While a baseball cap seems to be a practical item for guys/folks in North America, how does one go about choosing a more 'formal' style of hat to wear? Presumably it should be be tied to the rest of one's attire? (At the risk of turning this into /r/malefashionadvice…)
Given the weather and what I'm wearing, I switch between a cowboy, a fedora, a Panama, and a baseball cap regularly. When I'm selling farm / ranch / land property, I wear the cowboy with a set of boots. When I'm selling million dollar luxury homes in winter months, I wear the fedora with a wool long coat over a suit. When it's summer I pair the Panama with a linen jacket. My point is, despite some of the negative comments in this thread, it's ok to dress well. In answer to your question, I'd say what you like and what looks good on your body plus the weather / day's activities will guide what to wear.
My favorite fedora I bought in Wales, from the same hat company that furnished Churchill's hats. You pair that with a tweed jacket and a wool scarf and you'll be amazed at how you turn heads. I'm not saying I don't love my jeans, t-shirts, and Birkenstocks, but there's a lot to be said for dressing well.
> from the same hat company that furnished Churchill's hats.
Christie's?
I have a panama fedora and a felt fedora, both by Christie's. Neither is anything particularly special (the felt one is rabbit-fur). And I'm no hat expert; they're just a couple of lids.
The felt one came from Christie's factory shop, in Witney. You can look through the back door of the shop, and watch the craftsmen blocking hats. Witney is about 15 miles from where I live. Christie's main outlet is in St. James' in London, very posh. The factory shop is on an industrial estate in the back of beyond, but it's a lovely visit.
Generally more formal hats are out of style and have been for quite some time. You can break lots of fashion rules if it's fun and you're riffing along a theme, but you should remember that most "formal" hats have been co-opted, and tend to come with some rather negative connotations (tips hat m'lady). You can overcome those with good grooming, classic style (don't wear a fedora and a t-shirt), and being attractive, not unattractive.
> tend to come with some rather negative connotations (tips hat m'lady).
The hat from that meme is not a "formal hat". It's a trilby, and at least in the UK it's associated with spivs, racecourse bookies, and Jamaican rude boys.
I'm not a fancy lad, but I think about formality as a continuum, ranging from graphic tees with lewd photos on one end to white tie top hats and tails on the other. A trilby is more formal than a baseball cap, which was my point. A trilby was intended to be worn with man's suit, which is also more formal than a t-shirt, but is not formal wear. Language, dude. Crazy.
Formal hats were popular in an era where hoods and umbrellas were seen as unfashionable, and people still needed to protect their heads from sun and rain. In modern times, hoods and umbrellas have largely co-opted their role as rain gear.
Today, hats are more about expression and communication. For examples:
- Baseball hat: I'm a simple, practical person.
- Snapback: I'm young at heart. I might like hip hop or rap music.
- Mesh Trucker hat: I'm a blue collar worker and proud of it.
- Bucket hat: I enjoy spending time outdoors.
- Panama hat: I'm fun loving, relaxed, mentally/spiritually somewhere the sun always shines.
- Fedora: I'm either cringey or clueless. Avoid me.
As George in Seinfeld says, it's too risky, what happens when you meet someone and then you finally have to take off the hat and maybe they react badly to your baldness?
I sort of assumed OP was joking. Can't tell really. But in any case where I live the stereotypes are rather different, it also makes sense that these are cultural/regional.
If you mean top hats and such, sure, but the Panama hat, cowboy hat etc absolutely still have their plan in men's clothing, particularly if you live in the kind of climate where shade from the sun is a necessity.
I think what the parent means is a hat that's an indispensible article of formal dress. They certainly still have their place, but it's not like there's an expectation to see everyone in cowboy hats at a Texas wedding.
The only place I'm aware of where hat use as a matter of dress and appearance is still strictly adhered to is in the US military.
I think one can go farther than that... wearing a cowboy hat or a Panama hat is a bold statement. At one point it would have been a fairly unremarkable stylistic choice, but no longer.
