Full Hat Collection Photographs Thread

[fmw]

fmw: does the Stetson by Sturgis come with any taper in the front, back or sides?

Yes it has some taper all the way around. Here are some shots.

 

[DRB]

fmw: Thank you for your time and effort. I just bought the hat. The specialist at LL Bean ($44) says that it is moldable if there is not enough taper or too much. Thank you, your pictures won me over. I don't own any wool hat or western hats, but now I do..Dennis

 

[fmw]

Great price. I think mine was $69 at Sheplers. I've only had one other woolie which was a pork pie that I fussed with quite a bit. I added pinches, removed them, fixed the front of the brim up and down. I would say it was "fairly" moldable. It certainly wasn't as moldable as a fur felt hat. I haven't done anything to the Sturgis other than to change the hat band. What you see in the images is the way it looks. Enjoy, and keep it out of the rain!

 

[150719541]

I don´t know, if I am wrong, because have a special opinon about hats, but this four are beautiful to me ¡¡¡¡

 

[jlee562]

Is that from The Hat Guys in Oakland, Ca?

 

[Aureliano]

These are all my hats.

A couple of close-ups:

 

[Michaelshane]

Nice collection.....

 

[alanfgag]

+1... and nice storage/display solution.

 

[150719541]

These are all my hats.

A couple of close-ups:

I like the straw hats, all are "matadores" ¡¡¡¡¡¡

 

[150719541]

These are all my hats.

A couple of close-ups:

I like the straw hats, all are "matadores" ¡¡¡¡¡¡

 

[150719541]

These are all my hats.

A couple of close-ups:

I like the straw hats, all are "matadores" ¡¡¡¡¡¡¡

 

[DRB]

Aureliano: Simply...Beautiful. High quality...Dennis

 

[Aureliano]

Aureliano: Simply...Beautiful. High quality...Dennis

Thanks, Dennis!

 

[fmw]

I agree with Numbers. They are certainly "matadores." The concept of owning and using pristine vintage hats makes sense to me. I have some problems with collecting old used hats just because they are old. Your hats are in pristine condition. Outstanding.

 

[Aureliano]

I agree with Numbers. They are certainly "matadores." The concept of owning and using pristine vintage hats makes sense to me. I have some problems with collecting old used hats just because they are old. Your hats are in pristine condition. Outstanding.

Thank you. The real "matador" is the one you see in the bottom right corner of the picture (with the plastic cover). That's my dad's old Montecristi I was told he got the year I was born (1979) It has a gorgeous golden patina, very high weave count almost impossible to count, so thin it is (aprox 1900 wpi but there's definitely variance throughout the hat). I had a lot more hats, probably as many as to fill three of this shelving units. As you might know, I've sold most of them and kept just the ones that I wear. Most of them are vintage and are in great condition. 9 are modern: 6 are high quality hats designed by Worth&Worth and made in Italy. The other 2 are a Panizza (white one) and a "Super" Barbisio I bought in Milan and Rome when I was there this past May. And one modern Borsalino. The very top shelf holds my two great VS's and my wonderful Optimo.

This is a slideshow I made and posted in another collection thread (how many hats do you own) I think it fits here as well. Click on the hat.

 

[Young fogey]

Collection photo today

 

[Swing Motorman]

Collegian's Collection Grows

So much has changed among my hats that I'm posting an update. Just a few months ago, my collection looked like this. Now, after spending lots of time on the Lounge, my collection has really changed! I think this is a testament to what you can learn here, and the contagious class of this place. Thanks, all!

Today, after much work posing them all:

Captioned from left to right, bottom to top of each "column" (this corresponds to the order I got the hats). Starred ones have details shown below the captions.

First column:
Korean (maybe Japanese?) grey houndstooth fedora. From my late grandfather.*
Dockers stingy brim fedora, my own first hat.*
Common cloth striped fedora form Kohl's.

Second column:
The Big Bad Voodoo Hat. My favorite hat re-do!
Dockers Brown-Tan-Green houndstooth, also from Kohls.
Homebuilt peaked cap.
Tan Weatherproof brand cloth fedora.

Middle column:
Livity raffia straw fedora.
Stetson Airway.
Dockers gray plaid flat cap.
Apt. 9 wool flat cap.

Fourth column:
Henschel brown fedora.*
Henschel Indy Outback in brown. This has gained a spare feather.
Belfry Gangster*
Hats in the Belfry Conductor's Cap.*

Right column:
Rebuilt JC Penney fedora. *
Belfry Tuva straw in bright yellow.
Dorfman Pacific Company flat cap.*


Details and changes:

I finally convinced myself to bring my precious fedora from my grandfather to school. It would be too small for me, but it stretches nicely. So, *sigh,* I have to leave that nice too-small vintage Resistol home with Mom, who could actually wear it if she ever wanted to. But hey, this one's neat too.

