Panama Hat Thread

[job]

Very nice.

Sent from my XT1049 using Tapatalk

 

[mikespens]

Nice collection and great way to decorate the house John.

 

[barrowjh]

Thanks to both. I think all of those hats have been pictured here before, but never as part of an inventory of straws. It has been less than 10 years since I bought my first 'real' hat and eventually my better half accepted the idea (and began pushing the idea) that we should obtain some vintage hat~coat hooks and 'do it right' and the rack above my desk is a great example, that is a headboard for some antique piece of furniture, flipped upside down, then we added the hooks. The headboard alone was in a local antique store, we have no knowledge of its origin, had already been separated from the original furniture by someone else.

 

[dnjan]

How can you put that many beautiful hats together at the same time without drooling on at least one of them?

 

[barrowjh]

It is a challenge, dnjan. It is hard to part with my collection of thin-ribbons (westerns), but after the 'fresh' panama hats are out of their boxes, fall in love with them all over again. I find that putting a group of hats away for a few months makes me sort of forget about them, so they are all 'new' again each time I break them out. When I put the Cavs away in the spring, I will not see them again until November. The thin-ribbons come out twice a year, the winter felts and summer panamas only once a year.

 

[CRH]

VS, weave so fine the brim just will not behave -




...

Hah! You should probably just send it to me and let me have a crack at it or throw it into the compost pile. Hah!

 

[barrowjh]

Craig, I should explain this for Art's sake. The hat was shaped to fit my head, and on my head, the brim behaves just fine, it is beautiful. It appears to 'mis-behave' anywhere else it sits, and it is sitting on a standard 7 1/8 wood block for those pics. My head is about half-way between 7 & 7 1/8 and almost fits definition for LO. You really should have yourself at least one bespoke hat that is shaped to your noggin if for no other reason than to see and feel the difference. It amazes me still that this hat looks all caddywompus until I put it on. I was bestowed with a caddywompus head, and Art Fawcett finished/shaped that hat to fit it. Credit to the hatter.



See, took this pic and added it just now - ain't no mis-behav'n when it's on my noggin.

 

[new2hats]

Wow. Wish I could afford that kind of hat.

 

[Tedquinton]

I don't know if of any of you watched the French Open Tennis final, but at one point the camera panned out to show a wide shot of the crowd, and it looked as though 80% of the crowd, men and women were wearing panama hats. I know some are given out for free in the posh seats, but this was the entire crowd. Quite an incredible sight, I wish I could find a photo. It put me in mind of those old pictures of baseball games which show most of the crowd wearing fedoras. It will be interesting to see whether it continues at Wimbledon in a couple of weeks (may depend on the weather!). But somehow I doubt it, the French do seem to dress well when they go out.

 

[ingineer]

Teddington pics
http://sports.ndtv.com/images/stories/rafael-nadal-french-open-semi-640.jpg
http://usatftw.files.wordpress.com/2014/06/ap_france_tennis_french_open_64768912.jpg?w=1000&h=666
Richard

 

[mikespens]

Can't accuse the French of being fashion challenged.

 

[Art Fawcett]

Craig, I should explain this for Art's sake. The hat was shaped to fit my head, and on my head, the brim behaves just fine, it is beautiful. It appears to 'mis-behave' anywhere else it sits, and it is sitting on a standard 7 1/8 wood block for those pics. My head is about half-way between 7 & 7 1/8 and almost fits definition for LO. You really should have yourself at least one bespoke hat that is shaped to your noggin if for no other reason than to see and feel the difference. It amazes me still that this hat looks all caddywompus until I put it on. I was bestowed with a caddywompus head, and Art Fawcett finished/shaped that hat to fit it. Credit to the hatter.




See, took this pic and added it just now - ain't no mis-behav'n when it's on my noggin.

Yikes John, the humidity of Tn has taken a toll on this hat. Why not send it back & let me "tune " it up? I'd love to take some of the waves out.

 

[barrowjh]

Putting the hat on my head smoothed out the brim, but the angle of the light shows off some ripples in the dent that I should explain. I have had this hat about 4 years now and after a couple of years I decided to make the dents longer and deeper than I had originally asked of Art. Typical of me, started out a lot of hats wanting them to be just a conservative center-dent and then after a few years I tweak them towards a C-crown / teardrop, getting more aggressive with the pinch. It is maybe due for more of a professional re-shaping.

 

[1mach1]

Dunhill acquired from Scott.

 

[mikespens]

That's a fine looking Panama Harv.

 

[CRH]

Yikes John, the humidity of Tn has taken a toll on this hat. Why not send it back & let me "tune " it up? I'd love to take some of the waves out.

I like the waves. I hat will never be symmetrical and smooth once it gets some decent head action and aging anyway. BTW, I've found that dryness can kill a Panama a lot faster than humidity or soaking. Wet paja can be revived but if it gets too dry it just breaks.

 

[barrowjh]

Craig, agree with you. When a hat is fresh from blocking and perfectly smooth (felt or straw) it just looks stiff, whether it is stiff or not. Hand-creased hats were never so perfect as we imagine them to be, and we see that reality when we look at vintage photographs (candid rather than movie stills). Some people like the crisp look, and I am ok with that, and some of my hats look more 'crisp' than others. The straw on those high-count panamas is almost like linen and it is darned near impossible to maintain them looking crisp without adding some stiffener, which I prefer not to do. Those little ripples in the dent are a function of light angle and close-up perspective, from a distance of 6 feet and normal lighting that hat does look crisp when it is on my head.

 

[Nyah]

Are there any treatments, oil-based or otherwise, that help prevent a panama from getting brittle? I'm currenty awaiting my first panama ever. Would like to keep it in good condition, especially if I can't prevent it from getting rained on.

 

[barrowjh]

Back in the day, when a true Panama went in for a refurbishment the hatter would refresh the sulphur treatment, but I am not sure that anyone does that now. I am not aware of any treatment other than brushing, maybe wiping with a damp towel to remove a smudge. I have not noticed any particular brittleness. I presume that as the straw continues to age it will deteriorate - we don't see many 100 year old Panamas that do not sport some damage.

 

[Nyah]

Fantastic, thanks. I wasn't needing for it to last beyond my lifetime anyway. When I receive it, I'll go ahead and wear it without any special treatment.