Welcome back to the Gentleman's Gazette. In today's video we'll discuss
wearing classic hat styles as a modern man and how to do so confidently and stylishly.
Longtime viewers are sure to know that we're no strangers to classic hat styles on this channel.
We've done previous videos on different hat styles, how to select a hat, hat wearing
etiquette, and more. You can find our full hats playlist here. Today's video is the first of a
two-parter on hats, the second part will cover the surprisingly easy and simple process of reshaping
a felt hat at home. While hats were once a requirement for any man in a public setting,
societal changes through the 20th and into the 21st century have now made hats entirely optional
in all but the most niche of settings. Many attribute the decline in hat wearing particularly
in the Us to the presidency of John F. Kennedy - a man who was known for his good looks including
his hair. The story goes that when JFK went hatless to his presidential inauguration in 1961,
sales of hats across the country dropped precipitously. While this story has been repeated
in print and elsewhere many times, the fact of the matter is it actually isn't true. In fact,
JFK actually revived a hat-wearing tradition at the inauguration. While president Harry Truman,
a former haberdasher himself, wore the customary top hat to his inauguration in 1949, his successor
Dwight D. Eisenhower chose to wear the slightly less formal Homburg to his inauguration in 1953.
When he did so, Truman also wore a Homburg that day as a show of good faith. JFK did have a top
hat at his inauguration and that was well covered. It just so happened that in order for reporters
and cameras to see his face better during the inaugural speech itself, he wasn't wearing the hat
at that time. So when did the cultural shift against hats begin then? It can probably be
traced to the end of world war II when returning servicemen were so sick of wearing things on their
heads like helmets or their uniform headwear that they stopped wearing hats more and more
in civilian life as well. Whatever the historical case for the decline in hats may be, we've begun
to see a bit of a hat renaissance in the last 15 years or so. This can probably be attributed in
part to stylish television shows like Mad Men and Boardwalk Empire where hats are depicted regularly
and more and more modern men are again starting to see the virtues that a classic hat can provide.
But if you've never worn a traditionally styled hat before, you may be worried that if you try to
wear one now, you'd look silly, unconfident, or out of place. We're happy to report though that
this doesn't have to be the case. So, if you're looking to transition more often from ball caps
and beanies to more classically styled hats, we've got seven tips today on how you can do so
effectively. Tip number one is to find a hat style that complements your face shape;
not all hats are created equal, of course, and as we've said, there are many different styles
so you'll likely want to try on many different shapes and sizes of hat to see which one
harmonizes best with your natural proportions. Since a hat naturally sits so close to your face,
it will draw the eyes almost immediately. Therefore, finding a hat that works well with your
face shape is definitely important. We won't spend too much time on this point today since we've made
an entirely separate video about finding the right hat for your face shape which you can find
here and of course, be sure to learn your hat size as well. This is especially important if
you'd like to wear a stiffer hat style like a homburg, bowler, or straw boater;
these hats aren't going to stretch and conform to the shape of your head as much like flat caps and
some fedoras will. Our second tip is to make sure that your chosen hat complements your
skin tone. Once you've found a style or indeed, styles of hat that you would like to purchase,
the next big consideration is probably going to be what colors you want to get. When contemplating
color, one important consideration is to choose a hue that harmonizes well with your skin tone
since the hat is again, closer to your face than some of the other elements of your outfit.
This isn't an insignificant concern for men with pale and or lighter skin tones;
darker colors like charcoal and medium gray, dark to medium brown, and navy blue - in other words,
the menswear staples will contrast with your skin and bring warmth and color. For a more adventurous
and fashion-forward look, you could try something like burgundy or perhaps dark green. If you've got
a more olive skin tone, your slightly warmer complexion will benefit from colors that are
either slightly brighter or darker than the middle ground. For example, you could take the mustard
brown trilby I'm wearing today which is a favorite of mine. Lighter grays will work here as well and
the bold can experiment with more different types of colors. And if you've got a darker skin tone,
good news here: you can pretty much wear any color you'd like but try to keep some contrast
between your skin color and the color of the hat. That's a brief summary but for more information
about finding garments of all different kinds that work well with your skin tone, you can find our
video on that subject here. One shade that we would advise wearing only sparingly however is
black; it's probably going to wash out a lot of skin tones and it won't harmonize well with many
outfits. Black hats are best worn only with more formal dress codes like black homburgs for black
tie, and black silk top hats for white tie. Even morning dress will often substitute a gray top hat
for a black one. By the way, for more information on black tie, white tie, and morning wear dress
codes, you can find all of it as part of our comprehensive black tie guide on the website here.
