A Stylish Gentleman's Hat Part One

Not too long ago no respectable man would have ventured out of his house without placing a hat of some kind very firmly in his head.  If you look at pictures of crowds from the 1950s it is very unusual to see a man without some kind of head covering.

These days, if you look around you in the street, it is very unusual to see a man wearing a hat, apart from a reversed baseball cap which no man with any sense of style would ever wear.

If you do decide to wear a hat, and what gentleman would wish to be seen out of doors without one, you must be prepared for people to think you unusual, different, maybe even an eccentric.  Nevertheless, if you are a serious about being seen as a stylish gentleman then a hat is an absolute necessity.

As well as looking stylish, hats are very practical.  They keep your head, and the rest of you, warm, on cold or damp days in Autumn and Winter and keep the hot sun off your head in Spring and Summer.  The latter is essential if you are beginning to go thin on top since a sun burnt head is very painful (I write from experience).

So what sort of hat should you choose?  It depends upon what suits you and upon the occasion for which you will be wearing it.  For very formal occasion requiring Morning Dress only a top hat will do, ideally a vintage silk model rather than one of the inferior modern hats.  Personally I have never worn a top hat, having never been to an occasion where it would be suitable.

I do own several hats, of different colours and types, and will discuss these over the next couple of blogs.

The style of hat I most commonly wear is a fedora, or "snap brim" as these suit me better than the narrow brimmed trilby.  The beauty of the fedora is that it looks smart enough to wear with a suit and tailored coat, but informal enough to wear with more casual clothing too!   I have them in black, grey, dark green and brown which covers most colour combinations.  I would also love a dark red fedora, but that will have to wait until funds are available.

The black fedora is a Christy's hat and was purchased from Fleetwood Market from a stallholder who really knows his hats.  I've had it for over 12 years now and, with the occassional brushing, it still looks excellent.

The grey fedora was also purchased from the stall in Fleetwood Market several years ago and still looks just as good as the day I bought it.

The green fedora comes from Marks & Spencer.  Unfortunately it was purchased several years ago and isn't currently available from them.

The brown fedora has a tale behind it.  I had been looking for one for some time and not been able to find one in my size as I have a rather large head (no comments please).  Eventually, whilst on hoilday at Euro Disney with my family I found just what I was looking for.  It fits perfectly.  Its actually an official Indiana Jones replica hat, but non the worse for being so and I've not received a single comment about wearing a costume hat.

Finally I have a hankering for a red fedora, as worn by Tom Baker in his last season of Doctor Who.

Which brings me to a warning about hats to round off for today.  Once you start buying and wearing hats one is not usually enough.  I started with one and now have around 15 hats on my hat shelf.  It can become quite an expensive hobby, collecting hats, especially if you have the collecting gene as I do.

Next time I will be looking at some more hats in my collection and discussing hat etiquette for the stylish gentleman!

It's Not All About the Clothes!

An odd title, you may think, for the first post in a blog series called 'The Stylish English Gentleman" but I think you will discover, a very pertinent and important title and blog.

Incidentally, by using the title 'English Gentleman' I in no way wish to imply that those who are not English cannot also be gentlemen as this is clearly not the case.  However, the concept of the gentleman originated in these fair isles and I only have experience of being English.  People can only write about that which they know and have experienced.

I suppose that when people hear the phrase 'English Gentleman' a certain image comes to mind: that typified by Patrick McNee in the television series 'The Avengers'.  There is the perfectly tailored three piece suit with that touch of individuality, the quintessentially English bowler hat, the crisp shirt and perfectly knotted tie, the polished shoes, the fresh flower in the button hole and silk pocket square and, of course, the tightly furled umbrella.  It is a English as Steohen Fry walking a corgi in front of Buckingham Palace!

The thing is, a man could dress exactly like John Steed and still not be a gentleman.

Neither is the title of gentleman one you can claim for yourself, whatever your manner of dress or social standing: it is something that can only be bestowed upon one by another.

I can remember with a small flash of pride the first time I was called a gentleman.  Oddly ?I can't remember what I did or said to deserve that accolade.  Like all true gentlemanly acts it was a thing of a moment, done almost without thinking as an automatic response and quickly forgotten: but I distinctly remember a young lady saying, "Thank you.  You are a true gentleman."

The style of a gentleman is as much about who you are as what you wear, for a genuine personal style flows from and embellishes one's personality.  Nothing stands out more obviously that a person dressing in a style in which they are uncomfortable.

So what is the character of a gentleman?  It is hard to precisely define, but a gentleman is never cruel or cowardly, had always does the decent thing.  He will never be seated whilst a woman who wishes to be seated is standing and in all things his manners will be impeccable.  He will always be appropriately dressed and never wander outside without a hat.  A gentleman would prefer one glass of  finest champagne to several glasses of cheap fizz!

The list is nearly endless, but I will finish for now.

Next time we will start by looking at that most essential item in a stylist Gentleman's wardrobe, the hat,