As someone with neurodiversity I recognize clothes have many layers, no pun intended. There are cultural significances and practical uses, these are the two main qualities of clothing. Culture eventually wins over the practicality of certain garments, people wear flight jackets without being pilots, people wear Stetson’s without being ranchers, I fit that second category. Living in this country I have been exposed to the common judgement passed by others, Americans love to observe a person and fish out their qualities so that they can equate them to something familiar usually attached to pop culture. Since I live in the city, wearing a rancher hat most people won’t care but some people will point and say “Ayyy I’m walking here” or “Howdy pardner” or some stupid shit.
Two years ago when I didn’t care about appearance I had many people point and laugh, one person I confronted said “when is x album coming out”, essentially comparing me to some washed up classic rock star who I looked nothing like. I walked back to their apartment after researching what they said and said some things which made them close their window and end their windowsill “comedy show” which was essentially what I mentioned before, the lowest form of comedy of making fun of appearances and comparing those features to someone else / pop culture references.
But the hat is seven hundred dollars.
The problem with a lot of men’s hats is that that they’re hard to style with a modern wardrobe. This is why fedoras go in for a lot of mockery. People who are not fashion conscious wear them thinking they are cool in and of themselves. But a fedora over like a t-shirt and jeans is not at all cool. But conversely dressing like a guy from the 1940s is also pretty tough to pull off
Howdy pardner
Wear whatever you want, who cares.
I’ve got a beautiful 10X Stetson that looks just like the one Tim Olyphant wore in Justified. I used to go drinking with a guy who also liked to dress western, and we’d go out in boots, hats, and buckles most of the time. He worked as a ranch hand very briefly years before I met him, but other than that, neither of us knows shit about being a cowboy (not firsthand anyway.) Didn’t stop men, women, and everyone in between from checking us out everywhere we went.
There’d be the occasional guy from Texas or wherever interrogating us to see if we were “real” cowboys, which is idiotic on so many levels. Pay no mind to any of that, and dress how you like. We’ll all be dead someday, live it up while you can and yee some haws with me.
There’d be the occasional guy from Texas or wherever interrogating us to see if we were “real” cowboys
I’m 100% sure these were guys from some hellhole suburb of DFW who drive lifted F350’s to drop their kids off at football practice. Real cowboys, on the other hand, think they will be murdered by a street gang the second they set foot in a city, so you are unlikely to encounter them
That, and what does it even mean to be a “real” cowboy? There’s only like a half million working cowboys left in this country, and even that seems like a high estimate. These guys must get awfully exasperated in the crowd at a rodeo or a country show.
But again, most people either dig it or pay me as little mind as they would any other stranger. It’s been years since I’ve had one of those conversations.
By real cowboy, I mean people who actually have and/or work on cattle ranches
I kinda want to be able to handle my own when confronted with someone who claims I’m not a genuine rancher. Like I want to look cool
If they start asking questions cut them off and then ask if they’re trying to start a dick measuring contest or get your number for a date
There’d be the occasional guy from Texas or wherever interrogating us to see if we were “real” cowboys
Tell him you’re wanted by 8 different federal agencies
What do you plan on wearing this with?
Generally speaking, if you’re masc-presenting and wear a hat that isn’t some kind of baseball hat or beanie, it’ll probably be seen as a little weird. Hats are just less common these days than they were in the past. I could imagine someone wearing something like this without it looking weird or bad, but it really depends on the context of that person’s wardrobe. I’d strongly recommend against wearing something like this with jeans, sneakers, and a graphic tee - you’ll just look like a fedora kid, if that makes sense.
Also, the region of the US you live in will impact how people look at clothing that could be considered western wear. It’s not that out of the ordinary to see it throughout the South (and I’m assuming throughout the West as well).
I’ve lived in the west and southwest my whole life and over here literally anyone can wear a hat like this. I’m talking literally from fascists to turbolibs to people on anarchist compounds to MLs.
I am a pale bald man and thus require protection from the elements. I also have always loved hats, and I was definitely a fedora kid.
Personally, I prefer smaller hats and caps for the city, especially if I’m riding a bike. I wear cycling caps, bucket hats, factory caps, berets, etc.
I like proper hats, but have found that both the fedora or teardrop crown and the cattleman crown have too much stigma. Instead I generally wear a telescope crown, that is similar to a pork pie. I currently only have one such hat, a really big palm leaf straw, and it feels pretty audacious to wear in the city. I used to have a smaller one, with only a 2” brim, and that felt quite at home. I also used to have some felt hats in the same shape, but they needed too much care and are expensive to replace, so I have not.
Have you seen this denim repro 30’s hat? slightly better coverage and style to a bucket hat but not the associations with a Fedora or Rancher.
That’s real cute. Some of the WWII denim stuff is really dumb and cute. the navy had a shawl collar denim work jacket! so silly!