After considering your skin tone then, our number three tip is to also keep in mind how the color of
the hat you've chosen is going to harmonize with the other colors in your outfit. For example,
if your outfit features browns and blues, a brown hat would be a safe bet while a blue hat could
work but would be perhaps a bit more daring. And, if you're wearing an outfit that has many grays,
a grey hat is obviously going to work well. Outfits mostly in blue can work equally well
with a brown or a gray hat depending somewhat on the colors of your accessories and leather goods.
That is to say if you're wearing mostly brown leathers, go for a brown hat and if you're wearing
black leathers, go for a gray hat. As a personal example, the two hats in my own collection that
I wear most often at least outside of the summer months are trilbys in charcoal gray and mustard
brown. They pair well with almost any outfit and they don't overpower it. For more general
advice you can also consult our video on using the color wheel to assemble your outfits here.
And in the winter, don't forget to consider how your hat will pair together with your outerwear,
not just your overcoat but also your gloves and scarves. The techniques for pairing these
accessories together well found in this video can also be extended to hats. The exception to
these points about harmony lies chiefly in the realm of summer hats. Warm weather hat styles
with the partial exception of the straw boater, are generally considered less formal overall and
are less of a finishing touch to your outfit as they are a practical accessory but more on that
in a moment. As such you don't really have to worry if your summer hat is paired quite
so exactly to the rest of your outfit with the possible exception of a straw boater, which again,
is more formal than other summer hat styles. So in the warmer seasons, have fun and experiment.
On the topic of seasons then, our number four tip is to pay attention to the weather. Remember that
a hat isn't a purely stylish accessory, it can also serve a direct function in the summer or on
any sunny day. A traditional hat style with a brim can help to keep the sun out of your eyes.
Hats can also keep your head from getting wet in the rain when you've forgotten your umbrella,
though we wouldn't really recommend getting them soaked. And they can also help keep snow off
in the winter. Also, whether it's a straw hat in spring or summer or a felt hat in fall or winter,
hats can work to regulate your body temperature keeping your head cool or warm as desired.
With that said then, keep in mind that certain materials look best and perform best in certain
seasons. Felt and other wool hat styles are the safest choice for autumn and winter where they
can also be supplemented with ear warmers in the latter case and they can also work on cooler days
in the spring. Meanwhile, straw hats are best worn exclusively in summer though they can be worn on
warmer and sunnier days in the spring. These aren't absolute rules, of course, just general
guidelines to keep in mind. Our number five tip is to be mindful of the overall formality of the
outfit you're wearing. Certain hat styles are also more formal than others and thus, can affect your
outfit accordingly. Generally speaking then, the stiffer a hat style is, the more formal it is. The
prime example of this would be the top hat which is a quite stiff hat sized specifically to one's
head using a specific machine and is also worn with only the most formal of dress codes - white
tie and morning dress. Down one step in both stiffness and formality would be the homburg
worn with black tie and stroller suits, the bowler or derby also worn with strollers and suits,
and the straw boater worn with warm weather black tie and formal summer looks. Next would
be fedoras, trilbys, and pork pie hats good for business attire and some smart casual outfits
followed by flat caps and panel caps which are good for smart casual and casual looks
especially in the fall. There are, of course, many other hat styles that we didn't mention here
but in general, remember that stiffness of a hat can be used as an indicator of its formality
and make sure that the hat is similarly formal to the rest of the outfit you're wearing.
