When I arrived at my office the other day there was a Leon Drexler hat box on my credenza, containing my planter style hat, that beaver felt version of the straw that Clark Gable wore in Gone With the Wind (it is felt because our California summer begins after the official end of straw hat season but I wanted a wide brim that would shield me from the sun while I drove).
The hat is definitely not for the city, emulating as it does something that was designed to be worn on horseback while riding through one's tobacco fields, but looks fine in the country to my eye. I think of it as a porkpie with a wide homburg brim, which was essentially what I asked for, admittedly with some trepidation as neither I nor hatmaker Stephen Tempkin had ever seen a felt version. These experiments do not always work out, but in this case the finished product has already proved itself appropriate for top open country driving in the sunshine, cigar (Fuente Don Carlos Reserve #4) in hand.
Stephen earned every penny of his $465 for this hat and he may hope never to be asked to make another, but if nothing else it got him to set up his brim binding equipment and he is now able to make a conventional homburg as well as the unbound lord's hat version he made for me last season.
Recommended for both smokers and non-smokers.
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15 comments:
The safari jacket seems to have settled in nicely, Will.
So now Stephen can make you a Homburg to go with the next iteration of your stoller? I really want to see that. (I just strollers with Homburgs . . . )
Do you know, I was about to say quite the opposite - that the safari looks new and stiff and could do with a few creases - a bit of bedding in.
A hat like that can be worn only by someone with considerable personality to pull it off. Congratulations on finding a garment that fits the bill.
Dear Will,
the buckle of the safary jacket looks pink on my screen.
Is it my screen or was it your choice?
Lorenzo
The hat is terrific! You wear it well, and the shape/proportions suit your face.
(Sorry--- still not loving that safari jacket. Please save it for safaris.) Would prefer to see a softer, easy drape on a more comfortable looking jacket....
Sad that the safariana doesn't meet universal approval as it's an old friend of about ten years. The buckle is simply worn rather than pink.
Your hat is really wonderful, Will. I saw it when picking up a hat of my own from Stephen, and thought it was one of the best made hats I have seen in a long time. In fact, I have nothing to compare it to except some masterpieces by North The Hatter, a now extinct Canadian hat maker whose finest products used to be carried by the most exclusive haberdasherscoast to coast.
That's a wonderful hat. It suits you well. I love the colors.
Regarding the comments suggesting that the jacket looks too new/unused, I would suggest a technique used by the more hard-core, dedicated bikers with similar concerns re their leather jackets: tow said jacket behind your motorcycle until it's
appearance is more to your satisfaction.
The safari jacket is,after all, an action man's outdoor wear in it's origins as it's name suggests.
On the Drexler site it seems the 'Burgunder' hat in the portfolio is very, very similar to this 'Planter's Hat', if not identical.
Has Stephen Tempkin used the Planter's Hat' as a basis for that design or the other way around?
I feel a fool now. Had I just read further to the "Londoner" hat I'd have had the answer to my question.
My apologies.
Obviously Will, you couldn't give a damn. I will concede it looks quite good with the Safari jacket.
hello Will, I know this is an older post, but it brought up something that is becoming an issue for me more and more. Cigar smoke: do you have any problems wiith yur jackets taking on the smell of smoke. I find myself steaming my hat and jacekt after a cigar or two (I find this time of year sees an increase in expenditures on my 3 vices: food, schotch, and cigars). are there any precautions you take, or is it not an issue for you. Thank you
Sean, does steam remove the smokiness? I thought it had no effect, but I do absolutely nothing to remove smoke from my clothes save to store them where air can circulate. Love me, love my cigars, or not. I will be myself either way.
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