By Thomas Palakon (Contributor) – Email
The Style Counsel, weekly advice on fashion and manners for the UFV gent, will be a regular feature in The Cascade’s Culture section. Questions, comments or suggestions may be submitted to Mr. Palakon through seamus@ufvcascade.ca. We are also looking for a contributor for a women’s counterpart for this feature, so please spread the word.
My grandmother used to say that if men knew what women thought of them in hats, there’d be a lot more covered heads out there. Then again, my grandmother was Irish and believed in fairies, pots of gold, and Papism, so her advice should always be tempered with polite skepticism. The fact remains, however, that hats are the great misunderstood men’s fashion accessory of the 21st century so far. It’s not hard to know why.
Hijacked by the skinny-jeaned and chunky-spec’ed, the modern man’s choice of brimmed hat (often wrongly described as a ‘fedora’) has crawled out from under considerable scrutiny to now be universally laughed off as a fashion accessory of the overtly-ironic; or worse, the trying-too-hard. This is nonsense. Proper hats — actual fedoras, porkpies, homburgs — have a proud history of lending leading men from Bogart to Hackman that elusive mix of coolness and just enough menace. If you want to match yours with your Strokes t-shirt, by all means go ahead, but to capture the echo of its film noir past, a natty suit and loosened tie are its true brothers.
Many of my women friends have said they like a man in a baseball cap from time to time. It lends a certain boyish charm, especially if the wearer is genuinely athletic. I’m much better at watching sports than actually playing them (and there wasn’t any baseball at Eton, anyways), but even so, I have a couple handy for when bedhead can’t be tamed for early morning coffee runs or spending time outside playing croquet with the niece. A quick reminder, however: Unless you’re a professional baseball catcher, as a grown man your cap should never be worn backwards — unless you still stand in solidarity with Fred Durst.
Whether it’s a proper brimmed hat or the ’93 Jays cap you’ve just dug out to join this year’s bandwagon, please remember that they are not to be worn inside, especially places of worship. And if the cuff behind the ear I received from my father many years ago is to be believed, they are also wholly unacceptable for the dinner table.
Of course, hats also serve a practical purpose, and with the air getting a little chilly, we are reminded that winter is on its way. A toque is always a good choice, and don’t be afraid to have a little colour in there to fight the wintry grey. I myself favour my traditional Russian ushanka, both for its fur-lined warmth, and the vintage military tags. Gives it a nice Bolshevik vibe that will likely play well in most university arts or humanities classes.
Regardless of how your head gets covered, just remember that your style is your own. So be brave, try out something different, and wear whatever you damn well please.
Unless it’s a beret. That’s just crazy talk.
