When did young people stop wearing hats?

[TommySalieri]

And one goes blind if ...

bk

Oh, gosh. Hold it right there. Don't go any further than that. lol

 

[ortega76]

While fedoras, homburgs and the like are no longer common on the street- I do see a big rise in caps (driver's caps, newsboys, poorboys) among the hipster and hip-hop crowds.

Kangols are common in the press on both men and women. While they are often worn with the crassness of a ballcap, I think it's a step in the right direction. Sure, it's Kangols worn with ripped up jeans and a logo covered track jacket. Maybe those kids will see a jobber like a Scala or The Country Gentleman on the shelf next to that driver's hat. They'll like the way it looks and buy one. Soon, they move up to a Biltmore and then maybe an Optimo. . .

That's how I started after all. The newsboy is the official cap of South Siders (in Chicago). I wore one since I was 5, like my dad and grandfather. Now, I still wear them but I'm much more apt to throw on an honest-to-goodness lid.

 

[geo]

Kennedy wore morning coat for his inauguration, with a top hat. The top hat was lying on a chair beside him when he made his speech. I found this link in an older post on this subject:

http://www.snopes.com/history/american/jfkhat.htm

Here the hat is on the chair behind him:

 

[Wild Root]

Oh Bartender?

Say, where's the barkeep in this joint? We must keep this thread away from politics at any cost Dusty!

Ok, now for my opinion on the matter.

Hats also have to do with where one lived! In California in the 30's and 40's there were plenty of men who wore hats but... there were plenty who didn't! Most young men didn't wear hats from what I could see. The reason also I find being that most California young males were feeling that hats covered up their hairstyles also, the weather was always so nice here so, why would a hat be so necessary. But, by looking in old School year books, we'll not see a whole lot of hats being worn because... men took them off for photos! And, there were quite a few men who wore hats when they landed a good paying job with a large company because, the company (most of which did at the time) have a dress code!

Now about jeans and T-shirts... not just the 50's for sure! I've seen photos from the 30's of boys wearing striped T's and wool ball caps with jeans! Most little boys wore these outfits because they were boys! Just watch any Leo Gorcey movie and you'll get a good idea what most kids wore in the 30's and 40's. The kids that wore suits and "Midget Adult clothes" were filthy rich or, they had very strict parents that were financially comfortable. Jeans have been around since the 1800's and boys have worn them for quite a wile. There were play clothes and there were dress clothes! I’ve seen photos of boys and young men wearing jeans with the rolled up cuff and a T-shirt looking very 50’s but, the photos were from the late 30’s and early 40’s! As for me, I like the 1930's and 40's ball caps! I wear one now and again!

=WR=

 

[Marc Chevalier]

Those not wearing hats in the thirties were called communists by Apparel Arts.

And before Marx and Engels were known and feared, nonconformist dressers were branded as anarchists. And before anarchy, they were derided as advocates of "free love". And before the Oneida Community was a gleam in anyone's eye, they were condemned as heretics.

Those who dress differently are easily identifiable by sight. This gives hope to those who fear that their enemies are shadowy, disguised "bodysnatchers". Hard to believe in them if you can't see them, yes?


.

 

[Marc Chevalier]

Kennedy wore morning coat for his inauguration, with a top hat.

And notice that the top hat doesn't look good on him! Check out the other photos of Kennedy wearing his top hat. I've also seen a picture of him from the '40s, wearing a fedora. No go.

Kennedy did not look good in his hats. This may be one reason why he avoided wearing them.

.

 

[Marc Chevalier]

My dad grew up in Staten Island in the early '50s. From 1956 to '60, he attended Columbia University in New York. He told me that no one his age wore fedoras in high school, and no students wore fedoras at Columbia. (Only the OLDER professors and administrators did.)

 

[Caledonia]

Hi. My mum and dad were teenagers in the 50s. Mum doesn't remember anybody her age wearing a hat except if forced to when going to church. Grandma and grandpa still regularly wore hats, and grandpa did till he died in the late 70s, not a fedora, but it looked like it. Dad didn't wear hats because he was trying to be a rocker and a hat would have interfered with his quiff and duck's **** (can I say the word here - it's a real hairstyle term?!). I think in general young folks stopped wearing hats when the teenage rebellion began in the 50s. After that you only wore a hat if it was a style that would exasperate your parents, along with your clothes, street vernacular, and the crowd you hung out with, or the hat was exactly what your crowd was wearing. And I don't think that's changed much since, but I could be wrong.

 

[indyjim]

And ball caps worn in what I refer to as the "intelligence meter" style. Basically it is as follows:

Bill forward...normal intelligence

Bill Straight backward...sub par intelligence (unless the are a catcher on a baseball team)

Straight sideways...complete moron.
There is a sliding scale of stupidity as the bill moves degrees closer to straight out sideways.

What does the intelligence meter read when the ball cap is worn inside out?
Or does the meter not even go that low?lol

 

[Pilgrim]

Inside out is a rally hat. Verrrrrry important at certain points in a game or series. Dorky-looking, but important.

