Sunday, May 6, 2012
Dandies Online: NPR
This article from NPR about the decline of men's hats is really
interesting. I had always heard the theory attributing it to JFK's
personal style. The author suggests Dwight Eisenhower's building of the
American highway system is to blame: it's tough to wear a top hat in a car (vs. a train, bus, etc.). Do you think his theory is valid?
It's difficult to wear [proper] hats in today's cars because of their [high] headrests, I find, but back in the '50s most cars didn't have headrests so I think it would have been quite possible to wear even a top hat in a car of the time. I think there were a great number of reasons why hat-wearing declined among men and it's impossible to pin it on any one cause, although both Ike's highway building and JFK's style are probably both contributory factors.
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