Hat's Off to You

For no matter what the world, men who deal in headwear are men to be trusted above any other.
— Frank Beddor

People, when they buy a hat, they can't explain why they want to buy it or why they want it, but they do. It's like chocolate.
— Philip Treacy

Some hats can only be worn if you're willing to be jaunty, to set them at an angle and to walk beneath them with a spring in your stride as if you're only a step away from dancing. They demand a lot of you.
— Neil Gaiman

I love hats. I don’t know when my love affair with hats began, but I suspect it dates back to my childhood, and Easter. Easters were usually spent in Owen Sound with my aunt and uncle so we could all go to the service at Knox United Church.

This required dressing up for church, and part of the ensemble was a hat, made by my aunt who had training as a milliner. To be honest, I don’t recall wearing a hat at any other time (barring ski hats in the winter), but Easter and hats always went together.

I’ve had many hats over the years, and endured much ribbing over them – cloth hats, felt hats, leather hats, straw hats. My current favorites right now are my black fedora, and my leather Australian outback walker, which I have been known to wear in my office when the sun is shining through my southern facing window.

A sun hat in the summer is a must for me, as I don’t fair well in direct sunlight. For this I have a couple of straw sunhats with wide brims, although I’ll wear my leather one in a pinch.

Sadly, for the last few years I haven’t been able to wear my hats outside as much as I’d like. Why? Two words - global warming. Because global warming it’s been getting increasingly windy here. We live on the north shore of Lake Ontario, and while we can usually count on a light breeze, the last few years it’s been seriously windy. And we all know what happens to a hat in a stiff wind.

This is becoming a serious problem for me. It’s rare that I can wear my fedora or any other felt hat outside. They don’t have a lot of weight to them so even a medium breeze can send them sailing. But if that wasn’t bad enough, the wind has become strong enough on a regular basis that I can’t even wear my leather hat.

While I did break down and poke holes in one of my straw hats to thread a scarf through it so I could do my gardening, even I have to admit it looks kind of silly. And there is no way I’m going to deface one of my good hats in such a manner. If I want to spend time outside this summer, there’s only one solution.

It’s time to invest in a Tilley Hat.



And just because it's close to Easter, here's another video.