Hats for Fashionable Men

May 26, 2010, By 8 comments

Before You Buy a Dress Hat

Know your correct hat size. Sizes can change over time due to your current hair style, your age, and any weight loss or gain. To measure your hat size, take a cloth tape measure, wrap it around your head just above the eyebrows and above the tops of your ears. Hat sizes range from XS (extra small) at 20.7 inches in diameter (translated as size 6 5/8) to XXL at 25 inches in diameter (translated as size 8).

How to Choose a Dress Hat

A hat should fit the shape of your head and your face. For example, if you have a round face, a hat might make your face look small. Wear a hat with a tall crown. If you have a long thin face, wear a hat with a shorter crown that isn't blocky. If you have a long nose, wear a hat with a brim that extends beyond the tip of your nose. A wide brim can also deemphasize ears that stick out.

Choose a hat that fits your personality. Decide how you'll wear your hat. A hat tilted slightly to the side of your head can give you a jaunty look. A hat worn tilted back can give you a more casual look. This is strictly a personal judgment call.

A hat's color should also fit your hair color and your complexion. While there are no real rules of thumb, a knowledgeable salesperson at a quality men's hat store might offer the right aesthetic advice.

Some of the best known quality hat stores include the J.J. Hat Center and Still Life in New York City, Hollywood Hatters in Los Angeles, Meyer the Hatter in New Orleans and Levine Hat Company in St. Louis. Optimo in Chicago makes custom hats. Their staff will craft a hat to fit your face and head shape, your build and your posture. And they'll select the right hat color, finish and style to fit your wardrobe.

Felt finishes include featherweight smooth, lightweight smooth, winter weight smooth, satin short hair and beaver long hair.

NEXT: How to Take Care of Your Hat

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Comments (8):

Jacob M. Hat Etiquette: Take your hat off when you eat anywhere, but a sporting event. Never let your girlfriend wear your hat too long, it makes you look like a pu&&y! - 04/23/2011
Jacob M. Hat Etiquette: Take your hat off when you eat anywhere, but a sporting event. Never let your girlfriend wear your hat too long, it makes you look like a pu&&y! - 04/23/2011
Laurens M. This article ignores the most commonly worn hat outside of the baseball cap, "THE COWBOY HAT"Worn Throughout The US ,ALTHOUGH MAINLY in the south ,west and mid-west which covers most of the US.This article completely leaves out THE COWBOY HAT then when you add in the trendy western hat, mainly made of raffia,There is a great big hole in this article. - 02/28/2011
D G. I welcome anything that will discourage a grown man from wearing a baseball cap! - 01/03/2011
Dwight H. Love the fedora but sadly, in this day and age, you always look as if you're saying, "Hey, look, I'm wearing a hat." That said, I've gone to the The Custom Hatter in Buffalo, NY and had Gary make a couple - one is the same model that Hackman wore in "The French Connection." Gary made the original Indiana Jones fedora. It's a trip! - 12/19/2010
Pedro P. How can you be taken seriously when you advocate that a man wear his hat while dining in a restaurant, "even a formal one"? Tony Soprano was at his menacing best when he said to the punk who was wearing a baseball cap and was eating at a nearby table in Tony's favorite dining spot, "They don't serve hot dogs here, take off your bleeping hat!" That pretty well sums up how I feel too. Your advice should have been - when in, hat off. - 11/11/2010
Joseph H. B. As a cab-driver in NYC during the late 50s, I noticed that people who took cab rides a lot never wore a hat. The reason apparently was that unlike earlier sedan models cars of that era were too low in the doorways and back seats to allow for the entrance and exiting of a person wearing a hat. The exception of course was the checker cab which did allow for the extra bit of height needed for a person wearing a hat. It may be remembered that the actor John Wayne had a Cadillac custom made for him that allowed him to get in and out of the driver's seat wearing a Stetson. One may also notice that leading men in films, other than Westerns, usually did not wear a hat - the better for the audience to see their expressions. Still true today. J. - 11/08/2010
Gregg J. It is true that JFK was rarely photographed wearing a hat after his inauguration and it may have helped to influence men's fashion. However, photographs of JFK's inauguration show that he did wear a traditional top hat for most of the inauguration's events. He wore the hat in the motorcade from the White House to the Capitol. He took the hat off when he sat down, and left it off when he stood to gave his inaugural address. He put his hat back on to review the inaugural parade and wore the hat again that night to the inaugural balls. - 09/27/2010

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