Men don't like to wear hats; women wish they could were them more often.

Hats are a funny thing. We wear them for protection from the elements or for decoration. That would be, respectively, men and women. Cowboys and society ladies.

If you've ever seen a photo of a group of men in the 1930s or 1940s or even 1950s, they all are wearing hats. But in the 1960s and beyond, they aren't. The same could be said, more or less, for women. What happened?

How did hats go out of fashion?

There are some who say that John Kennedy ushered in the no-hats era for men when he was elected President in 1960. He may actually have worn a top-hat at the time, ceremonially, but I'm not much of a scholar, so I don't know. But I do know that he didn't wear a hat much after that. He was pretty much bare-headed. And so were the men from then on.


By the way, the traditional male hat of that era was a fedora, which the dictionary defines as "a low soft felt hat with a crown creased lengthwise." Your dad or grand-dad probably had more than one, which he wore every day. Surely you've seen it, at least in old photos, or can imagine it.


But I have to wonder if maybe the arrival of the Beatles about the same time -- early Sixites -- didn't also hammer another nail into that hat coffin. Men fifty years ago -- pre-Beatles -- had short hair, slicked back, so a hat didn't alter your head appearance. Once hairstyles got longer, the hat would flatten your hair and give you what we now call "hat-head".

Can you imagine Ringo in a fedora?

Granted there are men who have worn hats in the past -- from the crowned kings of old to the Indian chiefs with their head dresses of eagle feathers to the boys of today with baseball caps turned backward -- but they're pretty much out of fashion now, or should be. Most men don't like hats. They find them uncomfortable, and that's that. (Except cowboys, who are a breed unto themselves and even wear hats indoors, an issue I won't address right now. )

But what happened to women and hats?

I don't have an answer for that. I'm guessing that it goes back to the same time, the Sixties, when girls started letting their hair grow long and straight and, maybe rebelling against their moms, didn't wear hats. Let it all hang out, literally. (Although I do have a photo of Janis Joplin during that time in a very funky hat.)

But some natural instincts trump cultural periods. Women have always loved hats. In all times and in most cultures. And they still do, even in our current age that discourages them. I have heard of black women in the South who wear extravagant hats to church every Sunday. And a group of women who wear red hats (though I'm not sure the reason). And Lord knows that women at society functions still put on their favorite hat.

Women will wear hats, regardless. It's a law of nature.

I suspect there are many women who have lots of hats in their closets and would love to wear them and are just waiting for permission to do so.

Permission from whom? The purveyors of fashion, I suppose, who are almost all men. Men who dictate how high your heels should be each season and what color you should be wearing -- and whether or not it's okay for you to wear your favorite hat.

I say it's time for you women to stand up for yourselves and say "I will wear my hat!" Who cares what the prevailing color of the season is or whether it fits with my wardrobe? I will wear my favorite hat because I love it and because it expresses who I am!

I say match it to your outfit or not, depending on how you feel when you wake up that morning. Maybe your husband is being an asshole and your kids don't appreciate you. Or maybe you just got a promotion. Or you're ten pounds over what you want to weigh . Or you are meeting an old friend for lunch. Or . . . you get the point? Pick a hat to fit your mood that day. Wear it and the rest be damned!

So what are you waiting for, women of the 21st century? Put on your hats! Wear them with pride! We men may be simple creatures, but we know when our women look good, God bless us, and we know you look divine in hats. The right hat on the right woman makes our hearts race!

In the end, though, look good not for a man, or even for another woman, but for yourself. Stand in front of that mirror and say, "This is the me I'm presenting to the world today, so watch out!"

Take it from me, if I didn't have to worry about hat-head, I'd wear one. Hats are way cool!