Fedora

This article is about the Fedora hat. For other uses, please see the disambiguation page

A fedora, which in this case has been pinched at the front and being worn pushed back on the head, with the front of the brim bent down over the eyes.

The fedora is a soft felt hat that is creased lengthwise down the crown and pinched in the front on both sides. It is said to be invented in the mid-1910s. However, the term was in use for the hat as early as 1891, and it was first resembled late in the 18th century as an upper class clothing accessory. Any hat that resembles the soft felt version is also usually called a fedora, including straw and twill ones. Similar hats with a C-crown (with an indentation for the head in the top of the crown) are occasionally called fedoras. It is usually worn by men, but ladies' versions can also be found. On some fedoras, small feathers are inserted in the band wrapped around the crown for flair.

Background

The word comes from the title of an 1882 play by Victorien Sardou, Fédora, the heroine of which, Princess Fedora Romazova, wore a similar style of hat.

The fedora had been worn mostly in the early part of the twentieth century within metropolitan industrialized settings as a stylish way to protect from the wind and weather while being compact enough to deal with the newer technologies such as the automobile. It is often associated with Prohibition-era mafia and private detectives and tops off most zoot suits.

The popularity of the fedora has resulted in a large variety of styles being available. Fedoras can be found in nearly any color imaginable, but black, grey, and tan/brown are the most popular and universal.

In the U.S. fedoras were considered an essential part of the suit and of business and formal attire. Most men did not go outside without wearing one.

In Hollywood movies of the 1940s, actors often wore a fedora, particularly when playing private detectives, gangsters, or other "tough guy" roles. A trench coat was frequently part of the costume, a notable example being Humphrey Bogart's character in Casablanca or The Maltese Falcon. The fedora is closely associated with film noir characters.

Like the bowler hat, the fedora fell out of usage and popularity during the late 1950s-early 1960s, and actually began to lose favor even earlier on the West Coast (known for its more casual atmosphere). The early '50s switch from large lapels and ties to thin ones, resulted in shorter-brimmed hats, and this likely played a role in the fedora eventually being deemed a non-essential item. Also playing a part was the lowering of automobiles in the mid-50s, which often made it untenable to wear a hat while driving. Fedoras have staged something of a comeback as of the 2000s. Since the early part of the 20th century, many Haredi Jews have worn black fedoras and continue to this day.

The demise of hat use by American men was quite abrupt. One hypothesis explaining the sudden shift places the date for the change as 20 January 1961 when John F. Kennedy chose not to wear a hat to his inauguration. The speculation is that men decided if the President didn't have to wear a hat, then they didn't have to put up with the bother of doing so either. By reason of this myth, it is thought to be easy to date a picture that shows groups of American men as before or after 1961 by the proportion of hats worn. There is ample photographic and journalistic evidence of President Kennedy indeed wearing a top-hat to his inauguration ceremony, only removing it when he gave his speech.

Al Capone also made the fedora a fashionable clothing accessory. He always directed his "men" wear a fedora so that they could distinguish each other from law abiding citizens.

Etiquette

A fedora made by Borsalino

In traditional courtesy, when a man doffs this hat, he grasps a fedora by the crown. If there is a strong wind it is acceptable to anchor a fedora using the "wind trolley" found on better fedoras. This elastic band can be taken off the crown and wound through the button hole of a suit lapel. Hats, including the fedora, are typically doffed indoors, except in public areas such as lobbies or elevators. If a man wearing a fedora enters into a conversation with a lady, custom dictates that he doffs his hat. It is also traditional for a man in an elevator to remove his hat when a lady enters.

Variations

• In Great Britain a fedora is also called a trilby. They typically have a shorter brim and the back of the brim is distinctively more sharply upturned as a result.
• The Porkpie is also a variant on the fedora.

Notable wearers

Politics

• Ian Paisley, Northern Irish political leader.
• Goodluck Jonathan, Nigerian vice-president
• A tune played by Irish musicians in Chicago, published by Francis O'Neill in 1907 and still played, had the title Mayor Harrison's Fedora. The mayor in question may have been Carter Harrison, Jr. or, just possibly, Carter Harrison, Sr..

