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The Approach of Labor Day

analogist

One of the Regulars
Messages
144
Location
New York
Since I was a kid and for countless years to follow, the coming of Labor Day meant the dreaded return to school was here. The awful lump in my throat
and knot in my stomach returned.

I have attended a lot of school for many years, and even did so willingly because I paid for it myself. It was of my own choosing yet the feeling was the same as returning to my old elementary school.

For many years there was some relief as I watched the kids walking with their school paraphernalia knowing they had to go back and I didn't.

Last night, the fear returned with a vengeance but for a different reason;
when do the straw hats get put away? Is it like white shoes? Is the wearing of straw after this day no longer proper and would anybody who would dare wear one come Tuesday be subject to jeers and taunts? (For me, a Season's Ticket Holder to the Brooklyn Cyclones, Class A affiliate of the New York Mets, I was jeered all summer for wearing a straw hat to every game but that doesn't count). I still have two new unworn straws, a custom Cuenca and a new Very Old Stock Parabuntal and I hate to sell them short.

To complicate my anxiety, it is raining fiercely here from the tail end of Hurricane Ernesto and is forcasted to do so for the next several days.

I contacted Art and he told me to relax because straw in my region can be worn till the 15th of September. I don't know if he just told me this to make me feel better, was just about to enjoy his dinner and felt this is a quick way to get rid of this idiot, or is this the general concensus?

Fellow loungers, I have seen your pictures, read your posts and know many of you are arbiters of style. Help me out. What is the rule? As a newbie I respectfully seek your guidance. (I just learned the Annual Monthlong Clown Festival comes to Brooklyn today so I have to spend every second outside trying to avoid the dreaded VW Beetle filled with eight guys wearing red noses and floppy shoes.

As the Fifties song says, "will I see you in September or lose you to a Summer love?"

analogist
 

EricH

One of the Regulars
Messages
259
Location
Twin Cities, MN
Art is wise in all things hats and if he says September 15th I'd take that as sound advice. He suffers many fools like yours truly and the only time he might cut us short is if he were in a hurry to ride his favorite horse or tend to a pot of hide glue;)

Eric
 

SheikhDaoud

New in Town
Messages
20
Location
Brooklyn, NY and La Paz, Bolivia
A Fellow Brooklynite

Hi Analogist,
Like you, I'm a Brooklynite (Brighton Beach, to be exact) and I dread putting away my straws (I have two fine-woven Cuencas I bought in Ecuador, one of which is with Art right now for reblocking and refinishing, and another that Borsalino stuck its label on and which I am not very happy with). So, let me tell you what my understanding is, and anyone out there can feel free to correct me:

1. The "rule" in New England TRADITIONALLY was not to wear straw hats beyond September 15. There was also a tradition of putting one's fist through the crown of one's straw hat on that date, but I think that at the prices most good Panamas are selling for, this would be akin to lighting one's Te-Amo cigar with a stack of $100 bills (I'm not sure if anyone except a Brooklyn boy will understand the Te-Amo reference).

2. The "rule" in the South (I lived for 9 years in New Orleans) was not to wear a Panama or white shoes beyond Labor Day or before Easter.

3. In New England at least, the rules more or less made sense while weather patterns were stable: it was hot and sunny (or Panama weather) all summer, and the month of September more or less marked the transition into cooler times. Well, in recent years, we've had 90 degree sunny days as late as October....I even remember sweating on Thanksgiving once. So, what does one do? Wear a fur felt hat because the calendar says that's what you have to wear??????? Give me a break. Wear your Panama whenever you feel like it (and as long as it's not pouring rain so it doesn't get destroyed).

4. I saw a man wearing an orange Fedora yesterday and not a single person looked at him. So, this being Brooklyn, I think the chance of someone commenting on you wearing your straw hat beyond September 15th is quite slim.

Nice to meet another neighbor here. Can we see a picture of you modeling that famous Cuenca? And be daring....take the picture on September 16th!!!!
 
