Happy Fourth of July everyone! I have another gem to discuss in today's post. After much research and just plain searching, I have finally acquired an authentic '20s/early '30s Fedora hat, all the way from grand old England!
This old English beauty beauty is in great shape, but will definitely need some steaming and re-shaping of the crown. Usually I have all my Fedora's shaped in either a teardrop or diamond, but I think a center dent would suit this hat better. I've also noticed in films and photographs from the '20s and early '30s that the center dent was more common and most likely the crowns original shape.
Frayed ribbon bow is a huge key in determining a hats age. Not every hat had it, but from my research it was very common before the late 1930's, going as far back as the turn of the century. Some high end hat manufacturers in the '50s and '60s sometimes had ribbons like this featured on hats made the same ways as 30 years prior for their older and more conservative customers.
When I first looked at the sweatband, I immediately thought the seller had been wrong about the age of the hat. The band is quite narrow and the material itself almost paper thin, like that of those immitation leather sweatbands they started putting in hats in the late 1960's. But thanks to the wonderful hat experts on Fedora Lounge (A wonderful forum that discusses everything relating to the 1910's-1960's, and where I learned practically everything I know about vintage clothing) informed me that narrow thin leather sweatbands were indeed very common on British hats of that period and is indeed an authentic example.
Can't wait for fall so I can take this hat for a test drive eh gov'na? I know, I'm a "yank" and my English accent is sub-par, can't blame a bloke for trying right?
Until the next post, another new favorite song: Lucille by Ben Selvin's Knickerbockers (1931).
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