"The hat's natural purpose of protecting the head from rain or sun soon faded into the background, giving way to the much more important function of signalling rank, emphasizing authority, identifying leaders, uniting the members of a community or distinguishing social classes and nationalities...A social code whose basic rule is that the lower orders must bare their heads before their betters and men must always raise their hats to ladies has established the importance of the hat to etiquette over the centuries...
Original sources inform us that way back in 1100 the inhabitants of Milan were already removing their hats as a sign of respect before starting a conversation. "
-Men's Hats by Giuliano Folledore (translated from the Italian)
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4 comments:
It's funny that you imply one of the functions of the hat is to have something to remove before you engage in social communication.
On the more serious side, hat stores seem to be slowly disapearing in Europe. The selection that men's clothing shops typically carry is much smaller than a dedicated hat store would carry.
A culture in where the hat/cover continues to play a major role in communication is the military. Salutes between enlisted men and officers, the removal of a hat when under a roof (except when carrying a weapon), and the removal of ones hat as a sign of respect are all still alive and well for millions of men and women in uniform.
The removal of a hat when beginning a conversation might have originated when soldiers removed their helmets when starting a conversation. The idea is to display that you mean no harm by lowering your defenses.
I have two Borsalinos and and one Ecuatorian hat. I do not wear them in Spain. It is too warm and they are considered extremely old fashion. Only people over 70 wear them. But I am still loving hats and that is why I always take them when I travel to NY or to any other "cold" city and the Ecuatorian for my holidays in the Caribbean.
Koenraad, it's a quotation. The author may be implying something but I'm not. :-)
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