Pop culture

• Steve Albini has worn the hat regularly at shows and in photographs.
• Jack Abramoff, the infamous Washington lobbyist, wore a Borsalino fedora to the federal courthouse where he pled guilty.
• Legendary Z-boy skater Jay Adams often wore a fedora.
• Malcolm Allison, the flamboyant soccer manager from the 1970s, was a famous fedora wearer.
• Jason Mraz, singer/songwriter from San Diego. Seen wearing a plaid fedora and recently a straw fedora
• Momo Araki, the ostentatious former program director of WNYU 89.1FM in NYC.
• Billie Joe Armstrong of Green Day
• Jon Foreman, lead singer and guitarist of Switchfoot
• Jared Leto, actor and frontman, songwriter, and rhythm guitarist for the alternative rock band 30 Seconds to Mars, is often seen wearing a black fedora on public outings.
• Frank Iero, rythmic guitarist of My Chemical Romance sports a fedora during the Helena music video
• Ashlee Simpson, singer/actress, is often seen wearing a fedora.
• Lindsay Lohan, singer, actress, and model, is sometimes seen sporting a fedora.
• Tim Armstrong of Rancid
• North-Carolina based band, Bombadil
• Former San Francisco mayor Willie Brown.
• Coach Paul "Bear" Bryant of the University of Alabama wore a fedora made of a fabric woven in a houndstooth check pattern.
• Brandon Boyd, singer/musician, can be seen wearing a black fedora hat during Incubus's Light Grenades tour.
• Tracer Bullet, one of Calvin from Calvin and Hobbes alter-ego, a film-noir style detective, wears a fedora.
• William S Burroughs, writer
• Mark Calaway as WWE Superstar Undertaker wears a black Fedora as part of his ring attire
• Michael Guy Chislett, guitarist of The Academy Is... is often seen with a fedora.
• Larry Campbell, the former mayor of Vancouver, British Columbia, is known to be quite fond of wearing a fedora.
• Johnny Depp, actor
• Josh Ramsay, frontman, lead vocalist, of Marianas Trench wears a fedora in their video for the song Shaketramp
• Matt Drudge of Drudge Report fame.
• Bob Dylan, songwriter, musician, and poet has been wearing a fedora when performing live as of late.
• Adrian Fenty, mayor of Washington, D.C., gained attention during his 2006 mayoral campaign for wearing a black fedora outdoors.
• Avenged Sevenfold guitarist Synyster Gates.
• Professor Gunther von Hagens, scientist, inventor and sculptor/artist, is never seen in public without his fedora, even while performing anatomical dissections.
• Matt Harvey, Member of martymarty comedy group. Can be seen donning a fedora on public outings
• Larry Harvey founder of the Burning Man project.
• Megaproducers Jimmy Jam and Terry Lewis are rarely seen without their fedoras and literally made it their trademark (the Flyte Tyme logo), which features a pair of walking legs under a fedora.
• Michael Jackson dons the hat as one of his trademarks.
• Kid Rock; the rocker-rapper from Detroit is often seen wearing various colored fedoras.
• Journalist and author Jim Knipfel
• Tom Landry, Dallas Cowboys NFL coach
• American Football coach Vince Lombardi
• Ian Mackaye of Minor Threat and Fugazi is now often caught wearing a fedora.
• Jerry McNerney, Congressman from California's 11th District.
• Mustache Commander of StreetWars.
• Ne-Yo, singer-songwriter.
• The Notorious B.I.G., rap artist.
• Prince, who wasn't known for wearing fedoras frequently in the 80's, proudly wears one today.
• Investigative journalist Greg Palast.
• Pete Doherty
• Lead singer Paul Banks of Interpol is notoriously known to wear a fedora during concerts and interviews, most of the time a black fedora.
• Spider-Man and Evil Dead film director Sam Raimi can often be seen wearing a fedora on set.
• Members of the Rice University Marching Owl Band wear fedoras as part of their uniform.
• Richie "La Bamba" Rosenberg, the trombonist from Late Night with Conan O'Brien's house band, The Max Weinberg 7, nearly always dons a white fedora. This hat sometimes makes its way into Conan's comedy routine.
• Run-DMC, the rap crew, wore black fedoras.
• Anthony Salerno, usually seen wearing a fedora hat
• Adam Savage of the television show MythBusters has worn one in some appearances
• Rabbi Menachem Mendel Schneerson, leader of the Chabad Hasidim made this hat especially popular among his followers.
• Scatman John
• Paul Simon wears a fedora on the cover his Negotiations and Love Songs album.
• Frank Sinatra, performer of the mid twentieth century and member of the Rat Pack, was often depicted wearing a fedora.
• Britney Spears has often been photographed wearing a fedora, especially after the incident in February 2007 in which she shaved off her hair.
• Matthew Strength, Played a heavy influence in the fedora's return to popularity, in Canadian westcoast culture.
• The Time (which included Jimmy Jam and Terry Lewis)was known for their fedoras.
• Justin Timberlake
• Kyle Tobac currently wears a fedora most times in public.
• Usher, R&B artist, wears them in some of his music videos.
• Tom Waits, the distinct singer-songwriter, is often photographed wearing a fedora.
• On NBA Draft night, 1996, Samaki Walker was noticed for wearing an all-white suit with matching fedora.
• Comedian Katt Williams often wears a fedora during his standup routines.
• American writer Tom Wolfe wears a white fedora as part of his trademark white suit.
• Hawksley Workman, Canadian singer/songwriter/producer.
• Billy Zane, Actor
• Joel Madden, lead singer of Good Charlotte, is seen wearing a fedora in paparazzi pictures
• Mystery writers Walter Mosley and Michael Mallory are usually seen in them.

