# Have a Panama Hat, which suits/ coats may I wear it with?



## wannaB1L (Jul 30, 2006)

It is straw, nice and light. It has a band that is earthy in tone/ neutral. So I know I can wear it fishing and beer drinking. Can this hat be worn with: Seersucker, Glencheck plaid, navy blazer, green/ blue madras, regular madras, navy pinstriped suit, brown cord coat, chino coat. My age is 30. I live in SoCal in summer and NorCal in winter.

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## wannaB1L (Jul 30, 2006)

I have never worn such a hat.


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## marmer (Jun 11, 2008)

It's a summer hat, so I wouldn't wear it with the corduroy or the glen plaid if it's a heavy tweed. I'm not sure I'd wear it with a navy suit, though it is the dressiest hot-weather hat. But I might if it was a really nice hat.

I would not hesitate to wear it with any of your other choices. Check out the "What are you wearing today" thread on this forum. There's a gentleman named McArthur who frequently wears beautiful Panama hats with tailored clothing.

PS: If you're going to wear it with dressier clothing, do not wear it fishing or beer drinking. It has to look dressy to be dressy and should not be stained or misshapen. Get a cheap straw hat at a beachwear kind of place for bashing around.


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## agnash (Jul 24, 2006)

I wear mine with seersucker, poplin, and linen suits. I also wear it with a navy blazer and chinos or odd seersucker trousers. 

I second the recommendation of not wearing it while fishing and drinking beer. I keep a cheap straw planter for those activities.


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## mcarthur (Jul 18, 2005)

Panama straw can be worn from casual to business attire. Enjoy wearing your Panama straw


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## wannaB1L (Jul 30, 2006)

I gave it away. I always felt fancy and mentally uncomfortable (not physically) with it on. I like nice things, understated quality is my thing.


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## rip (Jul 13, 2005)

wannaB1L said:


> I gave it away. I always felt fancy and mentally uncomfortable (not physically) with it on. I like nice things, understated quality is my thing.


Hopefully, a little more time with this forum will help you develop a more comfortable sense of yourself with something so wonderful and elegant as a panama hat, properly worn. Admittedly, it takes some cojones at first to venture forth in one, but just look around at the absurdly dressed Am-Jacs with their backwards ballcaps and realize how you alone may be moving culture forward just one more step!!


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## wannaB1L (Jul 30, 2006)

been a member for 2.5 years and lurked around before that. I am set in my ways like a 70 year old man (in a 30 yo body). There have not been any major changes in my style since I was 4. I think I just need a more subtle/ less fancy hat.


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## efdll (Sep 11, 2008)

*Panamas*

A quality Panama hat -- there are cheap ones, but they'll last you one season -- can be, or used to be, worn quite confidently with a dark, but not heavy, business suit in the warm months or in warm climates. They also look good worn with very casual clothes. Panamas are certainly not flashy -- the band is usually black. They are the hot weather equivalent of a fedora. These days most men fear all hats are flashy, except in Western states where cowboy hats are de rigueur -- and where cowboy Panamas are quite common in the heat. Wearing Panamas with white or seersucker suits can seem a bit much, unless one has the confidence and panache to carry it off. Charlie Chan dressed like that, but then his (I forget the number) son, who wore dark suits and no hat, dressed a lot better.


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## GBR (Aug 10, 2005)

How civil of you to ask: You have my leave to wear it as you see fit.


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## Earl of Ormonde (Sep 5, 2008)

Traditionally in the UK worn with blazers (all colours, plain and striped) and linen suits. 
Just one look at the MCC chaps on any given summer day at Lords will show you a whole range of uses.

https://lh4.ggpht.com/_8ddYGfALwEM/RqjSKB_7KoI/AAAAAAAAAMw/6kxgVrwiVqs/IMG_1455.jpg Michael Vaughan and umpire in cloth bound panamas

https://thumbs.photo.net/photo/4596377-sm.jpg Sleeping cricket spectator. He's probably MCC dressed like that & asleep. And so he's probably at Lord's

Two Doctor Whos - one in cricket blazer, jumper & panama


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