I received an email from Art Fawcett last week with some photos of my in-process beaver fedora, asking that I choose the ribbon color for it. The initial choices were varieties of medium gray, which I thought had too much contrast. The next possibility was black, above, which was too dark.
Notice that Art has given the hat a simple center dent and side pinches in his studio. It has a high crown - I'd asked for a hat that could have been made in the 1930's, and men wore crowns that were about 3/4" higher than most of the hats made today.
The charcoal ribbon seemed ideal to me. It offers just a bit of textural contrast, like my Lock hats. I resisted an offer to add a colored stripe to the ribbon.
And then the hat arrived, beautifully packaged in a large hat box. During the journey, the crease and pinches had come out, leaving what appeared to be an enormous felt dome, nearly six inches high and looking rather like a turban with a brim. At least it did until after I spoke to Art, who reminded me that a crease would lower the height of the crown significantly.
The call with Art gave me the courage to bash a deep crease into the crown. And now my hat looks ready for September.
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2 comments:
Art did a fine job, and the colour of the felt and ribbon just exude class. When you live in the wilds of the Scottish Borders (especially with this awful weather right now), the rule book for felt solely worn in autumn/winter goes out the window. My hats are purely functional right now for keeping the rain off and the cold out. Look forward to seeing some photos of you modelling that new tile of yours.
Kindest Regards,
Paddy-M (Fedora Lounge Admin).
Will,
I don't think you ever posted a photo of yourself wearing this hat. I'd love to see it in action.
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