 

[RedPop4]

Inside out is a rally hat. Verrrrrry important at certain points in a game or series. Dorky-looking, but important.

Rally caps are definitely important.
The inning PRIOR to the Rally Cap, the players doff their hats, and hold them upside down, by the bill and shake it so that the luck will fall into it. Then if that's not enough, the rally caps are donned.

 

[jamespowers]

Or does the meter not even go that low?lol

Well, below moron we have complete moron I suppose. These are the people you have to drag indoors when it rains because they would drown if allowed to stay outside in the rain looking up.

Regards,

J

 

[Atterbury Dodd]

A question for Wild Root.

I’ve seen photos of boys and young men wearing jeans with the rolled up cuff and a T-shirt looking very 50’s but, the photos were from the late 30’s and early 40’s! As for me, I like the 1930's and 40's ball caps! I wear one now and again!

=WR=[/QUOTE]

Where do you get 30's and 40's ball caps? I would like to have one to wear when I do dirty jobs (can't be ruining my beaver Stetson from 1940). Of course if the ball cap was vintage I wouldn't want to ruin it ether. I have always thought modern ball caps generally look horrible, but I like the old ones.

 

[RedPop4]

They shouldn't be TOO difficult to find. Large ball caps are not to my liking.
I'm a moron, as I still like ball caps, can't be too doctrinaire or judgemental. I also enjoy sports, so I have caps from teams I support, or schools where I've worked and what have you.

But I prefer a "low-profile" One of my favorites is a US Soccer cap, sits very low, is sort of brushed navy-blue with the US Badge embroidered. I'll be wearing it a LOT next month as the World Cup is a mere 3 weeks away.

If one happens to not mind wearing a baseball cap, with team insignia, search out The Cooperstown Collection. They have any number of reproduction caps from all the way back to 1900 for a few teams. I mislaid it, but I had a replica, in similar brushed navy blue as my U.S. hat, of the 1908 Chicago Cubs cap, that had a little white teddy bear logo.

Here's the homepage for all the old caps from MLB.com

I thought I posted an image, but apparently I didn't. Anyway, click Chicago Cubs and it's on the first page. Mine was a softer cotton than the one pictured, but most of these SHOULD be low profile. Look for "8 panel caps" as well.

 

[shortbrim]

Kids and hats

Hats are for adults! When I was a teen I wore hats camping and loved it, but a sense of style and character takes time to build. Some younger people wear hats here in San Francisco but only a few of them fit into them. I imagine it's analagous to other attire we call sophisticated which seems vaguely clumsy if one's identity has not fully developed....Kids used to wear beanies and Mickey Mouse caps. Now they wear baseball caps backwards: The truth is they do this because they don't know if they're coming or going!!

 

[Twitch]

Atterbury- in the 50s-60s when I grew up kids wore hats made for kids that looked sorta like the winter/high altitude aircrew caps some with wooly fold down ear covers. You'd see kids with those small brimmed caps that I call English school boy caps. There were few baseball caps worn. Very few kids( rich kids) had fedoras to go with their suits for Sunday. By the mid 60s Kennedy's influence had killed the fedora for mens' wear. But there was never some magic age when youths of the era transitioned to fedora wear as adults.

 

[Jake Sullivan]

I understand President Kennedy refused to wear a hat, but did he have such style influence because of his position, that the rest of the country stopped also? just curious.

 

[Marc Chevalier]

Kennedy did have style influence. He wore very well-tailored suits in the Italian "continental" style. Narrower lapels, excellent cut. Plain front, tapered trousers. Center (or side) vents in the back of the jacket.

When men saw Kennedy wearing these kinds of suits, they went ahead and did the same.

JFK also wore brown tortoiseshell Ray-Ban "Wayfarers", the sunglasses used by California lifeguards. After he was seen sailing in them, the fashion spread like wildfire.

 

[jamespowers]

Kennedy did have style influence. He wore very well-tailored suits in the Italian "continental" style. Narrower lapels, excellent cut. Plain front, tapered trousers. Center (or side) vents in the back of the jacket.

When men saw Kennedy wearing these kinds of suits, they went ahead and did the same.

JFK also wore brown tortoiseshell Ray-Ban "Wayfarers", the sunglasses used by California lifeguards. After he was seen sailing in them, the fashion spread like wildfire.

This is why it is silly not to blame him, at least partially, for the demise of hats.
If you can credit his wife for the pillbox hat then you have to say he was just as influential.

Regards to all,

J

 

[Byrne Sherwood]

It might be worth noting that black folks seemd to keep wearing hats longer that whites. You see plenty of hats in photos from the civil rights era. Even today, blacks seem more likely that whites to wear traditional hats & caps. Although the baseball hat prevails, I have seen plenty of black celebrities sporting nice fedoras. When I wear a nice hat, I get more compliments from black women than from anyone else.