Perfectly shaped fedoras

[Tony in Tarzana]

This subject came up in conversation with Wildroot at Phillipe's on Tuesday night. In the Golden Era movies, you never saw a gent wearing a perfectly shaped fedora. Even the well-to-do characters, bankers, politicians and the like, if they wore a fedora and not a Homburg or a top hat, wore them with rough looking side pinches and crowns, particulary the C-crowns.

I got to wondering if the opinion back then was that wearing a fedora that looked too neat was somehow "sissified."

Thoughts?

 

[Shaul-Ike Cohen]

Right, I think. This is what annoys many with period films that are just too perfect and smooth. Consciously or not, many a viewer will get an impression of staging.

Concerning hats in particular, I think non-FL people these days don't treat them like just any item, say, an umbrella, but handle them like a piece of art (small A) or a part of a costume.

 

[Art Fawcett]

You and Root are right Tony. Back then the hat wasn't revered as it is today for a number of reasons. It was just expected then and commonplace ( the hat I mean) so it wasn't paid as much attention as it is today. I think the fact that society has changed in that just the fact you are wearing a hat makes you different, back then it was like oh...breathing...so it wasn't a big deal. Also, because so many wore them what made your "trademark" wasn't the hat but the pinch or the brim shaping...finer points to the same pen if you will.

 

[johnnycanuck]

I have a friends who went out and got a open crown fedora. Then half hazardly bashed it and away he went. I thought it looked "messy" but he said from what he saw in the old movies that's the way they were treated. I remember a very early episode of the Avengers, John Steed wore a fedora in this episode and it was mangled beyond reason. Any early episode of Dragnet and you will see them putting there hats down flat on its brim. Maybe people really thought of hats as a tool more then a fashion statement.
Johnny

 

[Feraud]

A fine topic.
As has been said, back in what I like to call Fedora Days most men wore hats in an everyday environment. This would lead to the hat having a commonplace position like a wallet. The hats were handled more hence the rumpled appearance in films and photographs.

In discussing Film we must acknowledge another factor. The hat as a wardrobe piece. I believe for the most part the hats seen in films were wardrobe pieces. That is not to say a particular actor would not bring his favorite, comfortable fedora with him to a particular shoot. I will surmising that overall the fedoras viewed on screen were more manhandled than most fedoras. They are purchased by wardrobe departments and stored in whatever storage condition until they were needed. When needed the hats are transported to the film set and passing along however many hands until they are put on the actors head. When filming is complete the hat makes a similar trip back to wardrobe probably without so much as a brushing off let alone a block job!

I can understand why those hats looked to be in rough condition.

 

[Joel Tunnah]

I like the look of the haphazard bash, but I admit that I can't bring myself to mess up my work of Art (big "A"). I obsess over the dents to the point where my wife says "Will you stop looking at that stupid hat!". :eusa_doh:

Joel

 

[Art Fawcett]

Feraud you are right to a degree. Everything depends on who the costumer is and who the hats belong to. Most wardrobe props are rented nowdays and costumers know that if they mistreat good hats they won't be able to go back to that source in the future, Same goes with the clothing. When in that business i sent ALL of my hats out clean, blocked, and in plastic, unless the script called for "beater" hats. In most cases they came back in similar packaging but when they didn't the costumer heard from me and were charged for every repair or reblock. If the fees added up it got their attention AND of their insurance companies. If that pattern continued, the ins. companies would effectively "blackball" them making it tough to continue their career in a free way. I HAVE had some horrid experiences and we had our own "blackball" list.

 

[Art Fawcett]

lol lol lol
Joel...it's just a hat my friend...I'm really flattered!!

 

[gekisai29]

i would think that today some would think the beatup look is a put-on for effect rather the result of wearing a loved lid to death. icertainly thinkthis would be ok with casual clothes in any event.

 

[Feraud]

Everything depends on who the costumer is and who the hats belong to. Most wardrobe props are rented nowdays and costumers know that if they mistreat good hats they won't be able to go back to that source in the future, Same goes with the clothing. When in that business i sent ALL of my hats out clean, blocked, and in plastic, unless the script called for "beater" hats. In most cases they came back in similar packaging but when they didn't the costumer heard from me and were charged for every repair or reblock. If the fees added up it got their attention AND of their insurance companies. If that pattern continued, the ins. companies would effectively "blackball" them making it tough to continue their career in a free way. I HAVE had some horrid experiences and we had our own "blackball" list.

