Why?

[belfastboy]

I don’t get dressing ip like someone else, but there are loads of folks who enjoy it and I don’t see any harm. Whether it’s informal or actual cosplay: to each their own.

There is a reason every year billions are spent on advertising. We are all susceptible to the desire of o be more like others we see. I don’t understand the desire to want “the exact hat” etc. rather than just the look, but it works for some people and I’m cool with that.

 

[belfastboy]

Probably for the same reason Fender (and Gibson/Epiphone, etc, etc, etc) sell a whole line of 'Signature' instruments. Everybody has to draw inspiration from somewhere. The celebrity endorsement, implicit or no, seems to carry a lot of cache.

The recent (last decade or so) explosion of interest in cosplay, I think can largely be attributed to the internet. But emulating TV and movie stars in and of itself is not particularly new.

Yep, I had a Boog Powell Signature first basemen's glove in the 60's.

Full disclosure: In the early 1970's I had an off white (winter white!) suit (ala John Travolta) that I would wear to the disco. Couldn't dance like him but I could, sort of, resemble him!

 

[M Hatman]

Full disclosure: In the early 1970's I had an off white (winter white!) suit (ala John Travolta) that I would wear to the disco. Couldn't dance like him but I could, sort of, resemble him!

I could not/would not do WHITE......but my three piece was tan.....and I had those damn high heal shoes too.....(I think 2 1/2 inches.....taller than the heal on my underslung riding boots....which was about 2".

 

[belfastboy]

I could not/would not do WHITE......but my three piece was tan.....and I had those damn high heal shoes too.....(I think 2 1/2 inches.....taller than the heal on my underslung riding boots....which was about 2".

Yep, had them heals too!!! My suit was not true white (I wore it after Labour Day!!) an off white but not quite a tan.

 

[Edward]

I could not/would not do WHITE......but my three piece was tan.....and I had those damn high heal shoes too.....(I think 2 1/2 inches.....taller than the heal on my underslung riding boots....which was about 2".

Back in my more active Rocky Horror days my heels were five inches. Which was easier when I became a Frank'n'Furter and could wear the chunky ones for eight hours at a time.... when I started out as a Brad, I could do fifteen minutes in those stilletoes, tops. Much of which involved elegantly falling from one support to another, hopefully not hitting the floor in between! More recent years have seen me switch to Doctor Scott; the wheelchair is an awful lot easier a perch for those heels....

 

[Edward]

Probably for the same reason Fender (and Gibson/Epiphone, etc, etc, etc) sell a whole line of 'Signature' instruments. Everybody has to draw inspiration from somewhere. The celebrity endorsement, implicit or no, seems to carry a lot of cache.

The recent (last decade or so) explosion of interest in cosplay, I think can largely be attributed to the internet. But emulating TV and movie stars in and of itself is not particularly new.

The guitar market is a funny one, for sure. Styles itself as a wildman, rock and roll freedom thing, then rigidly conforms to accepted designs and mocks anything that steps away from them - often while, completely devoid of self-awareness, complaining that "noone has done anything new for fifty odd years".

I think a lot about celebrity endorsement is about seeking something that's "approved" - in the same way as, for much of the contemporary fashion market, a large brand logo serves as a stamp of approval, making the item as 'safe' choice. Women undoubtedly have it a lot worse than men, though often in a different way. With women, the pressure is to stand out but in an acceptable way. Men seem - at least in my generation - much more prone to peer pressure to "fit in", be the same, not take risks.... Subcultures like ours veer away from that (albeit that they can develop their own conformist centre of gravity), though often I find some men are initially at least attracted to a subculture as a way of being different, to some extent in reaction to the same peer pressure others feel, but defying rather than following it.

There's bound to be some really interesting sociological literature on the psychology of these phenomena, if I were to find the time to look for it.

 

[T Jones]

"Why?" Simply because people like the hats. I wear a wide variety of hats from Westerns to fedoras. I figure that's my business to wear what I choose. If someone else wears a hat that I wouldn't have, well, that's their business, not mine.
With that said, I wouldn't mind having an LC Indy hat, though, but without the "cowboy" curl. I can't understand why anyone would choose an LC Indy hat with that ridiculous "cowboy" curl. Makes no sense.

 

[glider]

No,No,No, you guys have it backwards! It's the movie stars trying to look like normal people like us. It's actors that are always playing a role, not us, we just do what we like. Most of us aren't trying to impress anyone, we're just buying and wearing hats that we like. Some actors [Johnny Deep] can spend a lot more money on a hat than any normal person could or would and of course we do look to see what they are wearing. And we might even like what we see and try to find something similar but that's because we like the hat, not because of who is wearing it.

 

[GHT]

The question why could be asked about almost anything. Go along to a team sports match and you will see many a fan on the terraces wearing their team's jersey. A word of advice, don't ask them why. I do like to go along to see The Saints play Rugby, but not in a Saints jersey.

 

[Edward]

No,No,No, you guys have it backwards! It's the movie stars trying to look like normal people like us. It's actors that are always playing a role, not us, we just do what we like. Most of us aren't trying to impress anyone, we're just buying and wearing hats that we like. Some actors [Johnny Deep] can spend a lot more money on a hat than any normal person could or would and of course we do look to see what they are wearing. And we might even like what we see and try to find something similar but that's because we like the hat, not because of who is wearing it.

Doesn't this all go back to the challenge of separating accessories from the wearer and how they are worn, though? Depp - at least prior to his recent controversies - was for a long time seen as the last word in cool; whether it's him, Indy, Bogie, or whomever else, I'm not sure that I could honestly say when I think "cool hat" that it's only about the hat, and the way it is being worn brings nothing to the picture. (Of course, I have had that experience - Charley Windsor's tailoring being a good example: lovely suits, but he's never been am an who looks comfortable in his own skin to me, so they aren't worn with the panache someone else might have. For the most part, though....)

I've been thinking about this on and off a lot over the last couple of years, as one of my PhD students is working on IP issues in relation to costume in the film industry, and we've discussed a lot the notion of what exactly it is that makes a certain costume - Indy being a prime example - iconic. It is definitely the case that the way the individual wears it contributes significantly, though how we quantify that is much more complicated...

 

[Topper]

Why do people have to look like movie or TV stars?

Why do they have to wear an Indiana Jones hat, or a John Wayne hat, or a Matt Dillon hat?

This is a complete mystery to me.

Simple really... because the world of Entertainment has moved on. We now look at people at the Cinema, and TV as icons to follow. Prior it was icons and stars of the Stage

Remeber "Fedora" and "Trilby" are name of charactors in Plays.

Saying "John Wayne hat" or "Indiana Jones hat" Is the same context as saying "Fedora hat" or Trilby hat" just seporated by may decades of time.

It is used as a descriptive to have a common reference point of understanding when explaining to another the style or shape etc, it needing a common understanding ( so assumed both parties have seen the movie or play etc) to save a full detailed description.

That and people often want to follow latest trends or icons to feel popular.