Hat's Off!

“Can you imagine the effrontery! He walked right in the restaurant, sat down and ordered his meal without even taking off his hat!”

I’m not certain those are the exact words uttered, however I do know that this was often a topic of great concern among my parent’s generation and many in my generation. That comment was reserved for the male population. 

“That woman should know better than to wear such a broad brimmed hat and then sit in the middle of the row! At least she could take it off.”

Those comments, reserved for the female population, were uttered if the hat was too tall, too wide, or decorated too lavishly with feathers or other accoutrements. Those large or outlandish hats definitely were not to be worn in church. Tasteful, rather quiet hats, were strongly suggested.

There is actually a fair amount of history that accompanies the wearing or when to not wear hats and can be found at friend Google’s site. In general, these societal rules come from distant cultural and religious norms, from the need to wear protective head gear for a variety of situations, and from many desiring to decorate and adorn themselves. Over time the needs and reasons have shifted and morphed with the cultural climate of the day. We now have fancy bicycle helmets and colourful hard hats that are, almost always, removed when entering a building. They do look to be hot and uncomfortable.

Not everything this month has to do with self doubt, although I’m certain if I will try hard to make a case for self doubt and the wearing of a hat. To begin with, wearing a hat to disguise, to hide, to avoid one’s ordinary image from being seen is one possible indicator. Placing a hat just so with a tilt, pushed back on your head or low over one’s eye changes as much as feelings change. Another detail involved in self image could be when one’s public face is needing a bit of a lift. Hat’s or head gear, with any form of a veil covering a portion of one’s face can be another way to hide oneself. And yet, some form of veil is still required in some cultures erasing any argument I may have had about hats and self doubt.

Wearing a hat is still something for me that is a kind of bitter-sweet fun. It protects my eyes from the sun while giving me the ‘hat head’ look - not the most flattering coiffure. But mostly I think that hats remind me of the community I grew up in, the church teas, weddings and, yes, funerals, dad’s farmer tan ~ pure white above the eyebrows, mom making hats and even Friday night bridge club where the statements of offence were shared.

“Cock your hat - angles are attitudes.”

~ Frank Sinatra