# Approp. Hat with Seer Sucker Suit



## SthrnGent (Jun 30, 2008)

Gents, et all -

I am attending a 4 o'clock wedding in Middleburg, VA, in late August, outside.

In addition to my seersucker suit, white bucks and madras tie, I would like to wear a hat. My date has made it clear there will be no boaters, so what are my other options.

As background, I am 26 and prefer my trad wardrobe cut a bit slimmer for a modern take.

Thanks for your thoughts.


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## marmer (Jun 11, 2008)

Your date is right. Boaters are costume. You need a straw Panama hat. It will also go with pretty much any dressy hot-weather outfit. Check out McArthur's posts in the "What are you wearing today" thread for several beautiful examples.


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## clemsontiger (Jun 9, 2007)

I have to disagree, boaters aren't just costume.


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## csheehan (Feb 27, 2004)

You might also consider a straw porkpie. I've got one with a light blue/dark blue stripe band that goes nicely with seersucker.

Chris


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## SCsailor (Jul 2, 2008)

I've never worn a hat with my seersucker suits for fear that it would look like a costume. Some folks can pull it off. I don't think I can. I'd agree a panama hat would be an appropriate choice. You might want to give it a trial run in advance.


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## Flanderian (Apr 30, 2008)

SthrnGent said:


> Gents, et all -
> 
> I am attending a 4 o'clock wedding in Middleburg, VA, in late August, outside.
> 
> ...


A boater is a classic with this look. But a good quality "Panama" with a black or cocoa band would be fine too.

If you ever wear your SS more casually as an odd jacket, or as a suit without a tie, or perhaps even a polo shirt, consider a cream colored linen cap.


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## Naval Gent (May 12, 2007)

One couldn't go wrong emulating Uncle Mac in the headwear department. See the WAYW Thread for a plethora of examples. Alan C also has posted photos of a couple of nice Panamas, I seem to recall.

Scott


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## mcarthur (Jul 18, 2005)

I recommend a panama straw hat


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## Sartre (Mar 25, 2008)

^ That's the ticket! I used to have one with a slightly shorter crown and a madras band. Have never been able to find another...


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## katon (Dec 25, 2006)

Stingy brimmed straw with the back flipped up.


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## Joe Tradly (Jan 21, 2006)

Flame alert.

Unless you're older than 60, all hats are costume.

JB

EDIT: other than ball caps and other sporting hats, that is.


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## Flanderian (Apr 30, 2008)

Joe Tradly said:


> Flame alert.
> 
> Unless you're older than 60, all hats are costume.
> 
> ...


Not if they hide the glare! But I'm safe under all criteria. :icon_smile_big:


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## Duck (Jan 4, 2007)

I would recommend against the hat for the wedding. If you must wear it, wear it to the service and leave in the car, even if it is an outdoor wedding.

Take two handkerchiefs. Always good advice for weddings.


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## marmer (Jun 11, 2008)

clemsontiger said:


> I have to disagree, boaters aren't just costume.


I was thinking of you, and that picture, when I posted that !:icon_smile_wink:

And, being bald, I find that hats are essential when outdoors. I have no choice, costume-y or not. I will not tolerate a sunburned or cold scalp. That means linen or wool driving caps depending on season for casual wear, baseball caps for yard or garage work, straw panama for summer dress and wool felt for winter dress. Since I'm in my mid-40's, with a salt-and-pepper beard and generous belly, and more importantly a twenty-year marriage, I worry very little about what others think about my hats. Or my seersucker, or plaid, or white trousers.


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## EastVillageTrad (May 12, 2006)

Joe Tradly said:


> Flame alert.
> 
> Unless you're older than 60, all hats are costume.
> 
> ...


I have to go with Joe on this... you're only 26. You're pushing the envelope already with seersucker and madras together.

Most boaters today look like crap anyways, those cheesy modern ones are too thick.
Get a good vintage one.


