Hands Free Umbrella

A hands free umbrella? What would that be, something that sits on your head? In a word – yes!imgp4672.JPG
Before I met him, my hero’s summer hat was a desert camouflage boonie hat; and this was before Desert Storm made them popular. Now we each have a different color pattern. An inexpensive and functional hat, they really do keep the rain off both glasses and neck. Mine is solid green.

Now, in time for the recent barn party, I got my winter version – a wool felt crushable cowboy hat. In true chicken and egg style, I’m not certain which came first, though, reading Hats Decoded at StyleBites, pointing out that wide brim is the hat shape for me, or my hero trying on cowboy hats at the western store where we buy his jeans, causing me to notice that they were wool.

In any case, after deciding that I was just going to get a wool cowboy hat and wear it with a silk scarf under, I found this one which features a serendipitous bonus: EAR FLAPS! Who would have thought? They work!

Now, your assignment, if you choose to accept it:  read the post at StyleBites and come back and tell me if you can identify a workable hat shape for yourself.  I’m stoked!  No more buying a $10 hat each winter, only to revert to cotton balls when the laughter and mocking becomes unbearable!

6 thoughts on “Hands Free Umbrella”

  1. Assignment complete! That was such a great piece because the hat things makes total sense to me now! You see, my dad has always thought I looked good in hats, and I really like them (though I don’t wear them often). I have an oval face, so according to StyleBites, I can wear all kinds of hats! No hats needed for warmth in the winter here, but I may dust some off for use in the spring.

  2. It was really helpful, but I think it also helped me the other way around. In the summer a couple of years ago, I bought a summer hat that doesn’t look too bad – to keep the sun off my face and it’s cotton so I can get it wet in extreme heat. It’s the same kind of thing, worn down low and wide brim out to the sides.

    But prior to this I had never really thought about my face being long. I suppose it is a little, but I didn’t think it was anything to make a big difference in hat wearing. When measured and compared to my overall body size, my head is not long; but when length is compared to width, I suppose it is. That doesn’t necessarily, I must convince myself, mean I am ugly.

    I was recently thinking about how if everybody had the “ideal” measurements, proportion, size nose, etc, etc, we wouldn’t be able to tell each other apart. lol

  3. It is always said that the oval face is ideal, when it comes to descriptions of makeup techniques, hairstyles and now hats. My girlfriend in high school visited a friend of her mother’s from the old days, a hat manufacturer in New York City, and he claimed she had the perfect face for hats and should consider being a hat model. Her face shape: square!

    I’ve read the piece on matching hats to your face shape twice now and I notice that a short person shouldn’t wear an overly wide brim but a curvy person needs some balance. So what does a short but curvy person do.

    When I was only short but not curvy I wore modified cartwheel straw hats quite often and felt fine in them. With heels, that I wore all the time then, I wouldn’t have been more than 5’3.

    I wear all kinds of hats but specifically do not look good in ones with a taller crown. I like berets, tuques, a recent newsboy cap purchase looked good. I like myself best in winter in a huge fake fur hat, brimless.

    One of my favorite hats I had to get rid of. Wonderful for wintry, windy days, a black felt hat with widish brim and a black scarf attached inside. Every time I would complain that someone or other had been rude to me my husband would point out that it was undoubtedly the Nasty Grandmother Hat. That it reminded various folks of their critical, domineering grandmothers.
    Rudeness over surefire warmth with cheek protection, hmm, don’t know that I made the right decision.

  4. Because I have a longish nose with a bumb and a slightly receding chin and somewhat high forehead, I *always* check profile in hats. Also the greatest width in my face from the front is my high, wide cheekbones. All of these reasons are why high crowned hats are awful on me.

  5. I’m a bucket, cloche and beret girl. I want to try something along the lines of a fedora, but haven’t found the right one for me… yet. Stopping to try on hats is one thing I love about shopping with my daughter, so I’m more than happy to have the search for the perfect hat go on for years.

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