Whatever happened to hats?

It was lovely when men doffed their hats or caps when they saw you down the street or somewhere.

Made you feel like a lady.

When my dad’s funeral cortège was making its way to the crem many years ago, a farm worker in a field stopped what he was doing, took off his cap and stood whilst it all went past.

Very moving.

Nowadays they keep their baseball caps on in church and never think to remove them.

Did you go to the same school as me J52?
Conduct marks? 🤔

School hats were velour with a brim and a Panama with a brim in the summer. Hideous. I remember some girls throwing their Panamas into the river on the last day of school.

So we’re ours, you got a Conduct Mark if you were caught without it on your head outside school.
I dislike the Panama and always wanted a Boater!

HelterSkelter1

Actually I tell a lie when I said I don't wear hats. I do wear a floppy cricket type hat in the garden. But that doesn't suit me either.
Unlike you Monica I have a large head and thick hair so its difficult actually keeping a hat on.
School hats were a winter large flat beret type hat and summer a white sort of Panama. Both horrid and pretty ridiculous when we were all 17 and 18!

School hats were velour with a brim and a Panama with a brim in the summer. Hideous. I remember some girls throwing their Panamas into the river on the last day of school.

Actually I tell a lie when I said I don't wear hats. I do wear a floppy cricket type hat in the garden. But that doesn't suit me either.
Unlike you Monica I have a large head and thick hair so its difficult actually keeping a hat on.
School hats were a winter large flat beret type hat and summer a white sort of Panama. Both horrid and pretty ridiculous when we were all 17 and 18!

I've suddenly had a rush of interest re hats mainly because I recently went with my son and daughter to my husband's investiture. I'm not one for big hats but I quite like small ones that can be pinned onto my hair. I don't normally wear a hat but it is fun to give it a go. Roll on the next 'do'.

I think hats can be ageing on older women - if ygmm.

I have several hooded coats as I like a touch of drama but daren't go near a woolly hat as I would never take it off .
Rather think cars were a factor in unpopularity as hats are just not needed.

I have a small head, it goes with the rest of my small, fine boned frame. I have great difficulty finding a hat to fit, and to suit me.
I have a fur hat for winter and a black hat for funerals. My sun hat I bought in a shop in Sorrento, its a child size.
The hat I wear most often though is a beanie that I crocheted from chunky dusky pink yarn, it keeps my head warm in the cold weather and stays put on windy days.

Nowadays I wear woolly hats
in the winter and a sun hat if it's bright and hot outside and I'm gardening.
I often forget to wear the latter and bright light gives me a splitting headache .

I can remember a time when it wasn't considered proper for ladies to go out without hats especially to church.
There was a row at my old Baptist church about the teenager girls wearing trousers ,mini skirts and being bare headed.
I stopped going .
I looked around around my very traditional church last summer.
Ladies were wearing sundresses .
Not a hat in sight .
These days only the older men wear suits and ties .
The other men dress very casually.

Things have changed .

We always look in hat shops in France. Once saw one called Monsieur Pochat! We have a trendy sewing/handmade studio shop near us. I have 2 of her hats, one a bandeau. I tend to wear them at trendy markets, we get regular ones ten minutes away. Our last was a Pagan market. Great fun, lots of hand made stuff

DH wore various sorts of headgear throughout his long military service, and when he retired he said he’d never wear anything on his head again. Then he tried on a tweed flat cap in a country outfitters one day and from then on, never had it off his head. He was distraught when he thought he’d lost it, but it was later discovered in a corner of the garage. It went with him on his last journey.

Allira

What to do with old but lovely mother of the bride or groom hats?

I kept my mother-of-the-bride hat just in case I ever got invited to a garden party at Buckingham Palace. Alas, no invitation has ever been forthcoming. I haven't been to Cheltenham or Ascot either.

Yes, I often wear a sun hat in summer.

