A confession

For years I have preached that straw boaters were appropriate for men only after they begin to collect full social security benefits. A hat that went out of fashion upon the death of John Dillinger (1934) is not for the young. Verily it's true, gravitas is necessary to keep the hat from wearing you.

Well, rules are meant to be broken, and I have broken mine...sort of.



I spent parts of several days searching for my copy of Mike, the Vanity Fair print shown above. I searched unsuccessfully, but looking at Mike's photo reminded me of my father, in the late '50's, taking me with him when he bought his boater. Passing that same shop last week, I stopped knowing I was leaving with a skimmer of my own.

Now that it's here I have come to several conclusions. First, I am surprised at how dressy it feels, it makes me stand up straighter and take notice. A skimmer needs a coat and tie to keep from becoming a cartoon hat. Next, I like it. It is cool, comfortable and feels good on. Finally, I have been right all along. Like love, it would be wasted on the young. Of course my bride hates it, and so the hat and I are going to age gracefully until our time comes.

Toad

The Hat Episode

This is the episode where the charming narrator, blithely speaks from both sides of his mouth.






I've long been a hat guy. My aunts used to chide me during my misspent youth to give up on the hats. "It will make you bald", they said. So by age 10 I was warned off one thing would make me bald, another would make me go blind. Today I wear glasses and am bald.

I wear all kinds of hats. My favorite are the geographically challenged Panama hats. I wait all year for summer so I can wear my Optimo with the Bentley Drivers Club hat band. I keep in a supply of each in case I lose one.

Winter its Irish walking hats, fisherman hats, flat caps, deerstalkers or occasionally a Coke.

As much as I enjoy hats, all my life I have had mixed feelings about skimmers, or if you prefer boaters.

Every year about this time come the ads showing boaters and seersucker suits. Skimmers and linen, boaters and...

I just can't wrap my head around it. Somehow to my eye they appear like they are trying too hard. As I write this I've got a Don Ameche movie on in the background. He looks pretty dapper in his, but that was 70 years ago.

I've been ably warned off items I can't wear with aplomb. As much as I want to, as much as I may enjoy buying one, I just can't wanna wear one.

Toad

Have a great weekend friends, I'll be back Tuesday.