Warm-weather white-tie hat?

[MisterGrey]

I'm getting married in the first part of 2011 (once my fiancee and I have both graduated college), but being someone who believes you can never plan ahead too far in advance I'm already trying to figure out what I'll be wearing. I recently came into possession of a used tropical-weight wool tailcoat with only minimal damage to one of the lapels (a small run, as one would encounter in a necktie), and love the way it looks, so I've been looking into white tie. My one concern is that summer in my part of Texas-- even early Summer-- has a tendency to be very, very hot, and a black top hat is likely to act as an incubator, even in the evening. Is there precedent for some sort of warm-weather alternative, such as a straw top hat, or some other form of straw hat which is acceptable with white tie in a warm climate?

 

[Mulceber]

Try and opera hat - it would be a top hat which is made out of silk and is collapsible. Should be cooler than beaver or a silk plush top hat. -M

 

[cptjeff]

Try and opera hat - it would be a top hat which is made out of silk and is collapsible. Should be cooler than beaver or a silk plush top hat. -M

Not to mention much easier to find these days.

 

[MisterGrey]

I'll certainly keep my eye open for a vintage one on eBay and around town, but a cursory glance at current offerings show a low-end price in the $150+ range... And I hate to sound like a miser but I must emphasize the "recent college graduate" aspect of this wedding. Nice clothes are nice but we're just starting out and so keeping this on a budget is rather important.

 

[Mulceber]

Keep your eyes out. Given enough time and enough searching, you should be able to find one for far less. -M

 

[Edward]

Not to mention much easier to find these days.

The other bonus is that, if you can find one actually listed as an opra hat, most people don't know the correct name (they just think "collapsible top hat"), so you don't have to bid against every goth / ***s n' Roses fan out there... I would also recommend looking specifically at eBay sellers in Germany, as for whatever reason they seem to turn up a lot of opera hats.

Whe you do pick up a vintage opera hat, my advice would be to keep it in the 'open' position whenever possible - I've been advised that this puts less stress on the vintage mechanism. Should you collapse it for travel purposes, try to pop it open and leave near heat for at least an hourf before putting it on, so as to let any wrinkles caused by folding pop out.