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## D. Barlow (May 5, 2008)

Joe Tradly said:


> Flame alert.
> 
> Unless you're older than 60, all hats are costume.
> 
> ...


I couldn't disagree more. A proper hat is essential to any man's wardrobe. I've noticed fedora's making a comeback among men in their 20s and 30s, and I certainly welcome it. There was a time when men in their 20s would be mocked for not wearing hats, now people on the trad board of all places tell them they're playing dress up. I feel like I'm living in the Bizarro World.


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## gar1013 (Sep 24, 2007)

Hats are not trad.

There, I said it.

Fact of the matter is, hats really died out in the US post WWII because so many people came back from the war with the mindset of "I've had to wear this stupid helmet for the past several years, I've had enough!"


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## Flanderian (Apr 30, 2008)

gar1013 said:


> Hats are not trad.
> 
> There, I said it.
> 
> Fact of the matter is, hats really died out in the US post WWII because so many people came back from the war with the mindset of "I've had to wear this stupid helmet for the past several years, I've had enough!"


Hats died out with the demise of public transportation. Buses and trains, specifically. I was there. Hats take a bit of bother, and if you love your hair as much as JFK did, you don't want to put a hat on it!

And I'll add, if you ever spent 15 minutes waiting for a bus on a corner on a frozen winter morning with sleet falling from the sky, as I did more than once, you would wish you had one.


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## D. Barlow (May 5, 2008)

gar1013 said:


> Hats are not trad.


Nonsense.


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## Joe Tradly (Jan 21, 2006)

D. Barlow said:


> I couldn't disagree more. A proper hat is essential to any man's wardrobe. I've noticed fedora's making a comeback among men in their 20s and 30s, and I certainly welcome it. There was a time when men in their 20s would be mocked for not wearing hats, now people on the trad board of all places tell them they're playing dress up. I feel like I'm living in the Bizarro World.


Not people, just me. And aparently the one or two other guys that agree with me here. I'm not an arbiter of trad. I just think hats--in the sense we're talking about here--boaters, fedoras, panamas, etc.--are representative of a time long passed.

At one point in time, one would be mocked for not wearing white tie and tails to dinner on a Saturday night. Now, alas, it would be costume to be so attired in almost every situation.

Sorry to have gotten this conversation off track, although perhaps I played right into the hand of the OP.

JB


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## fenway (May 2, 2006)

clemsontiger said:


> I have to disagree, boaters aren't just costume.


In theory, I love them with seersucker.

In the two pictures above, though, . . .

not so much.

Just doesn't work.

Sorry.

Go with a nice Panama.


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## gar1013 (Sep 24, 2007)

D. Barlow said:


> Nonsense.


Ahem:

https://query.nytimes.com/gst/fullpage.html?res=9E00E4D81E30F935A15752C0A962958260

https://artofmanliness.com/2008/03/01/bringing-back-the-hat/

There's more out there, but you get the idea.

Find some pictures of college students from the 1950's and 1960's and show me where most of them are wearing hats.

Again, hats aren't very trad at all.


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## clemsontiger (Jun 9, 2007)

fenway said:


> In theory, I love them with seersucker.
> 
> In the two pictures above, though, . . .
> 
> ...


Pointers please.


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## Flanderian (Apr 30, 2008)

clemsontiger said:


> Pointers please.


No offense, but lose the sideburns. They do nothing for you. Want a goatee and mustache? Fine, now work on growing a proper one. I.e., fuller and well trimmed. Now the hat! Looks a little small. Consider if it might be. Needs to be worn slightly further forward and I'd tilt it about 5 degrees to your right. 

Want to really know how to wear a boater? Dig up some pix of Maurice Cheavlier. No one did it better.

Like your style Tiger! Why be dull?


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## Preu Pummel (Feb 5, 2008)

Some of these sore noses might run in a very straight and upwardly mobile banking crowd, but hats aren't quite costume any more. They're on the fence again due to the predominance of hats in pop culture imagery.

