Felt forms are made from fur - often rabbit, but beaver is considered the highest quality - or wool. Straws are woven materials of everything from, well, actual wheat straw, to palm leaves to paper to polypropylene. But most of all, relax and have some fun with your new friend.Īlthough the base materials - straw and felt - couldn’t be more different, the way most common hat styles are shaped is basically the same. Spend some time in a hat shop with an expert salesperson and a mirror. Watch out for extreme styles that you may buy for fun, but only wear once or twice. Wider brims will exaggerate wide faces, and can make narrow faces look even thinner. Round shapes like bowlers and beanies will emphasize a rounder face, while the longer, taller lines of a fedora may complement those features better. Pay attention to proportion: A hat should complement your face, not hide it. Here we’ve put together a guide to some of today’s more common silhouettes, although from sun hats to sombreros, captain’s hats to flight caps, berets to balaclavas, there are so many variations and evolutions of styles we couldn’t fit them all. Maybe that’s for the best: Now that we aren’t required to wear them - except where obliged by a uniform or custom - we can really celebrate the medium, building hat collections suited for the seasons, our fitness activities, or as vacation mementos. Once a required part of every gentleman’s wardrobe, since JFK was president they were kicked aside in favor of a perfect haircut. When worn, as they are, right on our heads, they make a statement about our personalities, our careers, or our intentions faster than any other single object of clothing and apparel. They can be expensive custom creations, practically disposable costume toppers, or rugged utilitarian models.

Russian style hat men