Thanks to neckbeards and the internets, fedoras have probably been ruined for everyone. It doesn’t matter if its actually a fedora (not a trilby); you will be ridiculed for wearing one. However, all of the stigma in the world didn’t stop me from getting one custom made.
Even though this is a technically a review, I paid for this fedora myself. This is not a sponsored post.
Fedoras today can be seen in four places: Gatsby parties (fedoras caught in in the late 20s, making them inaccurate for a roaring 20s event), films, Pitti Uomo, and true vintage events. They are obviously anachronistic, since men seldom wear hats apart from caps. It was this very reason that I only wore my fedoras with my true Golden Era vintage clothing instead of more modern pieces (anything after 1960). Even though Spencer wears more “true vintage” than I do, we keep our use of it to special events like hanging out with Benny or Dapper Day.
I don’t deny that a fedora can look cool. In fact, tailors like Angel Ramos and Dan Trepanier can definitely pull it off. However these guys have a decidedly more contemporary style and wear their hats in the same way. Spencer and I have the bolder choice of going straight 30s/40s (or very close) and that makes it more of a challenge to wear everyday. I find myself taking off my fedora whenever I have it with me, even if I’m in full vintage (I bring it as a commitment to the look) or at an event. It also didn’t help that I have a large head (7 3/8, wide sides) which makes it hard to find headwear to begin with. As a result, I would simply buy fedoras that fit my head with the least resistance. All the fedoras you saw on my lid were stretched out as far as they could and even then they were a hassle to put on. Perhaps the reason I didn’t wear my fedoras often was because I haven’t found one that fit! Coming to that conclusion, I decided to look around for a custom hat maker.
Now a good modern fedora can cost anywhere from $200-$800 depending on the manufacturer (Stetson and Lock & Co come highly recommended) or the seller (J.J’s Hat Center), but a majority of the price comes from the fabric. Fur-Felt is the main way to go, since wool-felt is lower quality and can be cheap; the latter also is prone to shrinking. Fur-Felt then comes down to the type of fur, with beaver being the premium fabric (and most expensive) and rabbit being the most common. Texture of these felts can come to play, whether you want smooth, soft, or “hairy”.
When looking around for a hatter, I decided to visit Joyride: Vintage for Men, one of my favorite vintage stores in Southern California. In recent years, they have been able to expand their hat repair and cleaning station into a full-blown custom hat shop, using real vintage hat blocks. They did great work on cleaning my vintage fedoras and even stretched a lot of them to the hats’ limit because of my big head. Joyride agreed that getting a custom fedora was the best option for me.
Joyride’s collection of vintage hat blocks.
A custom western fedora for a client.
Hat stretcher! I’ve made use of these for my wide noggin.
Hat steamer, which is used to stretch the hats!
Rob, the owner, told me that their beaver felt hats started at $350 while rabbit felt started at $250. I decided on rabbit felt since it was more affordable and I had built up store credit thanks to trading in old vintage pieces I didn’t wear anymore and some thrifted finds. Our conversation then shifted to the color and overall styling of the hat. Which color would be most versatile? Brown or gray? If brown, what shade? Something like dark like whiskey or red-ish like rust? Should the back brim be turned down like the 1920’s? Will the crown be short and tapered like the 60s (with accompanying short brim)?
A variety of true vintage fedoras from multiple decades.
In the end I went with the rust color, since it was the closest to the 1940’s wide brimmed fedora I wore to the first Street x Sprezza Dapper Day (that is unfortunately too small no matter how much stretching was done). In terms of styling, I went for a 1930’s look! This meant a medium-short brim (2″) and tall crown with a center “bash” instead of a C variation. The ribbon was going to be in a dark brown with a bow and triple pleated knot! These details are ones people seldom think of when purchasing a hat; they make all the difference!
Rust, my chosen fabric, sitting atop the other options.
Why 1930’s fedora style you ask? I just felt that the 1930’s had the best shape of fedora. Wide brims and shorter, pointy crowns can be pretty cool but they aren’t my aesthetic nor do they frame my face well. Here’s some of the inspiration pictures for my hat (all 30’s style)
We measured my head (which again was a wide 7 3/8) and put the order in for the felt! A couple of weeks later the fedora was blocked and shaped! It looked quite good for simply missing the lining, sweat band, and ribbon!