Just as my original fedora was falling out of favor over boring looks and too little brim, I added a spare Belfry feather to spice it up.

I just love this picture of the re-ribboned and decorated Big Bad Voodoo Hat!

My first Henschel hat received a hat pin of green leaf beads. I made it from supplies at a local bead shop.

I don't think I ever posted a head shot of my fixer-upper Penney's fedora.

With renovating the yellow straw Belfry Tuva, I freed up its nice Hats in the Belfry pin, which then found a home on my Belfry Gangster:

My conductor's cap is not only new since the last collection photo, but it also recently received its first two changeable custom cap badges.

This new flat cap might actually get me to choose it over a fedora on days when I don't expect extreme wind or railroad grime. No flat cap before achieved that!

I'm humbled and clearly inspired by all the expensive and vintage hats I see here, and in my own low-cost way, I try to achieve the same looks. I hope I'm getting somewhere, and I look forward to much more learning from the Lounge's best! *salute*:usa2:

 

[randooch]

The green leaf beads get my vote. Nice! Interesting collection overall.

 

[Young fogey]

Eight fedoras

Here.

'Why, yes', he said cheerfully. 'The hats are taking over.'

Three vintage – a Dobbs, a Christys and a Champ, one new Dobbs just like the old ones, two foul-weather/crushable travel ones and two casual summer straw ones. Got the vintage brown Dobbs and the grey straw one (Goorin Bros.) yesterday, the first for fairly close to the original dollar price. Found it creased backwards so the bow was on the wrong side for me, like a woman's hat! Fixed that of course. Wore it today. My guess is it was originally a 7 1/4 (the size tag's gone) but it has shrunk over half a century to fit my 7 head. The leather band inside says 'Wallachs, North Shore I'. Chicago? (I know they were a Midwestern chain.)

I think I’m done. That’s what I said last time I got one. Like Michael Corleone said about the business, every time I try to stop I get pulled back in.

Glad to say nobody has said to me I'm only copying 'Mad Men'. That may be because relatively few people watch it. Much of the world doesn't have premium cable. Of course what little comment I get is positive, in two forms: people who remember the period and/or those who understand the original inspiration, long before I heard of Don Draper (but of course now 'Mad Men' figures into it). Noir cops. I hear 'Elliott Ness' and The Untouchables a lot. Off by a couple of decades but in the ballpark.

 

[Young fogey]

The collection

Fifteen fedoras, one grey East German Army ushanka I've had for nearly 20 years, one charcoal Oxford cap and one black knit Navy watch cap here.

Eight fedoras on a wall in my room, ready for daily use, almost all from around 1960: grey Adam stingy-brim with grey grosgrain ribbon, striped bow and no feather; grey medium-width-brim Creighton with black ribbon and no feather (late '40s-early '50s?); olive-green near-stingy-brim Templeform Aristo from Stylepark with wide black ribbon and small red feather (from Philly's John Wanamaker – looks new!); brown Dobbs stingy-brim with wide black ribbon and small red feather (from Wallachs, North Shore); tan medium-width-brim Lock & Co. hat with black band (late '40s-early '50s? If so it's in top shape; looks new); black Champ with thin ribbon, wind trolley, small blue feather and picture of 707 jet on the lining; Empire State Milan-weave black hat with wide grey, black and dark-green ribbon (matching one of my 1955-1960 ties exactly – got five of them on a rack next to the hats and about 10 more stored); and the second fedora I bought, a bobo modern tan imitation Milan-weave with black ribbon (not as good as a real one but it looks good).

Vintage is the best: history, romance and made to be worn and to last.

Retired/in storage (fragile collectible, wrong size, trial and error or upgraded): Stetson mustard-brown with brown braided leather on it, in box (a freebie, too big: 7 3/8 and I'm a 7); Capas grey with black ribbon, nice yellow, white and black spotted feather and mother-of-pearl-headed pin (I upgraded to the real thing with the Creighton and Adam); Christys grey with narrow band (my first fedora or maybe it's a trilby – fragile and a little too small); bobo crushable brown with brown ribbon from Hats in the Belfry (nice spare hat; a bit too big but with foam rubber the guy at the store put beneath the cloth sweatband); fine tan Milan-weave Biltmore (too big: 7 3/8); new Dobbs grey with black ribbon and big grey feather, in box (nice but fragile); and a modern Goorin Bros. dark-grey straw fedora with blue striped ribbon (replaced by the vintage Empire State). Inquiries/offers welcome.

Pics here.