statement. You have to see whether the hat on you adds up to something, or not. In many cases that's a fairly instant decision in the mirror. In other cases you have to look many times. Wearing a hat is stretching your own self-image, and at first that doesn't come easy.

But it does depend on a lot of things, you are right. Not only your face, but what clothes you have on with it (hats are very clothes-specific), and your attitude. It takes a certain amount of nerve to wear a fedora out there now, and I had to work myself up to it, wearing them sparingly at first, and then more often, and now a lot (I'm sort of the "hat guy" around here).

In the case of women's fashion, they select models in large part on the basis of attitude--who can carry off the various styles. In men's fashion, with hats, you have to have the right attitude. You can only cultivate that by wearing them a lot, and forgetting you have them on. Only that way can you achieve the necessary insouciance that makes them look good. The first months you wear a hat, at least for me, was dominated by self-consciousness. Then I lost that.

Now that's a great post. The middle paragraph especially, describes my story more or less. I'm definitely the hat guy around here. But I agree with the fact that it takes a lot of nerve to wear a fedora these days, especially when you're starting out. I liked fedoras (and felt brimmed hats in general) for a long time, even as a kid (wore a tan felt cowboy hat almost every day), but pretty recently, eight months ago, I "came out of the closet," so to speak (No, I'm not homosexual), and decided to buy a couple of fedoras back in September 2009, a straw Panama (well, which is probably not really a Panama, sadly. More likely shantung), and a wool felt Jaxon fedora (they came in sizes S, M, and L, not exact measurements, that's when you know they're cheap, although I enjoyed wearing it as a starter hat of sorts).

It took a lot of bravery and nerve for me to step out of my comfort zone (at the time, for years I had been largely hatless, aside from the occasional baseball cap, and even so, I wasn't really interested in them). I guess you could say that I was self-conscious at the start! Well, then came Christmas, and I got my Akubra Federation IV, and I've worn it pretty often since, sometimes my straw fedora, although I haven't actually worn the wool one out since. It actually was the wrong color from the start (picture advertised a lighter grey color, but this is almost black, too dark for my preference, and the brim is somewhat misshapen as well by now).