it started with just one and only me.....

[Detective_Noir]

as everyone knows me as Detective_Noir ive only been here for a year and ive wanted to show my collection ive been building so far on my hats and how ive affected people around me as well. it all started with a hat i bought at The exclusively for you hat store in the ward parkway mall right inbetween the AMC and the Super Target. it was for a homecoming dance that was coming up and i had a nice suit for it, but i felt i was lacking something to compliment it. i immediately thought of the fedora. and drove there to get my self one. i brought the hat to school and wore it and everyone thought it was really neat and "Snazzy" not being one of those walmart ones but an actual felt hat. soon enough i started working for my next one because i wasnt satisfied with the hat i had currently mainly because it was a center crease hat and the center crease never really fit my look. i bought a scala New yorker and it was a wool felt made in china so i went through buyers remorse but the way the hat was blocked was just good enough for me and i wore it everywhere! i started realizing after my grandpa gave me one of his fedoras which i believe it to be from 1951-53 because the hat had an OPS tag on it which means it was between korean war times. the felt was so much smoother and much denser and stronger; from this i started looking for vintage hats and found them much more better feeling than modern day ones. i went everywhere collecting vintage hats from now i have a variety to wear now ever since i got my first one.

 

[Detective_Noir]

From right to left side: a dobbs fifth avenue, a broner Above the Rest, The Scala New Yorker, and the Dobbs Dandy.

From Left to Right: a Thoroughbred Beaver felt, Royal Stetson, Mallory Aristrocrat quality.

A Royal DeLuxe Stetson Stetsonian (Korean War Era)

Same Hat

Different Bash

 

[Detective_Noir]

This one was by and unknown maker (was nowhere on the hat) but the hat quality is imperial i call it the mercedes hat

 

[Detective_Noir]

1960's Stetson Sovereign

 

[Detective_Noir]

1950's Stetsonian

 

[Historyteach24]

I like the larger brims on you like the Stetsonian

 

[Detective_Noir]

1940s Royal Stetson

also i use the a wide c crown bash to make the sides as straight as possible
Top Hat

 

[Detective_Noir]

even some friends of mine got hats for themselves and were into the style.

a little mafia shot here

my friend on the far right bought a modern whippet, i was jealous but i got a 40's whippet recently so

 

[Detective_Noir]

just me

call us old fashioned, me and my girlfriend wanted to try and recreate it somewhat

 

[Detective_Noir]

overall the influence of the past really got to me and im getting hats from the bay to thrift stores. my friends wanted to be like it to and started dressing like it. i feel i brought back the fashion of the 1930's-1950's and people really like it! they say its like a guy from a Film Noire movie just came out. i have 10 hats right now and its building. and i thank it to my grandpa for getting me into the style of the times ever since i was a kid and watched black and white movies with him.

 

[Anthony Jordan]

Some very nice hats there, especially the one with the maroon band!

 

[Detective_Noir]

i really like the maroon band too it really compliments the red tie i use,

 

[Detective_Noir]

I like the larger brims on you like the Stetsonian

Thank you history! i feel the widebrims compliment my face better than a stingy does. they just seem small and awkward for my face

 

[dhermann1]

You're well and truly on the road to perdition there, young man. Enjoy! Lookin' good.

 

[splintercellsz]

Very nice collection!

 

[KingAndrew]

What a fabulous post! The hats are great--but I love that you're wearing them with nice suits and ties, too. You and your friends are way ahead of the teenagers I taught in Florida, who had trouble accepting that they should tuck in their shirts (let alone wearing a tie) when dressing for a "semi-formal" dance. I actually had an afterschool workshop on how to tie the four-in-hand and bow ties.

Of course, a few of them did accessorize their untucked shirt/Air Jordan combos with stingy-brim "hipster" hats from Target. Which, frankly, is a start. But you've managed to inspire something much better at your school.

It brings to mind the words of Quentin Crisp: "Fashion is what you adopt when you don't know who you are. Style is knowing who you are and being able to propagate it."

 

[hatophile]

Nice hats Detective, keep up the good work.

 

[Detective_Noir]

thanks guys! my hat collection is building and building up. while my friends and i will keep ahead of the crowd

 

[C44Antelope]

Nice collection. 30 years ago I wore a black fedora to school and all my classmates said "You look like a leprechaun." Glad you had a much better reaction. Some sharp photos.