A reader question:
Hi Muffy,
May I ask the readership a question please. I don't think this has been asked before but if it has my apologies and please ignore it.
Relating to headgear. Other than a ball cap, what other items of headgear do the readers prefer (if any). From a personal point of view in the cooler months, being British, I wear a tweed cap, mostly a flat cap but also baker boy and news boy caps. I also wear a felt trilby subject to weather (and always at the races).
In the warmer months I do wear a ball cap but I love my straw trilby with a hatband in my old school colours and also a traditional straw foldable panama.
I spend a good part of each day outside at the stable year-round. In the colder months when I’m not wearing a riding helmet I wear a navy cashmere watch cap. At horse shows in the warmer month I do wear a ball cap to keep the sun out of my eyes. We always have two or three horses that we run over fences 8 or 10 race meets a year at which I generally wear a ball cap or a flat cap. But the majority of my life is spent wearing a riding helmet. Most likely, I am not a typical reader of this blog.
ReplyDeleteIn fall and winter, an Ascot cap or beret, and occasionally a wool felt fedora. In warmer weather, a wide-brim straw fedora on sunny days and a poplin bucket hat for rain.
ReplyDeleteBall caps if warm enough. Tweed flat cap in cooler weather. Wool felt Outback if raining and/or working around horses (I don't like the noise and lack of peripheral vision when working around 1,200 pounds of unpredictability). A classic ski hat my mother knit in the '70s (Yes, it makes my forehead itch).
ReplyDeleteA Harris Tweed or a silk flat cap for fall and spring, or warm winter days. A wool hand knit ski hat if it’s cold, or a nice Persian lamb hat if it’s good and cold. In summer in the garden I’ll wear a broad brim straw hat. Around town in warmer weather I often wear a Stewart’s (the upstate NY convenience stores) camo ball cap to keep my neighbors guessing.
ReplyDelete40 years ago I left a job in West Africa and brought home a very tightly hand woven broad brim straw hat. The brim is about six inches wide. It is wonderful protection from the sun. I wear it primarily working in our vegetable gardens. It is a very sturdy kind of hat that befits the farmers for whom such hats were made. Most likely it would be the only hat a West African farmer could afford to own. I also worked in East Africa. I have a pair of brand new never worn handmade goatskin sandals with 5 ply thick goatskin soles. The target market for this sort of footwear are herders living in the Ogaden Desert. They likewise have limited funds and need a product that will last a long time. These are sturdy sandals made for sturdy, tough people.
DeleteIf it is very cold, I wear a Navy watch cap. If it is sunny, I wear a Tilley T3. I wear a ball cap often, always to play golf. My son in law has several Open Roads. I am tempted.
ReplyDeleteIf you find the straw Open Road too small (as I do for my big head), Bailey makes a similar hat that is a little bigger. Sadly, they don't make it in felt. Also, Stetson has a line of felt outdoor hats and a couple of them are similar to an Open Road. They are less expensive, weather resistant, and many are crushable. Since I know you're in Austin, head down to Allen's Boots.
DeleteI have a Tilley T3 which I tend to forget about as I prefer my straw Panama as it's much lighter
DeleteMany thanks, whiskeydent. Love your moniker. Said son in law makes Milam and Greene out in Blanco. We are a pro-whiskey family!
DeleteHave my father's USN watch cap & P Coat. He did not need it in the South Pacific. They deducted the cost of the P Coat from his pay.
DeleteOwn a Stetson Open Road over 40 yrs old, plenty of patina & experience.It's a good thing it can't talk. It takes a bit of gravitas to pull off that move.
Oddly enough, I'm a scotch drinker, which means it should be whiskydent. I blame this grievous error on the Texas public schools, where booze appreciation should be taught instead of leaving it to the kids to try and try and try and try again on their own. I'll tell my bourbon friends to give your SIL's a try.
DeleteI love the way a question often veers off in a new direction! (Personally I'm an Irish whiskey drinker - Bushmills from whence my father hailed)
DeleteWhiskeydent (and others) ... I like pretty much all whiskey/whisky in its natural state. I obviously love bourbon and rye, but I also love Scotch from Ardbeg to Glenrothes to Dalwhinnie. I am just not much of a fan of anything finished in another barrel and thereby transformed into Scotch, rye, or whatever that everyone who hates Scotch or rye will like.
