Personal Preference with Bonnets

[tripleblessed]

Not to belabor the point, but cultural context is very important. An Aussie hat comes off much different than a
'bulldog style' cowboy hat. This is what people think of when it's done with a cowboy hat: the dreaded pop-country music singer look.

The picture is easily recognizable as A common way to wear a hat. And I'll readily agree it is a shaping frequently used by pop-country
singers (your phrasing is right on target). It is not, however, what I recognize as bulldog. With that term (in my experience and the
usage of anyone I have known), the sides are never rolled. Which doesn't make me right, just how I was introduced to the term by guys
from Big Sky country, and others I've known. Sides flat, front and back tipped down. Excellent for keeping sun from eyes and ears and
rain from all sides of collar. Rolled sides noticeably less effective.

While here, I'll also agree with you that in many to most people's mind there is a shape which says to them "cowboy hat". That was not
always the case. When I was small, more people wore hats, and wore them more regularly, and had more than one for different tasks.
Most towns had someone who could reblock your hat to your liking. A "cowboy hat" could be blocked in several common ways, giving
different silhouettes. Several had their own names, but all worked with any "Boss of the "Plains" style hat. A journey through photo
collections shows cowboys wore many styles of hats, including derbies and hats closer to top hats than today's "cowboy" hats. With the
dwindling of hat wearing, there was a resulting dwindling of variety in the offerings from manufacturers, and today's "iconic" shape won
out by attrition.

I got my first cowboy hat in 1951; and was first on a horse unsupervised in 1953. Men and boys I grew up with herded cows and rode
in rodeos in hats that were quite varied, some looked exactly like a fedora with a four inch brim. As you said, not to belabor the point,
iconic and/or mythic is in the eye of the beholder and popular iconic/mythic images are often quite disconnected from reality. I have
always favored reality over popular cultural narrative. This creates a different baseline. Mind you, I have no problem with other views,
as held by other folk. And I'm quite well acquainted with being called an idiot. And as well, I'm almost always in agreement with your
eye and apprehension of the facts. I'm just so old I remember other stuff, and have slightly different cultural connotations (and often
denotations) than others in any community into which I happen to wander.

[Tobus]

Great reply, tripleblessed! I agree on the history of hat shapes here in this part of the world. Today's cowboy hat is a stylised version of one type, and there were many types of hats that cowboys (or other trades) wore. Not to mention that there were many different materials too. The real cowboys in my area would never be seen in a straw hat, and consider beaver felt hats proper. Crown shape, brim width, shaping of the brim, and even the hat band all mean something to these guys, where the general public just sees a cowboy hat.

And to be quite honest, there's still a segment of the population that judges people who wear a cowboy-style hat without having earned it. Hence the phrase "all hat and no cattle". But the average Texan sees it more as cultural dress, along with boots and jeans. It's sort of the national dress of Texas, much as the kilt has become the national dress of Scotland and not just the Highlands. I do own cowboy hats, but tend to only wear them if I'm actually going to be on horseback or driving cattle (which I don't do often, but I have been known to).

At any rate, there's a point I made in another thread that I think bears repeating for posterity in virtually every discussion like this: we cannot control other peoples' perceptions. If we don't care how they perceive us or we're trying to be eccentric/unique, that's one thing. But if we do want our presentation to be seen in a particular context (i.e. recognisably Highland/Scottish dress), it's important to understand how and why others may raise an eyebrow at certain choices. And hats are a big part of that. Our own personal experiences with hat types may or may not be the same as others, and wearing a hat that looks to others like a cowboy hat will elicit a particular response in them. I personally feel that I would look ridiculous wearing one of my cowboy hats with a kilt, and if I think that way, other people in my area would probably think I'm foolish too. So I don't. When practicality dictates a wide-brimmed hat, I try to stick to something that would be not too out-of-bounds in the greater UK so that I'm not causing any eye-rolling culture clashes.

Others might feel differently about their own headwear choices, and that's fine. These are just my personal thoughts on how to tastefully deviate from a cultural dress tradition when necessity demands it. More and more lately, I try to keep that word in mind: tasteful.

[FossilHunter]

There’s some historical precedent for brimmed hats being used by Scottish soldiers in the Boer war.


From: scotclans.com


From: victorianwars.com

[Tarheel]

Me and my Stetson. This is one of the hats I wear often and at times with my US Army tartan utility kilt and work boots. As Tobus stated, this type cowboy hat is thick felt, braided leather hat band, two feathers (one red hawk and one gold finch) and has special meaning to me.

[Steve Ashton]

I too, will on those occasions when I need to be outside on hot days in direct sunlight, wear my wide brimmed Stetson.
Mine is just a little different though.



At the time I was in "The Cav" these we known as 4X Beaver felt. Today they are listed as 100X Beaver Felt.
An amazing material. Heavy, stiff, totally waterproof and almost indestructible.
During the 1700's and 1800's the making of Beaver hats was big business. The trade in Beaver built Canada and of course The Hudsons Bay Company were the largest fur traders in the world and manned primarily by Scots.
You just were not anyone unless you had a Beaver felt hat. Someone could tell all they needed to know about you from the shape and style of hat you wore. They could tell your occupation. Your age, your financial standing and your place in the social hierarchy.

Wearing my Cav Stetson certainly puts me well outside the normal Iconic Highland dress - but there is nothing more suitable or comfortable for the conditions than a hat like this.

[YOJiMBO20]

Definitely a hat wearer here. They're needed more and more as I have less and less hair...

It's not out of the ordinary to find me wearing my tweed flat cap, a faded cadet cap, or even a baseball hat while kilted. When the band is on and I'm in uniform, it's a glen, but otherwise my hat choice will be one of those three.

Though sometimes I forego a hat altogether, but those times are, as I said, getting rarer and rarer as my hair does the same.

[frank_a]

I have a couple knit and felted bonnets made by hand by a woman I know. I'm not sure if she does them anymore actually. I have a Glengarry, but hardly ever wear it. The knitted/felted bonnets are so very comfortable!

I am a hat guy, with a few wool Irish caps, more than a few cowboy hats, and a number of fedoras. I like hats that fit well.

Frank