Rob said he could have the band done in only a few days, so I was back by the weekend to pick up my finished hat.
Note the triple pleating on the bow.
Hats made by an established brand (like a vintage one) will have the manufacturer’s logo and seal on the sweatband and lining. It would be cool if Joyride had one!
My only “complaint” is that the felt is slightly stiff, since it’s completely new! I’m biased toward vintage fedoras, which have had years of wear to soften up. I’m confident that I’ll be wear this for years to come and even pass this onto my children, if they share my love of menswear!
Wearing the Fedora
I want to reiterate that it’s important to understand the look that you’re going for when wearing a fedora. Honestly, it’s still hard for me to try and wear this one even though it’s sharp! I’ll show you what I mean. Remember that this fedora is much different than the regular one’s people wear.
With a Modern Suit
That’s the fedora worn with my Indochino Blue DB suit. Even though the Indochino DB suit is classically styled, something (at least to me) seems off. It might be due to the slimmer pants (that are about 7.75″) or the non-drape cut of the suit jacket. You guys might think other wise, but it’s still “meh” to me! Note that the styling is still 30’s, with the striped spearpoint shirt, dot tie, and exploring pocket square.
This fedora doesn’t really work with the whole slouchy sprezzatura look.
Indochino DB Suit, custom spearpoint shirt, 1930’s tie, Zara Derbies
With a Vintage Suit
Doesn’t that look much better? Here it is worn with a vintage 1940’s suit. Note the stronger shoulders, suppressed waist, and wide leg pants. It also helps with the “fishmouth” peaks (droopy peaks) and wide set button placement. As we’ve learned in my previous post, button placement makes a world of difference.
The outfit is very similar to the previous one but it is the actual suit details that have changed. In addition to the lapels and buttons, you can just tell that the fabrics are different. The Indochino one is a worsted wool, but it’s very fine and shiny; that’s an issue I have with a lot of “modern” fabrics. The 40’s one is also worsted but much heavier and textured. It drapes differently and adds an extra dimension to the outfit. Plus it also has a dope pattern.
Pattern mixing the way Ethan knows how.
1940’s Suit from Paper Moon Vintage, custom spearpoint shirt from Natty Shirts, 1940’s tie (ebay), Florsheim Imperials (thrifted)
Conclusion
Rob at Joyride: Vintage for Men did a fantastic job with this fedora and I’m proud to add it to my small hat collection! He’s done great work stretching out my previous hats but we both knew the only way I’d be happy was if I got a custom one. I’m definitely going to be wearing it to Dapper Day this weekend!
I don’t want to discourage you guys from wearing fedoras, but please be conscious of what you’re doing. It really takes a mastery of style in order to pull one off, especially if yours is vintage. I’m going to try and make more posts with the fedora in them, just so you guys can see how it works with my vintage-meets-modern style. Based on this post, you’ll note that even a classically styled modern suit can be a bit odd with a fedora.
It could just be me though, so I’d love to hear your thoughts on fedoras! Feel free to comment your own interpretation of it! Does it work in both outfits? What could I do differently with my modern suit to make it work better?
Always a pleasure
Ethan W.
Street x Sprezza
Photography by Ethan’s tripod
a little bit of rest 
Nice hat! Very James Cagney style. If you want to see a guy who can really wear a fedora with contemporary suits, check out Andy Poupart #styleafter50.
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As I have said before in a previous comment, even though vintage style is not my thing I keep checking out your blog because of your enthusiasm and your attention to detail which informs me about so many things I would have never noticed or been privy to otherwise. Your discussion of fedoras here, including your own doubts and reticence, was definitely another worthwhile read. Keep on keepin’ on.
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Questionable English aside, this assertion; “fedoras caught in in the late 20s, making them inaccurate for a roaring 20s event” is evidently false, with plenty of photographic evidence demonstrating the popularity of the fedora as a more casual alternative to “hard” felt hats from pretty much the 1890s onwards. A nice example can be seen in the photograph below, taken in 1921, where all the felt hats seen are fedoras. https://commons.m.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Tommy_Milton_1921.jpg
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I’m sorry, it should say “caught ON in” not “caught in in”.
And while I know that fedoras have been around since the 1890s (not always referred to as fedoras), I personally wouldn’t use them in Gatsby events. This is also due to the fact that most of the time men dress like the 30s or 40s for most Gatsby/Gangster parties when style (and certainly the style of the fedora) differed greatly between eras.
