HATS FOR MEN

Press, Volume XCIX, Issue 29401, 31 December 1960, Page 2

HATS FOR MEN

New Trends Now Apparent Ever since women began to be interested in men’s hats and started adapting the homburg and bowler to suit themselves, men have become more hat conscious. Their battered, turned-down brims have been replaced by luxury felts that turn up and by jaunty, narrow brims borrowed from the Tyrol.

Small .tapering crowns above brims that snap down in front and sweep sharply up at the sides have won top popularity and have been repeated in light, striped materials for this summer. And those they suit best are younger men as the narrower lines are more flattering to a young face. Trimmings, too, are becoming more adventurous in the male fashion world. Even the Panama straws have been copied in attractive, braided Italian straws and decorated with wider hatbands in summery, multipatterned materials. New colours for the felt hats are dark coke, charcoal grey, dark green, navy blue and a variety of brown shades. Contrasting shades are becoming more and more popular for hatbands, though the casual corded trimmings seem to be here to stay. For golf and other outdoor sports the familiar cap, often with a snap fastened peak, has been given a hew look in fashion. Still appearing in soft, woodsy greens and browns, they have been supplemented by checks and tartans and other fancy designs. But they, too, have been narrowed at the sides and flattened on top to a newer, trimmer line. Fashion experts say no man is well-dressed if he appears in town in a suit without a hat. Australians have apparently noted this as an increase in hat sales was recently reported in that country. But there are still a few diehards who will cling to an old hat and regard it as one of their most cherished possessions. There was one young man who had an excuse for this. It was a real herringbone tweed, he said. He had bought it five years before, and since then had never been able to find another like it.