Newsboy Cap

The newsboy cap (also known as an Apple cap or Gatsby cap) is a brimmed casual cap made of eight fabric panels that converge at a buttoned top.  As the name suggests, the caps are widely associated with newsboys of the early 20th Century.  Newsboy caps provide a stylish alternative to the ubiquitous baseball cap.

I recently purchased an excellent green linen newsboy cap from Brett Stiles at the B! Wear Cap Co. in Mariposa, CA.  I am impressed with the quality of the cap.  It is made from a coarse, open-weaved linen that makes the cap breathable and light as a feather (the B! Wear caps are available in a wide variety of fabrics including wool, leather, cashmere, and linen).  The lining is a silky blue material and the hat band is of light brown suede.  One nice feature is a wire that runs through the bill that allows you to shape it as you may desire.  I was also impressed with the reasonable price, the prompt delivery, and the friendly customer service (the cap arrived with a nice handwritten note).  B! Wear has similarly received rave reviews from members of The Fedora Lounge, an online forum dedicated to classic style. 

If you are in need of a casual hat, consider the newsboy cap.  And consider B! Wear as a good source.

Porkpie

A pork pie is a traditional British meat pie made from seasoned pork filling and jelly encased in a pastry crust.  The porkpie hat is so called because of the resemblance of its crown to a pork pie.  The hat was famously worn by the silent film comedian Buster Keaton, and more recently by Gene Hackman's character Jimmy "Popeye" Doyle in The French Connection (1971).  Pork pie hats are now most often associated with blues and jazz musicians.

Ponte Rialto Boater

My new (to me) vintage straw boater arrived in the post last week and I am just now getting around to sharing some photos. As seen in the photograph to the right, the hat has "Ponte Rialto VENICE" printed on the inside lining.  The Rialto Bridge (Ponte di Rialto in Italian) is the oldest of four bridges spanning the Grand Canal in Venice, Italy.  On the black leather hat band is printed, in gilt, "Made in Italy."  Interestingly, I found for sale online an identical Ponte Rialto straw boater among a group of Bing Crosby collectibles.  The description for that sale indicated that the hat was manufactured in the 1940s, but I cannot independently confirm that assertion.  Regardless, it is a well made straw hat that I will enjoy wearing this summer.

Straw Boater

As the weather grows warmer here in the South, my thoughts turn to summer headgear.  The Panama hat may be a classic, and more prevalent, choice for protection from the sun's rays; however, I prefer the straw boater.

The boater, also known as a skimmer, is a stiff straw hat with a flat crown and brim.  It is typically adorned with a colored ribbon tied around the crown.  The boater has its origins in the sennit straw hats issued to midshipmen in the Royal Navy near the end of the nineteenth century.  Those sailors would also have worn short blue jackets with brass buttons; therefore, the boater is quite properly worn alongside a blue blazer with gilt buttons.  Because the boater is a fairly formal hat, it may also be correctly worn with a lounge suit.

The boater saw its heyday in the early twentieth century when it became a popular form of warm weather headware for the upper middle class.  It was also popularized on the silver screen by the likes of Fred Astaire and Gene Kelly.  A surprising number of these vintage boaters remain available on the market today.  The quality of these original boaters seems, for the most part, to exceed that of the few that are still produced today.  In preparation for the hot weather ahead, I recently ordered my own vintage Italian boater from an online purveyor of antiquarian fashions.  I will post pictures when the hat arrives.