The boater is definitely eccentric these days, but others are far less eccentric and in 'dandy' territory. I run with the arts & entertainment crowd, so hats aren't items of sartorial terror. Summer hats are far more acceptable, especially straw.

I wear this with seersucker...

https://www.thefedorastore.com/Bao-Straw-Lamont-Fedora-Hat-p/1858.htm

The gold straw is nice indeed. It won't break your bank. It's got a nice style, if it works with your face shape. With a tan whole cut dress shoe I think it works wonders over a seersucker suit. ...could be wrong, though. I might look an utter clown.


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## Bog (May 13, 2007)

EastVillageTrad said:


> I have to go with Joe on this... you're only 26. You're pushing the envelope already with seersucker and madras together.


Boaters were originally a campus fashion, not an old man fashion.


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## Joe Tradly (Jan 21, 2006)

Bogdanoff said:


> Boaters were originally a campus fashion, not an old man fashion.


Yes...originally...in the 30s. Maybe 40s. Not today.

JB


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## AlanC (Oct 28, 2003)

Joe Tradly said:


> Flame alert.
> 
> Unless you're older than 60, all hats are costume.
> 
> ...


JB, you sadden me. 

As stated above, for folks on this forum to label hats as "costume" (usually defined as "things I don't like to wear") is, quite frankly, laughable.


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## Flanderian (Apr 30, 2008)

Maurice working the tilt!

https://farm4.static.flickr.com/3157/2486093508_3579fc13b7.jpg?v=1213563727

Looks as if he was born in it!

(Sorry about a link rather than photo, seriously bandwidth deficient. Need to work on this.)


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## Joe Tradly (Jan 21, 2006)

AlanC said:


> JB, you sadden me.
> 
> As stated above, for folks on this forum to label hats as "costume" (usually defined as "things I don't like to wear") is, quite frankly, laughable.


Sorry to upset, Alan. You're one of the few young men I've seen that can pull it off. The rest, sadly, cannot.

JB


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## 32rollandrock (May 1, 2008)

OP is bald--a hat is entirely appropriate. BB sold a seersucker baseball cap last spring, and I wore one to my own wedding in May. Well, at least to the getaway: My bride and I rode off on a motorcycle, and it was just the right touch, albeit distinctly non-Trad, worn backwards as we sped away (I can hear the gasps). I also wore a seersucker suit. I'm sure I'll never wear the hat again, because I'm not generally a hat person, but it was worth every penny of an overpriced $80. Although I'm not a hat person and have all my own hair, I occasionally wear a white straw fedora style with seersucker, I'm south of 50 and not a bit ashamed. Go for it.


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## Senator LooGAR (Apr 19, 2008)

*Love my hair more than JFK*

I have grown out of hats completely.

Not my style, and the boater thing look very affected - not really a fan.


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## gar1013 (Sep 24, 2007)

Flanderian said:


> No offense, but lose the sideburns. They do nothing for you. Want a goatee and mustache? Fine, now work on growing a proper one. I.e., fuller and well trimmed.




I'd have to disagree with one regard to the goatee and mustache issue... and that is, I'd lose it all together. And this is coming from someone who had a goatee/mustache combo until the Christmas Eve before I graduated from college.

Clean cut really is the way to go -- especially since the ladies prefer it. For me the goatee will always be a thing of the 90's. Anytime since then that I've grown a goatee, I've never really liked the look of it.

I'd probably also suggest chopping the sideburns down as well - you don't need to get rid of them, but they're a little on the big side -- especially if you're wearing a hat.


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## Flanderian (Apr 30, 2008)

gar1013 said:


> I'd have to disagree with one regard to the goatee and mustache issue... and that is, I'd lose it all together. And this is coming from someone who had a goatee/mustache combo until the Christmas Eve before I graduated from college.
> 
> Clean cut really is the way to go -- especially since the ladies prefer it. For me the goatee will always be a thing of the 90's. Anytime since then that I've grown a goatee, I've never really liked the look of it.
> 
> I'd probably also suggest chopping the sideburns down as well - you don't need to get rid of them, but they're a little on the big side -- especially if you're wearing a hat.