Fictional

• Judge Doom, Can be seen wearing one in all scenes where he being portrayed as human in Who framed Roger Rabbit?
• The toon patrol, The Toon Patrol were the law officers of Toontown that Judge Doom hired to arrest Roger Rabbit for the murder of Marvin Acme. There leader smart ass is always seen in a fedora.
• Eddie Valiant a detective hired to solve the case in Who framed roger rabbit is constantly seen wearing shiny brown suit and beat-up fedora.
• Sam from Sam and Max is always seen wearing a fedora, updated to protect from hypnosis.
• In the anime series Hellsing, Alucard is usually seen wearing a red fedora hat.
• Dan Akroyd, John Belushi, and Cab Calloway wore fedora hats as Jake and Elwood Blues and Curtis in the film The Blues Brothers
• James Bond actors Sean Connery and George Lazenby wore a fedora when portraying the secret agent. When Roger Moore took over the role, he didn't wear a fedora, although he threw one on the coat rack on several occasions.
• Tracer Bullet, one of the alter egos of Calvin from the comic strip Calvin and Hobbes, wears a fedora.
• Chip from Disney's 1989 children's cartoon Chip 'n Dale Rescue Rangers, wore a fedora as a trademark.
• In popular videogame Grand Theft Auto: San Andreas by Rockstar Games, the player (as CJ) obtains the ability to shop at "Didier Sachs" after beating all the missions, which is the most expensive clothing shop where Trilbys, Bowler Derbys, and Fedora-esque Booters may be purchased.
• The original DC Comics superhero known as the Crimson Avenger wore a fedora as part of his first costume.
• Inspector Gadget wears the standard detective fedora.
• Freddy Krueger the fictional dream mass-murderer is noted for wearing this hat, along with a red and green striped sweater
• Indiana Jones, a fictional archaeologist adventurer is known to wear a fedora, and is shown to be quite attached to it. The hat rarely falls off despite high winds and action sequences. On the rare occasion it does fall off, he has risked life and limb to get it back (Temple of Doom)
• Dr. Lecter as portrayed by Sir Anthony Hopkins in the film adaptation of Hannibal wears a white fedora (with a black band) during most of his scenes in Florence and briefly in the final scene of The Silence of the Lambs (this was a detail added to the character by Hopkins and does not appear in the original novel)
• In the Bowery Boys movies, Slip Mahoney always wore a fedora with the brim folded up.
• The Mask, wore a yellow one in the Animated Series.
• Jack McCoy has recently started wearing a fedora in episodes of Law & Order.
• DC Comics superhero Midnight, a character made in homage to the Will Eisner creation known as The Spirit, wore a fedora.
• Tex Murphy, the fictional gumshoe of the 2040s.
• The Green Hornet wore a fedora in both the movie serials and the 1966 television series starring Van Williams and Bruce Lee, as the Hornet's partner, Kato. In the television series, the Green Hornet's fedora matched the green color of his overcoat and domino mask.
• Mickey from the movie Snatch wears a fedora (Played by Brad Pitt)
