Overcome Hat Anxiety on National Hat Day, January 15
Jan. 15 is National Hat Day. If you are a hat person, this holiday was made for you. Certainly you do not need an excuse to wear a hat for the day. However, if you are not a hat person (“I don’t look good in hats.”), this is a great opportunity to try on some head wear and hopefully learn to feel more confident wearing a hat. Here are some tips to help you break into hat wearing.
Photo: Alexesmenzato / Flickr
Try Every Single Style
Today, pretty much any hat is in style, so go crazy at the store and give them all a try. Do, however, consider what looks good on your frame. If you are a short woman, you should stay away from large wide-brimmed hats. Otherwise, you’ll end up looking like a mushroom. Full figures on the other hand should look for wide-brimmed hats to balance out their frame. Extremely tall men should never wear a tall, 10 gallon cowboy hat, and when wearing a large hat, women shouldn’t let other accessories compete such as large earrings. Let the hat be the star of your outfit. Once you understand the basic rules of hat wearing, you are ready to start your own hat collection and repertoire of looks.
Choose a Hat Based on the Occasion
When choosing a hat to wear for the day, think about how appropriate it will be for the occasion. You may look awesome in a straw cowboy hat, but if you are wearing it out to a martini bar, you’ll just look out of place. Cozy, warm knit hats are always en vogue for cold weather. In the summer, however, light crochet hats are more appropriate if you are going for the grungy Rastafarian look. Newsboy caps and beanies are more casual types of hats. Bowler hats, cloche hats and bucket hats look good with matching scarves and gloves when dressing for the office. For a list of the names of different style hats, click visit www.hats.com.
Own the Look
Just like any other clothing, the best way to wear a hat is with confidence. In fact, owning the look is the only way to truly pull it off. When you stop caring about what others think, your hat will look like it was made for just for your head. Remember to wear your hat with respect and don’t leave it on your head while you are having lunch or dinner in a nice restaurant. No matter how confident you are, you’ll just look silly wearing it all day long indoors, but once you get a feel for when to pop it on and when to take it off, you will be opened up to a whole new world of hat wearing.
April Lentini writes for Apartment Guide in Boston. In Boston, the most popular hat is the Boston Red Sox cap, which is worn proudly by Red Sox fans year round.