DeleteBack on hats, I think tjmataa ought to go for it with a boater and I ought to try a straw Open Road as spring draws nigh. Heck, anything other than ball caps will draw comments. So why not go for it?
You know VV you're absolutely right. I've never been one to avoid a bit of controversy fashion wise, so despite the fact that it's pouring down and freezing cold outside I'm going to order one today before I change my mind! And you should definitely go for that straw Open Road. Life is too short.
DeleteBall caps mostly year-round (I have a collection of well loved, but still quite serviceable, caps sporting the logos of our daughters' colleges, Law and Medical schools (I always quip that they are the most expensive hats I have bought). In winter various knit ski hats. In the heat of summer, I love the wider brim straw fedora I picked up in Malaga last year (and kept me shielded from the August sun in Rome).
ReplyDeleteFlat tweed cap and several (genuine) fedoras during the colder months here in Michigan. A Panama hat from May to September.
ReplyDeleteKind Regards,
Heinz-Ulrich
Stetson Open Road
ReplyDeleteA flat cap year round, fabric depends on the season! Cheers!
ReplyDeleteIn the summer, I wear a straw fedora. Just bought a new one after wearing out the previous one after twenty-six years. In the winter, I have a deep red wool fedora (a Stetson created in collaboration with Marvel Comics for Agent Carter). The rest of the time, I wear my W&M ball cap.
ReplyDeleteI sometimes wear Tilley hats in the summer. I have versions that are cotton and synthetic.
ReplyDelete
ReplyDeleteWinter: cashmere hat(no scratching on the forehead).
Summer: an old standard, white sailing cap. I think I got it at Beans or Hamilton Marine in Searsport Maine.
I've always quite liked the idea of wearing a straw boater in the summer months but never been brave enough!
ReplyDeleteRecreational skiers used to wear knit hats not helmets. The Moriarty hat, made in Stowe, was the hat to wear. Today almost all recreational skiers wear helmets. The death of a member of the Kennedy family occurred when family members were playing touch football (really now) while skiing. They were not wearing helmets. Few skiers did. Publicity surrounding this unfortunate event was one reason more skiers began wearing helmets. I’ve wondered why ski areas do not require helmets. I don’t think it’s because the hat people are lobbying against them. One might think, because of insurance liabilities, ski areas would require skiers to wear helmets. But they don’t. Does any follower of SWNE know why?
ReplyDeleteI have recently fallen in love with Dr. Zhivago style hats from Misty Acres Alpaca Farms in Sidney, Maine. Keeps me completely warm. When mowing the lawn in summer my go to is a broad brimmed straw hat made by the Amish in Pennsylvania. When sailing in summer, always a Tilly Hat.
ReplyDeleteOnly ball caps. I have an array: UVA, W&L, Pawleys Island, FCC, Bermuda, etc. For those special occasions, I wear my wool Virginia cap. Collars up, you preppies !!!
ReplyDeleteI was transplanted from New England to Virginia 45 years ago. There’s a lot to like about Virginia. There are quite a few very gentle fairly sophisticated people here. There are many many lovely ladies and gentlemen here. But the idea of a New England wasp / the thing before prep really does not exist here. It is a bastardized version and not the real thing.
DeleteStormy Kromer….look it up
ReplyDeleteThere once was a wonderful company called “ Vermont Originals”. It made the most fantastic wool winter hats. When they were going out of business we bought 10 or 12 hats of assorted colors. We keep them in the cedar closet and pull them out during bitterly cold weather. What a fantastic company and what fantastic hats. RIP
ReplyDeleteBall caps almost year round, as it’s so mild here. I appreciate the way the brim frames my eyes, and the fact that my thinning hair is not as obvious when wearing one. During our infrequent cold snaps, I turn to an Eddie Bauer headband, urged on me by an enthusiastic saleswoman many years ago. It’s not natural fiber, but it certainly is warm. It suffices for all but the most extreme cold weather here.
Delete