For more information about the formality of different outfits, you can check out our video on
the formality scale here. Our number six tip today is to be mindful of hat etiquette. This is another
point that we won't spend a great deal of time on today as it also has its own video on the channel
but suffice it to say, if you're confident in your knowledge of traditional hat etiquette
which should still be observed at least to some degree when wearing traditional hat styles,
then you'll be that much more confident with the hat in the ensemble. As a general rule,
your hat should be on in public spaces and off in private spaces but be sure to watch the video
as there's a lot more nuanced than that. Those are our most specific considerations covered
before we move on to some more general styling tips however here's a brief word on hat hair
should that be of any concern to you. One of the upsides of maintaining a traditional hairstyle
as Raphael and I do or an otherwise close-cropped style like Kyle does is that you won't have to
worry about a traditional style of hat mussing up your hair. So long as you put on and take off your
hat properly using two hands, your hair should never need more than a quick touch-up and often
won't be disturbed at all. In fact, I sometimes use a battered old trilby which I refer to as my
hair hat to hold things in place in the middle of styling. Traditional hats can work with more
modern, which is to say, longer hairstyles but the hair will likely have to be swept out of the face
or otherwise held back. So for a video on traditional hairstyles to consider
go here. Finally today, serving as our number seven tip are some general style pointers.
Hopefully, all of our preceding points have been building your confidence. If you're still a little
bit wary, try to keep all of them in mind and also consider wearing a more minimalistic look
overall. That is to say, think about keeping the rest of your accessories and outfit details pretty
basic. Especially for a new hat wearer, a hat can carry some weight both because you might feel some
comments and compliments from others and because you might feel a bit self-conscious which will
be communicated in the way you carry yourself. Going with a simpler look using staple colors,
neutrals, and maybe even a monochromatic feel will free up your mental energies to make sure
that your hat looks good and you're following the other considerations we outlined today.
Overall, just remember the old saying that you should wear the hat, the hat shouldn't wear you.
Finally today, here's a piece of good news while the evidence isn't exactly scientific history and
aesthetics tell us that wearing a hat can actually make you more confident because a hat will often
make you look taller. It can, therefore, send a subconscious signal of increased strength or
power. This is evidenced by the fact that many police and military dress uniforms often feature
a hat, as did many other types of uniforms in past centuries, so let this confidence spur you
on to more hat wearing. Combine it with all of the tips that we laid out today and you'll be well on
your way to making classic hats a staple of your wardrobe. In today's video, I'm wearing an outfit
centered around a blue and brown color scheme that's quite obviously topped off with a hat.
The hat, of course, is the mustard brown trilby I mentioned previously and I think that it's
relatively narrow brim makes it work well with my face shape and its color works well with my skin
tone. It also pairs well with many of the other elements in my outfit including my vintage camel
hair sport coat whose football buttons are showing a bit of wear. My French cuffed shirt features a
blue ground with relatively narrow white stripes, my trousers are in a plain blue color that's a bit
more bold than a traditional navy and my shoes are brogued wingtip derbies that interestingly feature
no medallion on the toe. My belt features a silver buckle and the shade of its brown leather also
harmonizes well with my shoes. The rest of my wardrobe elements today are from Fort Belvedere,
we can start here with my socks which are in two-tone shadow stripes of navy blue and royal
blue. My tie is in a two-tone knit silk in tones of blue and brown to harmonize with various pieces
around my outfit my silk pocket square is in a color we're calling copper red and it features
an art deco Egyptian scarab pattern in royal blue, teal, and yellow and also features a blue contrast
edge. My light blue Veronica persica boutonniere provides a subtle element but still keeps things
lively on my lapel, and my cufflinks are our platinum plated sterling silver eagle claw models
featuring blue lapis lazuli as the stone. The blue, of course, harmonizes with various elements
and the platinum-plated sterling silver goes well with the color of my belt buckle. You can find
all of the Fort Belvedere accessories I'm wearing in today's video in the Fort Belvedere shop here.