Messages
10,613
Location
My mother's basement
I gotta side with the Sheikh. If it's warm and dry, I'm in a straw, no matter what the calendar says.
Out here, there's been something of a resurgence of straw western hats in recent years. While they aren't quite my style, the guys who like 'em can been seen sporting 'em in the dead of winter. Good for them.
 

Bud-n-Texas

Practically Family
Messages
975
Location
Central Texas (H.O.T.)
Baron Kurtz said:
silly rules should be consigned to the trash. If it's warm and dry, put a straw on your head.

bk

Exactly Baron, here in central Texas when the weather is hot, a straw is worn, when/if it cools down a felt is worn. This applies to western and dress hats alike. I would love to wear some of my new hats, but see no need in sweltering in the heat nor soaking them with perspiration. COMMON sense should be ones guide.:rolleyes:
 
and i'm pretty sure these rules are developed from common sense (like no white shoes before/after certain dates). The weather before/after those dates is likely to create dirty/wet conditions, therefore better to not risk it. This becomes a "rule" which is strictly adhered to for some reason or other (probably because the "etiquette" guides tell us to do so). Such guide writers have a lot to answer for.

bk
 

Twitch

My Mail is Forwarded Here
Messages
3,133
Location
City of the Angels
In the Southwest it will be hot for a couple more months and people will go by "feel" rather than a certain day on the calendar.
 

Boroparkpyro

New in Town
Messages
36
Location
New York City
Another NYCer

I actually asked a middle-aged German Jewish man in Upper Manhattan this question less than an hour ago (he was wearing a straw hat), and he said he was probably pushing the boundary, and that by this Saturday there will be very few straw hats remaining. He pulled over another guy (who was wearing a felt hat), who said that the turnover date was Labor Day.
 

Rick Blaine

My Mail is Forwarded Here
Messages
3,958
Location
Saskatoon, SK CANADA
Lucky Yankees

We've a good six weeks left of straw appropriate steamy hot summer...oy!
I am so jealous when I get up & see highs in the lower 70's up thar'...
I am pushing the season & wearing my akubra fed this am 'cause it's raining, but I won't be able to stand it by 1 pm... we need some sort of reverse groundhog to tell us when we'll catch a break!
:p
 

Shaul-Ike Cohen

One Too Many
Messages
1,176
Location
.
Boroparkpyro said:
I actually asked a middle-aged German Jewish man in Upper Manhattan this question less than an hour ago (he was wearing a straw hat), and he said he was probably pushing the boundary, and that by this Saturday there will be very few straw hats remaining. He pulled over another guy (who was wearing a felt hat), who said that the turnover date was Labor Day.

Or Sukkes?
 

Haversack

One Too Many
Messages
1,193
Location
Clipperton Island
Kaleponi Craig wrote:
"If it's a bright sunny and warm day, the Panama is on. If it's cool and foggy, the fur felt is on. Simple as that..."

But you know, that doesn't work for me. Right now, when I leave home in the City, it is foggy. When I get off the train in Mountain View, sometimes its sunny sometimes its foggy. Invariably, it is hot and sunny in the afternoon for the trip home. So I will wear which ever I feel like. Today it is my felt Cordoba. Tomorrow, probably my straw planter. Ist egal.

Haversack.
 

analogist

One of the Regulars
Messages
144
Location
New York
I'm going with Sukkes (or Succoth)

Shaul-Ike and Boroparkpyro;

I'm going with sukkes merely for the fact that the ethrog (citron fruit) and lulav (palm frond) can make a pretty nice hat with a wonderful scent.

Speaking of Palm fronds, I have posted before that Iam a rabid baseball fan and a Season's Ticket holder to the minor league Brooklyn Cyclones. Last night was the final game of the regular season and we were in contention for the playoffs. I wore a different hat (mostly straw) to every game and the general manager insisted I wear a new straw and not remove it during the game. I chose a Tesi charcoal parabuntal straw (made from palm leaf fibers).
After 4 agonizing hours, we won in the bottom of the eleventh inning.

Tomorrow is game 1 of the playoffs and I suppose a fino fino Montechristi Porkpie will do.

analogist
 

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