Joseph M. Madda
My father was a fastidious dresser. For work and other important occasions, he donned custom-made suits along with the obligatory starched dress shirt, neatly tied necktie, and all the other classic accessories. He was especially fond of his formal dress hats, of which he has several.
After returning from a long day at his office in the Loop, immediately upon entering the house, Dad carefully would store his hat of the day in a half circle wire holder on the door back of our Chicago home’s front hall closet. In the 1940’s, 50’s, and beyond, his chapeau of choice was a classic fedora, often gray felt with a contrasting black band. These were similar to the one Harry Truman wore (in Harry’s case by Stetson) along with many celebrities of those times: Humphrey Bogart, Cary Grant, Frank Sinatra, and Gregory Peck.
Yes, he loved those lids. And, no one, but no one else, touched his hats. When I was very young, one night my father briefly left one of his treasured head gear sitting on a dining chair. Totally by accident, without looking, I sat on it. In an instant, it was crushed flat. The shouting that ensued was scary! I still remember his red-faced scowl.
Of course, as we know, men’s dress hats fell out of fashion in the sixties. There are several theories why that was. An obvious one is that the Kennedy clan did not wear them. Another is that as American cars got lower, there was not enough headroom inside the vehicle for a man to comfortably wear a hat. A third idea is that outdoor city air got cleaner due to the decline of coal-based heating, making head covers less necessary. Regardless, over the course of a decade, dress hats mostly faded away.
In the 1980s, now an adult dressing up for work myself, I was thinking about those treasured items. I decided to acquire a classy hat of my own. At a hat shop I found the perfect specimen, which I still have. It was a new Truman fedora, gray felt with a back ribbon band. An Alessandria model by the famous Italian hat makers Borsalino. It has a Two-inch brim all around a high crown. The crown has a central dimple narrowing to a v-shape in front. A 1 & 3/4 inch-tall ribbon bands the crown, sporting a flat bow-tie on the left side. Just like my Dad!
Needless to say, times have changed radically when it comes to work clothes. In the 2000’s the idea of business suits, dress shirts, neckties, and shined leather shoes constitute an outdated outlier in many workplaces. Except perhaps for high-level executives, professionals, and politicians, clothing norms are so casual now. The way my father’s generation appeared simply would not fit well in the majority of public places. And folks do not wear dress hats, except for a party perhaps.
In any event, I have preserved that hat through four houses, a dozen jobs, and multiple moves both cross-town and across the country. I wear it from time to time just for fun. It still looks good. I am going to keep it. And I never leave it on chairs.