What's the perfect modern late-30s hat?

[Shaul-Ike Cohen]

I'm sorry to bother you with this question, it just turned out difficult to find ready answers through the search functions.

So: If our cash check is friendly enough, I might be ready to get a new hat for the winter. Are there any non-vintage hats available that look like, say, a typical 1937/38 hat? (I'm afraid a custom blocking might turn out to be too expensive.)

Please correct me if I write nonsense - I haven't "studied" this in any way, but before my inner eye, that would be:
- a higher crown
- probably a crown that's higher in the front than in the back
- C-crown or teardrop
- front pinches (side pinches would be a bit earlier, wouldn't it?)
- lower medium-wide brim
- not toooo wide hatband
- front drawn down, but maybe already unsymmetrically - in my case, stronger at the right side.

Any ideas?

 

[Maj.Nick Danger]

Funny you should mention this.

It's just another case of hat-sychronicity I guess,...
But I just happened to see "Angels With Dirty Faces" starring James Cagney last night, and I was really taken by the hat he wore, it was perfect.
The hat he wore in the movie is the exact hat you were talking about and I was thinking about!

 

[Maj.Nick Danger]

Here's a pic of Cagney with his hat.

 

[Maj.Nick Danger]

Another still from the movie.

 

[BigSho]

http://www.hats-plus.com/detail.aspx?ID=91&Name=Biltmore-Rosellini-C-Crown-Fedora-Hat

One of my favorit felts period the Rosselini quality from Biltmore has a great finish and a real soft feel. It's interesting they actually use dried out shark skin and kind of belt sand the felt with it to get the texture and feel that it has.

Jeremy
http://www.hast-plus.com

 

[Shaul-Ike Cohen]

It's just another case of hat-sychronicity I guess,...
But I just happened to see "Angels With Dirty Faces" starring James Cagney last night, and I was really taken by the hat he wore, it was perfect.
The hat he wore in the movie is the exact hat you were talking about and I was thinking about!

Here are some stills I found:

Thanks, this is very much in the direction I meant! Maybe a tad less high, and a tad wider in the brim.

 

[Mr. Lucky]

Here are some stills I found:

Thanks, this is very much in the direction I meant! Maybe a tad less high, and a tad wider in the brim.

Here's a great PARODY of that hat -

 

[Dinerman]

How come you want a non vintage hat?

 

[skwerl-hat]

i also saw that movie last night and i said the exact same thing! what a beautiful hat who made it? it almost resembles a black knox i have

 

[Maj.Nick Danger]

i also saw that movie last night and i said the exact same thing! what a beautiful hat who made it? it almost resembles a black knox i have

A classic movie for sure. Lots of great hats and 30's tough guy talk, but Cagney's hat just jumped out at me. Looks like it was custom made just for him. I doubt they would list hatmakers in the credits, probably only the wardrobe person is listed.

 

[Shaul-Ike Cohen]

How come you want a non vintage hat?

Hm, hard to say. Probably a certain fear of unpleasant leftovers from previous owners, and a certain fear of damages you don't see on pictures.

 

[Shaul-Ike Cohen]

Here are some pictures of an Italian-made straw hat I bought ages ago. Unfortunately, the last cleansing activities ruined it a bit. The pinches are quite voluminous, and the crown could be higher, but I like that one very much.

Any ideas where to find something similar in both felt and straw?

(And am I off the track associating a late 30s look for the hat pictured above?)

 

[Shaul-Ike Cohen]

Oh, and Matt might like the crimpled look.

 

[ledsled]

funny

Here are some pictures of an Italian-made straw hat I bought ages ago. Unfortunately, the last cleansing activities ruined it a bit.

fftopic: Your term "cleansing activities" as in "the cure being worse than the condition" strikes my funny bone! I guess I can laugh because I have put myself in that predicament many times over! lol

 

[Mr. Rover]

I believe this picture is from 1939's "Roarin' Twenties". Wouldn't you think that the hat style pictured is trying to emulate the earlier look of the 20's and early 30's? The look seems to be the look from that era (shortish brim with a tall untapered crown) more so than the late 30's look, not to say they didn't have shortish brims with tall untapered crowns in the late 30's too.
Cagney's hat works for him because he was a slight guy- thin and short. The tall crown helps give him some height (and balances his long face) and the shorter brim helps to emphasis his verticality (real world?) too.

 

[feltfan]

(And am I off the track associating a late 30s look for the hat pictured above?)

I think so. In a way, all fedoras are pretty similar
(at least they have a similar set of components), so
these distinctions of era can be subtle, particularly when
projected on modern materials.

The straw in your picture has a significantly shorter crown.
The sides taper a lot more than a 30s hat. The "pinch" is
actually a blocked in dent, rather than a pinch made by
the hands of the owner or seller. The hat band is not as
wide and rich as the ones in the 30s hats you picture.
Not to put down your hat, just to say that it corresponds
more closely to a 50s or 60s hat.

I don't imagine it'd be too hard to find a hat like this.
Hard to say from the photos what sort of material this is-
low density cuenca or shantung or something.
If you really like the hat you have, you might save and
reuse the hat band.

BTW, Shaul-Ike, keep in mind that some of the vintage hats
we buy have never been used, or almost never. And of course
they can be cleaned.

 

[Dinerman]

I just know I stay aaway from new hats because I don't like spending money.
Why pay upwards of 200 bucks for a hat when I can get a hat of better quality for under 10 with almost no use (If I look hard enough)

Of course this is just me, and I'm not helping your cause very much by saying this, so i'm just going to stop typing now.

good luck finding something you like.

 

[Fortino37]

30's Style

The hat fashion in the late 30's was plenty of variations, short brims and log brims where used the same as the homburgs and Skimmers.


This is my Stetson fedora ffrom the 30's

And this is a modern Stetson fedora that looks like my 30's lid, just remove the feather, turn the rear brim up an the front brim down and your look will be similar to the 30's. (This is a STETSON FREDERICK WOOL HAT 182)

You can look this hat in this link http://www.billthehatter.com/item70.htm


Fortino37

 

[feltfan]

This is my Stetson fedora ffrom the 30's

And this is a modern Stetson fedora that looks like my 30's lid, just remove the feather, turn the rear brim up an the front brim down and your look will be similar to the 30's.

I note that the new Stetson is $59.
As long as you think they look similar, I'm sure
you'd be glad to accept twice that for the 30s Stetson, right?
Then you can buy one of the new ones and put the same
amount in your pocket! Let me know where to send the check.

That's a darn nice bow and piece of felt on that 30s number.

 

[Boroparkpyro]

Here are some pictures of an Italian-made straw hat I bought ages ago. Unfortunately, the last cleansing activities ruined it a bit. The pinches are quite voluminous, and the crown could be higher, but I like that one very much.

(pictures above in thread)

That's some very skilled anonymizing, Mr. Cohen.

Is the very fast transition from down-tilted in the front to up-tilted farther back part of the desired style?