Of all my hats, this blue porkpie style has definitely become my favorite. My mom calls it my "Stymie hat" because it reminds her of the Little Rascals character when I wear it. It’s safe to say that it has become just as much a part of me as the hair on my head. This hat has seen just about everything and been worn with just as much. I can honestly say that I wear it almost every day and have paired it with every outfit at least once. I feel naked without it. A couple of weeks ago I actually lost my hat for a day and had a legitimate existential crisis. I tore through every room in my house looking for it with no luck and most of the next day as well. I eventually found it tucked neatly inside the lampshade on my dresser and it was like a weight lifted from my shoulders. I was once again whole!
My love of hats comes from my grandfather "Main Man" who was my personal style icon. Growing up, he and my NaNa always took my sister and me back to school shopping often at Marshall’s and Value City where we could get our money's worth. Sometimes we’d just go because he wanted to spoil us, and they’d always drop a nice amount of change on shoes, clothes, and toys for both of us. It was these early shopping trips that formed my love for fashion and shopping on a budget.
( l-r: My grandfather in his younger days; me and my Main Man)
However, my sense of style was formed during my periodic shopping trips in Main Man's personal wardrobe. As I got into high school and college, he would call me to “go shopping” in his closet each season. In his elderly years he had transitioned into dressing more sensibly and wasn’t wearing much of his flashier pieces anymore, and since he didn’t have a son to pass things down to, it all came to me. Luckily we wore the same sizes in most items despite him being 5'10 and I coming in at 5'6. In fact, the only thing I couldn’t wear were his shoes which had to be special ordered because of his narrow feet. Yet, no matter how much I “shopped” he never seemed to run out of clothes, and I never tired of the surprise gems I found.
(l-r: with my moto jacket, in summer white, & styled on my friend Kara during a recent photoshoot)
Not only did Main Man pass down impeccable style sense to me, but also a wardrobe full of one of a kind vintage pieces, many of them being hats. While this my blue porkpie isn’t one of them, I have no doubt that he would have owned a similar one in his heyday. I’ll probably wear this hat into my older years and pass it down to my child, and they’ll pass it on to their children, and on and on until it becomes too threadbare to use.
That's the story I want this hat to have when I'm long gone.
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