Thank you for that insider info!

I think we need to have a "show us your well worn fedora" thread.

 

[fedoralover]

This is why I always order any custom made hat Open Crown and why any vintage hat I get, I always clean it and put it back into an Open Crown shape. Then when I shape it, it is My shape and not someone else's. The way everyone pinches their hat or shapes it will be a bit different than someone elses. Then the hat is YOU, not a predetermined shape put in from a block. But that is just me and I can understand if you are new to hats, the reluctance to do it yourself.

fedoralover

 

[Magus]

Johnny knows...

Take a peek at the Johnny Depp's hat...thread and you will see him wearing two different fedoras...each in his own style and neither "handsomely" bashed. Seems like a good examplt of a "real" hat wearer to me.

M

 

[Feraud]

Take a peek at the Johnny Depp's hat...thread and you will see him wearing two different fedoras...each in his own style and neither "handsomely" bashed. Seems like a good examplt of a "real" hat wearer to me.

M

I agree. Depp does not appear to wear a hat because anyone else is doing it or a relative of his sells hats. The guys has a genuine interest in fedoras.
Now for the rest of us... Some members have so many lids I cannot imagine any particular hat showing an owner's individuality! How does a hat become "well worn" when you have so many to wear? I assume one will find a hat they favor and wear it frequently but I pity those poor unworn hats sitting in closets across the nation.

 

[Michaelson]

I own several, though no where NEAR the majority of you folks...but I seem to always grab one in particular, and it definitely has developed its own 'personality' due to my wearing and handling of it without giving it much thought.
If you have a particular 'favorite', take a look at it. You may be surprised to find out you DO have one that has it's own personality as well!

Regards! Michaelson

 

[Baron Kurtz]

I've heard that the actors we're talking about were often expected to provide their own wardrobe. This would surely include the hats. Therefore, the hat they were wearing in the movie would often be a hat they would normally wear. thus worn-looking.

bk

 

[Feraud]

I have not heard about wardrobe but remember reading about actors that used a favorite hat in a movie. I think Jimmy Stewart was one who used his own hat in a few films.

I have less than a dozen hats and wear no more than three at any given time. A wearer's personality does tend to shine through on the favorites.

 

[Marc Chevalier]

In discussing Film we must acknowledge another factor. The hat as a wardrobe piece.

Which is why it is also good -- and maybe even best -- to look at period snapshots, AP photos, newsreels, and home movies of "real" people wearing hats, as opposed to movie actors wearing them.

Jamespowers once posted a 1940s Stratoliner ad which said that the average American man owned no more than 3 hats (fedoras and homburgs, presumably). With only three hats to his name, a guy could wear them in with no problem.

.

 

[Baron Kurtz]

I have less than a dozen hats and wear no more than three at any given time.

"Mom, look at that man with a pile of hats on his head."

"Let's cross the street, shall we?"

bk

 

[Wild Root]

Well, Tony, this is cool that you started a thread about this subject… I’m glad that you did.

The old movies were pretty true to real life... in way of hats that is. I’ve seen plenty of snap shots with men with raw looking bashes… most men who wore fedoras were business men or sales men. They, tried to keep a clean hat but, the block job was always their own. In the early 30’s the brim down all around look was “in” for the first half of the decade… I’ve seen some guys with fedoras that put four dents in thus, creating a campaign hat appearance! Most had two front dents and center creases, but, you’d find some with a type of tear drop look… mostly they just crease the edges around or, put in three corners... I do this some times.

My self, I don’t care for a fussy look, I like to grab a hat and put it on! I do care for my hats and put them in nice places but, I wear them like intended.

I have an Imperial Stetson I got from Matt Deckard… it has a very unique block to it, I kept the original block because I thought it was so neat! Any one here recall the hat Desi Arnez wore as Ricky Ricardo? It was hand blocked low in the back of the crown that came up to a point in the front… it was a C crown type of block that he did him self… that’s the kind of block I have in this Stetson I have on right now as I type! I like it, it looks aged, the front pinch isn't straight, isn't even but, man it looks so authentic!

=WR=

 

[Feraud]

"Mom, look at that man with a pile of hats on his head."

"Let's cross the street, shall we?"

bk

Doh! :eusa_doh: :eusa_doh: lol