I have neither a positive or negative reaction to facial hair. Grooming, like clothing is not one size, or one style fits all. Tiger's facial hair looks fashionable. Fashion is the enemy of style. When Tiger figures out what, if any, facial hair, and in what fashion, enhances his appearance, as compared to what may be, or may not be fashionable, he will be on to something. Questioning whether something is '90's, or '40's or 2008 is pointless, when the issue is, does it make someone look better?


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## Joe Tradly (Jan 21, 2006)

Flanderian said:


> Questioning whether something is '90's, or '40's or 2008 is pointless, when the issue is does it make someone look better.


A valid--and good--point.

JB


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## Senator LooGAR (Apr 19, 2008)

While Flanderian has a point, goatees are never stylish, nor fashionable - a lesson I, like gar1013 learned by wearing one for some time in the mid 90s.

Terrible look, no matter who has one, or the time period.


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## Flanderian (Apr 30, 2008)

Senator LooGAR said:


> While Flanderian has a point, goatees are never stylish, nor fashionable - a lesson I, like gar1013 learned by wearing one for some time in the mid 90s.
> 
> Terrible look, no matter who has one, or the time period.


Actually, a goatee can be very useful in enhancing some men's appearance. It can look very distinguished. The pastor of my church when I was a boy wore one. And it was once quite fashionable among European aristocracy.

A goatee can generally improve the appearance of both the rotund and the follicle deficient. Burl Ives qualified on both counts. The question is not, do you want to look like Burl Ives? The question is, if you already look like Burl Ives, do want to look like Burl Ives with or without a goatee?

https://farm2.static.flickr.com/1060/727726177_45ce315c2a.jpg?v=0


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## Naval Gent (May 12, 2007)

^Preu Pummel says "On the Fence". I agree. That describes my attitude for hats. I like hats, but I sense the attitude displayed above. John Q Public thinks hat wearers (under age 60) are just too many standard deviations from the mean. But when outdoors in inclement weather (rainy, cold, or smoking hot) I don't care - I reach for a hat. (and no, I'm not bald)

Scott


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## gar1013 (Sep 24, 2007)

Flanderian said:


> Questioning whether something is '90's, or '40's or 2008 is pointless, when the issue is, does it make someone look better?


I'd disagree there. There comes a period after certain things have come into fashion and died out where the person ends up coming across as being dated but not in a good way (think of all the people running around into the late 90's with mullets). Case in point: imagine wearing bellbottoms in 1985. Bellbottoms were okay again back in the 1990's, but certain excesses need to be allowed to die off before they are resurrected, if at all.

I'm not saying that a goatee means you can't be taken seriously, but until another several years has past where goatees are relatively scarce, it's probably best to avoid them.

In full disclosure, the only reason I ever grew a goatee was because I didn't want to get a fake ID. Sometimes the goatee alone was enough to drink and gamble (and I look young for my age, always have). Sometimes I need to be wearing a coat and tie (as was the case in one of my favorite Georgetown watering holes). If that is indeed the case with the current goatee in question, then wear it proudly and bring on the drink and the dancing girls!


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## clemsontiger (Jun 9, 2007)

Flanderian said:


> No offense, but lose the sideburns. They do nothing for you. Want a goatee and mustache? Fine, now work on growing a proper one. I.e., fuller and well trimmed. Now the hat! Looks a little small. Consider if it might be. Needs to be worn slightly further forward and I'd tilt it about 5 degrees to your right.
> 
> Want to really know how to wear a boater? Dig up some pix of Maurice Cheavlier. No one did it better.
> 
> Like your style Tiger! Why be dull?


I'm glad to see my facial hair of old has drawn some interest. I actually don't sport any facial hair any longer. This picture is from 5 or six years ago when I was a sophomore/junior in college. And while I do still have the side burns they're about a inch higher. But thanks for the pointers, I did ask for them.