An Amateur Dramatics group might be glad of them or craft groups who would use the material and adornments on their projects. You could ask on your local Facebook page, if you have one, if anyone would like them.
I bought a beautiful hat for a daughter's wedding and carried it carefully in a hat box on the train. Coming home it was crammed into the corner of my case because more than one person told me it made me look like the Queen Mother.

Hats are now, thankfully, utilitarian garments we wear for practical reasons.: sun hats, warm woolly hats in winter - and that is just about it.

My father hated wearing hats and in an age when men always wore hats, he never did, despite everything my mother did. I am like my father, I hate hats. I have a small head and fine hair so unless tied down they slide off. The sun needs to be very bright or the weather exceptionally cold before I cover my head.

American men wear baseball caps far too much. Even indoors. I find that quite disgusting.

I always think of James Stewart taking off his hat and standing there holding it awkwardly when he came in. (Can't remember what film that was, or if I'm just imagining it)

It was a natural reflex in those days for men to take off their hats indoors, which they almost a!says seemed to wear.

I've never worn a hat for a wedding or for church (except Sunday school when I was about 6). Here in Germany it's just not a thing.

And as for boaters. Whoever said upthread that they didn't fit - I'm not surprised - they are square inside!!!! We had them as our sixth form uniform. Tried to throw them frisbee-style but they hurt if you got hit as they had such sharp edges!

Myschool hat was an abomination. A fabric 'pork pie' no brim with a fringe on one side and woe betide anyone who wore the fringe on the wrong side. They were stuffed into your school bag as soon as you were away from the school gates.
I too don't suit hats. I have worn glasses most of my life and somehow hats just seem to be too much 'head furniture'
I did pull off a cream trilby for my daughters wedding but it was never worn again.

I remember my late grandma going on a plane for the first time. 1969.
She wore a lovely pink hat with matching shoes and bag. Her dress and coat
were in pink and blue. She was 79. The pilot shook her hand and told her she
was the eldest person on board. There was a photo taken of grandma, pilot and
all the stewards. Which took pride of place on the mantle piece.
She told mum that she felt like a queen.
She lived till 103.

Our elderly neighbour across the road used to wear a hat and lift it to say good morning. I have just had that memory pop up in my mind. He must have been 80+ and it was 30 years ago.
And I can now see my Dad doing the same in the 50s and 60s. What a gentle time.

My mum wore a hat outside even to hang the washing out. Hats for church were obligatory when I was a child.

The only time I have worn a hat as an adult has been to my children’s weddings. Plus a woolly hat in wintry weather but it messes your hair up, so I don’t wear it if I am going somewhere where I need to take it off.
But everyone used to wear them in the first half of the twentieth century.

Last time I wore a hat was in the 1960s unless you count a beanie type had pulled well down over my ears for cold days on the canals in Venice.

I remember my mum stating how she hated wearing hats but back in the day, it was expected at weddings at the very least. Photos and film footage of historical events and news does depict many wearing hats, men and women.

These days it seems to be baseball caps……..and I detest those.

Philip Larkin ‘ old time fools in coats and hats’ bit harsh but every old photo my family has shows people muffled up in greatcoats and hats/caps.
Just different times is all.

I like hats but nothing formal.Sun hats in hot weather and a beanie type one in Winter plus a few (what Mum calls) John Lennon hats in fake fur, or felt or corduroy.

HelterSkelter1

Me too Bellasnana. It has to be really really cold for me to wear a pullon knitted hat and even that looks silly on me.
I was once with a friend in a craft type place in an NT water mill. A woman had a lovely stand with beautiful hats. Thee owner tried to persuade me to try one on. I said I just cant wear hats. She replied Nonsense of course everyone can. She eventually had to agree I was right.

😂

It's so interesting to see old photos or footage where the hats reveal social strata.
It wasn't that long ago.

I remember my Mum always wore a hat to Church and a headscarf the rest of the time.

I like wearing a hat, woolly bobble hats, waxed fedora ( with the gathered pheasant feathers), panamas for the sun and fancy ones for weddings.