WHY WEAR A HAT?

Hauraki Plains Gazette, Volume 58, Issue 4108, 4 March 1949, Page 8

WHY WEAR A HAT?

A MAKER HAS 10 REASONS “ MARK OF DISTINCTION ” HABITS OF NEW ZEALANDERS Why wear a hat? There are 10 answers to that, or at least a Nev.' Zealand hat manufacturer has thought up 10 which he considers • of sufficient importance to splash across a full-page advertisement in the journal The Retailer of New Zealand.

Presumably because the Dominion’s temperate climate docs not make a hat a necessity, New Zealanders are notorious—if you look at it that way—for their bareheadedness. Even rigid military discipline failed to eradicate this deeply ingrained trait, and during the war there was a strong tendency for mCn of the services to tuck their caps away.

But if New Zealanders were the individualists they claim to .be, they would, in the manufacturer’s reasoning, most certainly wear a hat. The wearing of headwear as a mark of distinction has a long and honourable history, claims his advertisement. Its abandonment has little to commend it. Clothing and headwear suitable for the occasion, it adds, enable a man to express his individuality and avoid drab uniformity. One of the 10 reasons that might have been a little more carefully considered before going out to the world points out that actors, particularly comedians, are well aware of the effect of hats for portraying character. Lest anyone take the wrong meaning from that, the manufacturer hastens cn to say that the wearing of a suitable hat can add considerably to appearance and self-confidence. Practical Uses Apart from these aesthetic and traditional considerations, however, a hat has a number of very practical uses. It protects the head from sudden changes of temperature when leaving a heated building. The brim will prevent rain from running down the neck. In summer a hat prevents the sun from over-drying the scalp, and the brim will relieve eye-strain. Further, a hat will, prevent dust and dirt from settling on the hair. The alternative, says the advertisement, is to wash one’s hair as frequently as one washes one’s hands and face. For the courteous-minded, reason No. 7 must lie irrefutably convincing. A hat enables the wearer to pay respect and courtesy to a lady in the traditional maimer. Shopping has well recognised hazards—mainly financial —but there is one danger most men must have overlooked. It should send the more timorous hotfoot to the nearest men’s wear shop. Wearing a hat when ping, warns reason No. 9, prevents the embarrassment *of being asked ,the way to the lingerie department. And finally — with a shouldershrugging air—gearing a hat gives pleasure to the wearer and does no harm to anyone.