• Charles "Fat Charlie" Nancy in Neil Gaiman's Novel Anansi Boys also wear a green fedora hat which he acquired from his dad "Mr. Nancy".
• The first costumed comic strip crime-fighter The Phantom (aka Mr Walker) wears a signature trench coat and fedora when walking in town as an ordinary man.
• In Andrew Lloyd Webber's musical, The Phantom of the Opera, the Phantom sometimes wears a black fedora.
• Vaultboy (sometimes erroneously called Pipboy) from the Fallout series sometimes wears a fedora Hat.
• The comic book superhero/vigilante The Question always wears a fedora (usually blue) with a matching trench coat and suit, and a mask that makes it appear that he has a blank, featureless face.
• Q, featured in Street Fighter 3, always wears a matching fedora and trench coat, along with a metallic mask.
• The class Red Mage in the Final Fantasy series is characterized by wearing a red fedora with a white feather on it.
• Carmen Sandiego almost always appears in a red fedora with matching trench coat.
• Sharky from the underwater crimefighting duo Sharky and George always wore a fedora, despite wearing no other clothes.
• The Sandman wore a green business suit, a gasmask, and a fedora for his crime-fighting costume.
• In The Spirit created by Will Eisner, Denny Colt began a life of fighting crime wearing only a small domino mask, blue business suit, fedora hat and gloves for a costume.
• Edward "Stubbs" Stubblefield, as well as several male civilians from Stubbs the Zombie in Rebel Without a Pulse wear fedoras.
• In the original Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles cartoon series, the turtles would often wear fedoras and trenchcoats as disguises when going undercover.
• The comic strip hero Dick Tracy wears a yellow one.
• Marvel Comics superhero Wolverine often wore a fedora when dressed in civilian clothes in the X-Men Animated Series. The character also wore one in the New X-Men Here Comes Tomorrow storyline.
• In Lupin III, Inspector Zenigata, an Interpol agent sworn to capture Lupin, wears the typical detective set of trench coat and fedora. Jigen Daisuke also wears a fedora which helps him to shoot.
• Shifty, a character from the black comedy series Happy Tree Friends, wears one.
• In Mel Brooks' 2001 musical and 2005 film versions of The Producers, a black fedora is the "Broadway producer's hat" that Max finally allows Leo to wear in the last scene.
• Rocky Balboa wears a fedora.
• Several characters in the movie The Sting wear fedoras, including Robert Redford's.
• In the Nintendo DS video game, Elite Beat Agents, Agent BA-3 "Morris" is always seen wearing a fedora; while there are other Agents that wear hats, they are all in the cowboy-style, whereas he is distinguished as being the only character to wear a fedora.

Logos/Signage

• The Red Hat logo features a red fedora on its Shadow Man logo. In addition, the Red Hat community-oriented distribution of Linux is called Fedora.
• The newsreader Forté Agent uses a person wearing a fedora as logo and icon.
• Jimmy Jam and Terry Lewis uses a pair of walking legs under a fedora as their production company's logo (Flyte Tyme).

External links

• Hat etiquette