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Where's your Panama from?
Last Updated: 12:01am BST 02/08/2007
Hilary Alexander looks into the new fashion craze, and history, behind the Panama
In pictures: Goodwood Panamas
Justin Timberlake, George Clooney, Pete Doherty and even, perish the thought, Britney Spears, may favour the Trilby. But at Glorious Goodwood – the famous summer race meeting on the Duke of Ric hmond’s estate in West Sus***, overlooking the South Downs – there is only one hat the fashionable man wants to be seen in - and that is The Panama.
Family affair: Lewis Williams, 6 and older bother Jason 14 with their grandfather Vaughan Williams
Today, at Glorious Goodwood may be Ladies’ Day. But everyday of this flat-racing festival is all about what the chaps are wearing. Battered, borrowed or band-box fresh from cardboard tubes where they conveniently roll-up for traveling,the ubiquitous Panama is the hat of choice.
Some have hatbands of navy to match dark jackets, some a crisp yellow or green band to match lighter-weight jackets or a distinctive purple to match shirt and tie.
Many are in the distinctive yellow and red stripes of the Goodwood colours, taken from a George Stubbs painting. And still others are bought on the spot from the Racing Colours shop on the Goodwood racetrack.
“Mine’s a Montecristo, from Goodwood,” said Richard Fulford-Smith. “Mine’s from Lock & Co,” said his friend, Rory Charles MacGregor Aird. Canadian Donald Van Every wore a panama he bought in Italy, which had the wide brim favoured by Al Capone.
“Mine’s a bit tired,” said Edward Dolan-Abrahams whose hat was enjoying its eighth Glorious Goodwood outing.
Alex Eade bought his from Bolivia for the equivalent of pounds £8, while Mark Ireland had borrowed his and its purple hat band was the perfect partner to his shirt and tie.
Gerry Albertini confessed his hat, from Deauville, was “probably twenty or thirty years old”, but it still looked smart with his black and white fine check suit, and Richard Springford’s Panama with a mustard-yellow band to match his tie, came from Ecuador – home of the Panama – via Puerto Banus.
School friends, Charles Settrington, 12, eldest son of the Earl of March – heir to the Goodwood estate - and Rufus Gibbs, tested out two panamas to see if they would keep the sun off their ice-creams.
Lewis Williams, 6, and his older brother Jason, a confirmed Glorious Goodwood devotee even at just 14, both wore smart straws converted by their grandmother with black ribbon bands.
Despite its name, the panama hat actually originates from Ecuador and can trace its origins back to the Incas in the 16th century. A Frenchman took some to the World Fair in Paris in 1855 and one was presented to Napoleon 111.
Later the name ‘panama’ was adopted when the workers building the Panama Canal wore these hats to shield their heads from the burning rays; a sentiment which would have been understood by any man at Glorious Goodwood the last two days.
Edward V11 started the Goodwood tradition of linen suits and panama hats for men in 1907 when he rejected morning dress in favour of this attire in 1907, deeming it more appropriate for “a garden party with racing attached.” Other famous wearers have included Churchill, Ernest Hemingway and Al Capone.
Although cheap panama hats made from paper now come from China and other bargain-versions are available in the high street, to truly qualify for the name, a Panama Hat must be made in Ecuador from fibres of the paja de toquilla plant.
The tradition of hand-weaving is passed down through the generations and the best weaving is said to be done by the light of the moon as the artisans continually dip their sharp, well-trained fingers in water, splitting the fibre into microscopic threads.
The finest hats, which are so closely woven they resemble silk, can cost as much as £4,000 – a snip compared to the £90 Edward V11 is said to have paid when he asked his Bond Street hatmaker, exactly 100 years ago, for the finest one that could be produced.
Last Updated: 12:01am BST 02/08/2007
Hilary Alexander looks into the new fashion craze, and history, behind the Panama
In pictures: Goodwood Panamas
Justin Timberlake, George Clooney, Pete Doherty and even, perish the thought, Britney Spears, may favour the Trilby. But at Glorious Goodwood – the famous summer race meeting on the Duke of Ric hmond’s estate in West Sus***, overlooking the South Downs – there is only one hat the fashionable man wants to be seen in - and that is The Panama.
Family affair: Lewis Williams, 6 and older bother Jason 14 with their grandfather Vaughan Williams
Today, at Glorious Goodwood may be Ladies’ Day. But everyday of this flat-racing festival is all about what the chaps are wearing. Battered, borrowed or band-box fresh from cardboard tubes where they conveniently roll-up for traveling,the ubiquitous Panama is the hat of choice.
Some have hatbands of navy to match dark jackets, some a crisp yellow or green band to match lighter-weight jackets or a distinctive purple to match shirt and tie.
Many are in the distinctive yellow and red stripes of the Goodwood colours, taken from a George Stubbs painting. And still others are bought on the spot from the Racing Colours shop on the Goodwood racetrack.
“Mine’s a Montecristo, from Goodwood,” said Richard Fulford-Smith. “Mine’s from Lock & Co,” said his friend, Rory Charles MacGregor Aird. Canadian Donald Van Every wore a panama he bought in Italy, which had the wide brim favoured by Al Capone.
“Mine’s a bit tired,” said Edward Dolan-Abrahams whose hat was enjoying its eighth Glorious Goodwood outing.
Alex Eade bought his from Bolivia for the equivalent of pounds £8, while Mark Ireland had borrowed his and its purple hat band was the perfect partner to his shirt and tie.
Gerry Albertini confessed his hat, from Deauville, was “probably twenty or thirty years old”, but it still looked smart with his black and white fine check suit, and Richard Springford’s Panama with a mustard-yellow band to match his tie, came from Ecuador – home of the Panama – via Puerto Banus.
School friends, Charles Settrington, 12, eldest son of the Earl of March – heir to the Goodwood estate - and Rufus Gibbs, tested out two panamas to see if they would keep the sun off their ice-creams.
Lewis Williams, 6, and his older brother Jason, a confirmed Glorious Goodwood devotee even at just 14, both wore smart straws converted by their grandmother with black ribbon bands.
Despite its name, the panama hat actually originates from Ecuador and can trace its origins back to the Incas in the 16th century. A Frenchman took some to the World Fair in Paris in 1855 and one was presented to Napoleon 111.
Later the name ‘panama’ was adopted when the workers building the Panama Canal wore these hats to shield their heads from the burning rays; a sentiment which would have been understood by any man at Glorious Goodwood the last two days.
Edward V11 started the Goodwood tradition of linen suits and panama hats for men in 1907 when he rejected morning dress in favour of this attire in 1907, deeming it more appropriate for “a garden party with racing attached.” Other famous wearers have included Churchill, Ernest Hemingway and Al Capone.
Although cheap panama hats made from paper now come from China and other bargain-versions are available in the high street, to truly qualify for the name, a Panama Hat must be made in Ecuador from fibres of the paja de toquilla plant.
The tradition of hand-weaving is passed down through the generations and the best weaving is said to be done by the light of the moon as the artisans continually dip their sharp, well-trained fingers in water, splitting the fibre into microscopic threads.
The finest hats, which are so closely woven they resemble silk, can cost as much as £4,000 – a snip compared to the £90 Edward V11 is said to have paid when he asked his Bond Street hatmaker, exactly 100 years ago, for the finest one that could be produced.
- vive l'empereur - loong dynasty!
