“Here’s lookin’ at you, kid.”

Gangsters, tough guys, unassuming man on the corner of the street… oh, the fedora was perfect for them all.  Whether worn with a work suit, zoot suit, or as the perfect finish to the mysterious trenchcoat look, it was the modern man’s hat of choice.  Bogey, Indiana Jones, Eliot Ness, Frank Sinatra… where would they have been without their fedoras?

The word fedora, itself, comes from a French drama written by Victorien Sardou.  The title character, Princess Fédora, wore a hat that was very similar to the hat that within a couple of decades would bear her name.  With its center-creased crown and tapered brim, it was a popular style for both the ladies and the gents.  The hat especially picked up popularity with the working man, who found the roll-able hat easy to manage when indoors.  Plus, it’s not very often you get mysterious and sexy mixed with functional.

But, just because it was functional didn’t mean it came without rules.  Traditionally, when donning and doffing this hat, one should grab it by the crown.  If weather conditions don’t permit, it’s fine to grab it by the brim, but you’d best hope you had a ‘wind trolley,’ an elastic band that attaches the hat to the top button hole of a suit lapel.  And last, but certainly not least, take your fedora off when walking inside, and should a lady come up beside you, do the polite thing and doff your hat once more.

The fedora remained popular until the early 60s, when many have speculated that one very popular President enticed a generation of men to hang up their hats permanently.  Hatless Jack, as John F. Kennedy has since been referred to, didn’t wear a hat during his inauguration.  And, by golly, if the President doesn’t have to wear a hat, then why should we have to bother?  Or so is the assumption of the American hat industry, which felt the devastating consequences of fewer and fewer men were wearing hats on a regular basis.  This isn’t necessarily to blame poor JFK for the financial ruin of hatters; it could have just as easily been the loosening styles of the West Coast influencing the nation, the smaller cars that were coming into fashion (making hat wearing while driving a bit more difficult)... who knows? 

Fedoras made a quick comeback in the 1970s, but on the heads of women emulating Diane Keaton’s androgynous style in Annie Hall.  Women excavated their father’s closets, searching for their now-cool fedoras that were languishing in storage.  The ‘everyman’s’ had made another comeback as a part of Michael Jackson’s regular outfit throughout the 80s.  He was bad… come on… you know it!

Today, fedoras are rarely seen in fashion, save for the occasional outfit here and there.  It’s also become a hip addition to the retro-emo-punk-rock-metal-whatever look that kids are sporting these days.  Perhaps the days when the hat would be worn regularly are decades since gone, but who knows, maybe the fedora is ready for another comeback.