There are also plenty of pictures of the early stages of the depression where men are in fedoras and that certainly points to the use of fedoras in the early 1920s (or even late 1910s). I am simply not a fan of the use of fedoras in 1920s related events (Gatsby included) since I don’t feel like they are true to the era or even executed well.
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Hi. I always wear a fedora with modern suits. Summer or winter in a dayli bases, and that’s in the last 39 years. I’m 57 now. And always feel right. And fun. Best regards. I just love the hat. Great job.
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Hi! Loved the article—I’ve got a few dozen, but my main hat is a 1930’s Dorfman-Pacific fedora that was my Great-Grandfather’s. It’s an almost identical color & style to yours—and is luckily a 7 1/2. I never leave the house without a hat on—I haven’t since high school—and I’ve been wearing fedoras & pork pies since I was 8. It does take some practice, but I’d argue too few people wear them both style and function wise. All fashion takes practice; it is precisely because they’re so seldom worn that they are considered harder to pull off. And gosh, what would I do without their sun resistance? To be fair though, my main glasses are also pince-nez, so my wardrobe firmly exists in the 1890s to 1960s space.
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hello, I think you might be judging the lack of detail some people who attend events like Gatsby, war era dance dress ups and other social events people enjoy attending a few times, with other people who have real passion for certain periods, its music, dance, fashion and style, in the UK each period like this is referred to as a Scene and each usually has the important of a particular scene eg, Rocking scene, 40s scene, Mod scene, Jazz scene, Jive scene etc, and those who really enjoy everything about a period start going to events that people who really enjoy it and have been going to these all the time, dress to suit all the time, have period cars and even their homes are decorated and furnished in period, all the time they go out each week 4 nights a week to different but weekly events and weekenders that similar people from all over the UK go, getting to no people who are regularly,
these are the same sort of people as yourself who have genuine knowledge about their period they have great passion for, So you can’t really comment or knock them for enjoying it and trying, because it is that sort of snobbery, judging new people who have just found out other people like the same and start to make their way in the scene, I’ve seen people get put off by people who think they have got the look spot on, and they haven’t and they will never get it, because all of these scenes are used by people who try to follow and keep to the coolest, hippest, dudes that can only be carried out by Cats who don’t have to think, try or act, and it is those few Cats everyone tries to be and 1 or 2 who think they are and think others do to,
you soon find out who the Cats are because they don’t have to try, they don’t look down on others so everyone speaks to them and they speak back and have bigger groups with them,
unlike the couple who spend all the time looking at others finding fault and criticising to each other,
back then it was unusual for men not to wear hats and trilby, fedora favoured dress hats, they also used as day casual, work hats but not as much as caps,
fedora has a wider brim than a trilby and a narrow trilby brim with a higher crown like yours has another name a Homburg, but it is not a fedora,
another thing you should keep in mind is the famous stars in the pictures with the style of hat you like, they had stylists who understand sizes and shapes of people and no what suits them best and what they will look best in,
this is why you are struggling to wear it with anything else apart from one suit, you said what your problem is but it didn’t click,
it is OK in that suit because of the wide shoulders, thet helps get your proportion right, it makes no difference if you only try to wear what you believe is true to period (but you are not wearing a fedora or trilby, I’ve just remembered what a high trilby is a Homburg) different states and countries specifically in the 20s 30s 40s and 50s had fashionable styles of their own, one of the reasons for so many jazz variations, you seem to be stuck in a biased regional closet with blinkers on then talking with authority from the knowledge of one book, I would like to no where you got the information about your hat, fedora and if you picked that look because you want to look like them? That’s the difference between Cats who create their own style of trends that others try to mimic then you get regional variations, you can’t get that from an old Sears catalogue unless you want to look like a square copy of a model, you need a Cat to find the right bits and then create the edge,
thanks all the best, from thee Cat with loads of Hats at 59 always still getting comments from youths and younger men who really love my style, look and edge and I wouldn’t be able to tell you what is or was trendy and fashionable, I have a thing for 40s 50s music style and fashion and spent time on those scenes and have my look influenced by those periods, it’s good to think others like my style and it influences them, but I wouldn’t criticise, it’s not for me to judge, if they asked for advice I would say the above because it will never be good unless you wear your own vision of yourself
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