Thoughts on Hats

[cactuarjoe]

It’s weird that people don’t use hats of power any more. I mean, it used to be that having a hat was an indispensable part of being a classy person. A man without a hat was a man underdressed. But more than that, a hat was powerful. A man walking down the street in Victorian England wearing an executive bowler wasn’t just covering his head, he was

Comments

[alethea79]

One theory about hats going out of fashion is that they kept falling off people's heads as they ran toward air raid shelters (during WWII) and fallout shelters (during the Cold War).

I don't think that's true though. I think it's just a shift in our culture toward being more casual. In the 1800s, a man going without an overcoat was considered to be "undressed" (as if he was in his underwear). It gradually became acceptable to go without the jacket/coat at times or to not wear one at all. Blue jeans were associated with the working class until the 1950s or 1960s when teens started wearing them regularly. Women's jeans didn't exist for years; my mom had to buy her jeans from the men's department during the late 1960s/early 1970s.

[alethea79]

Oh, and I'd like to add that the increased use of automobiles may have led to the decline of hats. Hats protected you from the sun and from being chilled, which is great when you're walking or riding in a carriage, but you don't really need them when you're in a car. You'll also knock your hat off when getting in and out of a car if you're not careful, as I have learned while wearing vintage hats to church.

[cactuarjoe]

Huh, interesting. So once technological advancement made hats less useful, they started dying off. I guess not even power symbols can resist the tidal forces of convenience. :P

I do wonder about the whole overcoat thing, though. There seems to have been a trend in the last hundred years or so by which people start wearing less and less clothing. I mean, most guys these days don't even wear undershirts, let a lone a vest or overcoat. With clothing being cheaper thanks to mass production and things, you'd think we'd be wearing more clothes rather than less.

[slayerofgod]

When two groups of people really hate each other chances are they're wearing different kinds of hats.

Keep an eye on that as it might be important.

[cactuarjoe]

See, that's the $10 million dollar sociological question, though. When nobody wears hats, what do people use to tell what team you're on?

[chibisilverwing]

I'd say cars may have taken part of that place as well. Also, Hats are really cool but they can be quite unpleasantly warm. In the winter this is good, other times not to much... XD