Saturday 4 December 2021

To see yourself


My search for the perfect hat has come to a natural end. If I found it now it would be too late to wear it. If I found it 20 years ago it would have been too early. There might have been a brief window which passed by, but I don't think so. I think I will die hatless.

What brought me back to reality after a 20 year hunt for it was seeing a man in the street wearing it. My heart skipped a beat when I saw him and I was just about to run up to ask where he found it, but then I paused for a moment to ask myself, 'Do I really want to look like that?' 

If it had been Basil Rathbone himself sauntering along with it coddling his beautifully coiffured head, I would have come to the same conclusion. It is not 1936 and he could pull it off then, but not now. 

That wonderful old hatbox could tell some stories, but they might be boring ones.


24 comments:

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    1. Why did you remove the comment about the station in Norwich on the hatbox label?

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    3. You ok? I know I’m a pain in the arse, but tell me a story.

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  2. My darling farmer had the right answer - from the moment he could walk he always wore a Harris tweed flat cap. I now have one in my wardrobe.

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    1. For some reason, I have always disliked flat caps. There are two types of Southerner who wear them - farmers like yours and the gentry who shoot on their farms. I have never identified with the latter and never thought I deserved to identify with farmers.

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  3. I can just picture Weaver's husband, the farmer, in his Harris tweed flat cap. It's rare for me to see men wearing hats that suit them or look good. Brimmed caps and knit hats for warmth don't count.

    I've always had trouble finding hats that fit, having a rather large head. I was the only girl in my high school graduating class to require a size large cap for the ceremony. Oh, the shame!

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    1. I hope you told them it was because your brain was so large.

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  4. I like cloche hats, a need to go back in time and wear hats, they always looked so good. Woollen hats are ordinary and not really hats at all.

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    1. I would wear any hat just to keep my head warm, but anything else makes a statement, and most - if not all - statements attached to hats are not the ones I want to give out. It's a minefield.

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  5. Or they might be hair raising!
    I too have tried various hats over the years and have settled on a cap - I bought a fancy waterproof baseball type hat this year its fab, but hardly elegant!
    And replying to your question on my blog - yes, I'm a writer. I copy write for several large companies, write for a few magazines and websites, ghostwrite for some CEOs, teach creative and corporate writing... and then of course, there's books and the blog... which actually, I like writing the most.

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    1. I am the proud owner of Joyce Grenfell's Norfolk bird-watching hat. It has provable provenance.

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  6. Some suit hats...others not. If I wear a hat it has to be a practical hat...a beanie in winter, a NZ cricket hat in summer.
    I was persuaded to wear a fascinator at one wedding....not a good idea!!

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    1. I should design my own fascinator. It could hardly be any more ridiculous than some of the hats I almost have worn.

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  7. You must not abandon your search for a hat. UK hat makers are very skilled and specialized. Have you tried working with a hat maker? The custom route might meet your needs.

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    1. I have had 2 hats made for me but they were not right. As I said above, even if they were right, I would not want to wear them any more.

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  8. When we stayed with my daughter in Australia (she married an Aussie) I"went with the flow" and bought an Akubra, worn by many Aussies in the outback. But we were in Perth WA and it looked out of place in the city. When we came home to UK it looked even more ridiculous. I wore it once to a steam fair here where it actually fitted in but now it resides in a cupboard as a memory of OZ.

    It's baseball type caps for me now to keep the sun off my cataracted eyes.

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    1. What looks utterly ridiculous on anyone walking down a British street is the Australian raincoat made for horse riding called 'Drizabone'. It's like wrapping a huge banner around yourself with the words, 'I am a twat' written all over it.

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    2. Agreed..until the rain starts pouring down.

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    3. I would sooner get wet unless I was on a horse.

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  9. Haha! Trevor Howard also looked good in a hat, but maybe not now.

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    1. Anything that you perch on the top of your head and walk around in public with is going to be fraught with problems.

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  10. Some people have a hat face and some don´t...I don´t.

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  11. I know that I’m late to the party, but the sentence: “I think I will die hatless.” deserves a prize.

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