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## Flanderian (Apr 30, 2008)

gar1013 said:


> imagine wearing bellbottoms in 1985. Bellbottoms were okay again back in the 1990's,


My friend, I couldn't imagine wearing bellbottoms in 1968, and didn't. Unless you were Jimmy Hendricks or in the Navy, bellbottoms were *never *OK!

Fashion is the enemy of style, why be dull?


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## Atlanta Fop (Feb 4, 2008)

I'll confess that I am an avid seersucker wearer. I've owned a straw boater for almost 15 years (since my college days, when I "came into my own" sense of style), but I have to admit I do not often wear it. I have worn it to outdoor weddings, and even to church. Like many things, it depends so much on what my mood is prior to wearing it. I probably would not wear it to court.

Now, I prefer straw panama hats. I recently picked up a Dobbs Fifth Avenue straw, a Stetson Centerdent Panama, and a Christy's bleached panama. For me, these really look smashing with seersucker. And I get compliments every time I wear a hat with seersucker. As for the OP, I would think that any of these would be fine options. Personally, I'd love to get a Borsalino panama after seeing some and trying some on in Seattle - that would be a particularly nice look with seersucker IMHO.

For me, the bottom line comes to this - it's all about your personal level of confidence (and what your date will apparently accept). If you like it and it suits you, wear it. If you are squeamish (sp?), don't wear it. Be not concerned with what others may think - if I were so concerned with that, I'd never wear a bow tie AND a seersucker AND spectators AND a hat. And If Fred Astaire or Cary Grant were so concerned with what other folks thought, what stylish icons would we have to revere today?


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## Topsider (Jul 9, 2005)

Flanderian said:


> Unless you were Jimmy Hendricks *[Ed: It's "Jimi Hendrix"]* or in the Navy, bellbottoms were *never *OK!


The Navy guys hate 'em, too. Dunno 'bout Jimi, but I'm guessing he had other things on his mind.


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## katon (Dec 25, 2006)

Joe Tradly said:


> Sorry to upset, Alan. You're one of the few young men I've seen that can pull it off. The rest, sadly, cannot.
> 
> JB


What would be your suggestion for dealing with the glare? Sunglasses?


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## Joe Tradly (Jan 21, 2006)

katon said:


> What would be your suggestion for dealing with the glare? Sunglasses?


The only time I have to contend continuously with glare is when I'm sailing, and on the boat I wear a ball cap.

JB


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## Flanderian (Apr 30, 2008)

Topsider said:


> The Navy guys hate 'em, too. Dunno 'bout Jimi, but I'm guessing he had other things on his mind.


Thanks, Jimi Hendrix. Gosh I murdered that! Neither Jimi or I can spell!


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## jamgood (Feb 8, 2006)

This young punk seems to carry off a low grade Cuenca that wouldn't pinch a parsimonious purse. Can you slur your speech, krazy-glue some wooly worms above and arch just one brow? (Somebody tell Tommy his burns too long, moustache and collar ain't trad)


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## mcarthur (Jul 18, 2005)




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## paper clip (May 15, 2006)

I'm on the fence about "serious" hats myself. Disclosure: I wear ball caps during the summer (not at work) and ivy caps in fall/winter and a waxed cotton trilby-like hat for rainy days.

From what I can see and have read, I believe the key is to have the hat well fitting (like on Connery) so it is part of you, not just propped up on top of your head. See how low Connery's comes down - it is an extension of his head, not plopped up on top. It fits his skull perfectly.

This is why the boater is destined to fail - "new" ones are stiff and thick and look like a prop, not something you'd wear. I give Tiger a lot of credit for having the cojones to don his, but it does not seem to sit well on his head. There's another pic floating around here of a member with one and a bow tie and suit on vacation in Bermuda, I think - same thing - it looks like a prop, esp. with a bow tie.

Ole' Chevalier's looks pretty good on his head. Perhaps if you could get one that looked more "worn in" and flexible so it fits....


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