by Michael Ugulini
During the 1950’s, and to a lesser extent in the 60’s, fedoras were
fashionable.
Dads, uncles, and insurance salesmen looked great in them…along with
film noir detectives.
The fedora got its name from…well… Fedora!...the heroine of an 1882
play of the same name written by Victorien Sardou. In the play
Princess Fedora Romazova wore a hat of this ilk. Yes, men and women
wore them.
A man sporting a fedora in the 1950’s was a common sight - he did not
look eccentric or out-of-place which is more the case today, although
the fedora is making a bit of a comeback as evidenced by the upsurge
of usage by entertainment industry figures and the increase in the
funky felt inventory noticed in specialty hat stores.
The fedora’s more recent history has included its association with
gangster-type figures as seen in the Godfather films.
The fedora was a
central character on its own in the Coen brothers’ film Miller’s
Crossing…again, a prohibition-era gangster film.
My own recollections of the fedora from the 1950’s and 1960’s are more
benign…my father coming in the front door…hat on head…an aura of class
around him.
He ‘looked’ dressed-up whenever that hat was on him…and to
this day…now his 80’s, he still wears one.
They say hope springs eternal, and I’ve witnessed this myself. My
fourteen year-old nephew recently asked for and received my father’s
grey fedora.
He thinks it’s cool, and he loves the red feather positioned
strategically on the side of it.
So there is hope of a fedora uprising…starting small…in the younger
generation.
Maybe my nephew senses something us baby-boomers didn’t in the 70’s,
80’s and 90’s…that the 1950’s had a certain style …rooted in common
decency…and he likes that.
Here’s looking at you, kid… I tip my hat to you.
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