Hat's the way

RA in Marie Lloyd

 Don't you think it's time hats were back in fashion?  Perhaps they are, and I just missed the memo.  I don't pretend to be a fashion diva.  In fact, by the time I pick up on a trend it's usually "old hat" (pun intended -- sorry, I can't help myself!). 

When I was a little girl, (back in the day), everyone wore a hat.  Men took them off in church, but women didn't (I couldn't figure that out -- But here is an article on hat ettiquette to explain a few things).  I remember wearing a little white straw hat to church on Easter Sunday.  But sometime in the late 1960s hats all of sudden completely vanished from the fashion scene.  What happened?  I can't help wondering.  Perhaps it was when women started wearing all those wigs.  It's pretty hard to wear a hat over a wig.  I remember my mom had two wigs!  They were slightly different hair colours and styles, but fairly similar to her own hair.  There was nothing wrong with her hair, but wigs were the fashion.  With men, somehow the ball cap became the head covering of choice.  I am heartily sick of ball caps! They are a storage nightmare which creates an endless source of bickering in many households.  Ball caps to men are what shoes are to women!

Anyway, here is just a little tribute to men's hats from when men really looked like men.  

There's no one better to start us off than my favourite children's entertainer Al Simmons!

Where Did you Get that Hat / Al Simmons

I couldn't begin to top this awesome blogpost on men's hats.  So rather than do a pale immitation, just check out this link:
http://artofmanliness.com/2008/03/01/bringing-back-the-hat/ 

This is arguably the most popular men's hat of the first half of the Twentieth century.

RA in a fedora as the haughty Philip Durrant in the

Miss Marple mystery Ordeal By Innocence (2007)

Here's one of my fave Canadian bands from the '70s with a hat-themed song and a positive message:

Hat's Off To the Stranger / Lighthouse

I do like Phil Collins, but I actually didn't know about this song until I came across it recently (probably because it was never released anywhere but the UK).  Looks like Phil has had some "fan issues" of his own.

Wear My Hat / Phil Collins

Here is my favourite hat scene in a movie -- the 1999 remake of The Thomas Crown Affair with Pierce Brosnan.  It is such an excellent combination of clever writing, great acting, beautiful art and wonderful music (the song is by Nina Simone)! You can see the thief (who is going after a Monet painting, btw) is a practical joker by dressing in a bowler hat and leaving behind the a copy of  the artist René Magritte's painting of a man in a bowler hat -- The Son of Man.

Here's another great scene from an odd little romantic movie where Johnny Depp is channelling Buster Keaton.

Johnny Depp doing hat tricks in Benny and Joon

I believe that type of hat is called a Pork Pie hat if it has a flat top or a Derby or Bowler if it has a rounded top.  It's hard to tell from this picture which type of hat he is wearing.  But I like his expression!

RA in The Impressionists as Claude Monet

Ah!  Now we can clearly see it is a Bowler hat!

RA as Claude Monet with actor portraying Edouard Manet in a top hat

Speaking of Top Hats ... We mustn't forget dear John Thornton wearing his top hat in North and South!

 
Here  is my little collage of Richard Armitage wearing a selection of working men's hats.

Oops! I forgot this one...

Here he is in Chris Ryan's Strike Back from Sky1.  Not to be confused with Strike Back 2 : Project Dawn from HBO/Cinemax (which was one of the saddest excuses for a sequel I ever had the misfortune of watching.) The promo is the best part of the whole thing.  Do yourself a favour and watch the first one, but skip the sequel.  Richard Armitage was very lucky to get out of his contract in order to be available to go to New Zealand to star in Peter Jackson's The Hobbit as Thorin Oakenshield.

RA as John Porter in the Zimbabwe portion of Strike Back

It almost looks like he's wearing a Tilley hat in this picture. That's the kind of hat I need!

It's not just me who likes to look at pictures of Richard Armitage in a hat...

The Medium is Not Enough blog has an archive of headshots of Richard Armitage (preferably in a hat) called Dick Heads.  They ask for photo contributions and encourage you to add a Haiku as well!

Nat at Richard Armitage Fan Blog once posted a look-alike picture of The Man in the Yellow Hat (from Curious George children's books).

Here is M. Giant's take on what is up with this guy and his pet chimp in a hilarious blog post on Velcrometer.

  

Here's a man in a Panama hat!

RA as William Chaftord in Malice Aforethought (2005).

Not in character, but  looking very fine in real life 

while wearing his own hat.

Richard Armitage sporting a flat cap

This fanvidder was inspired by Richard's cap to create this fun musical slideshow.

You Can Leave Your Hat On / by tuttiatavalo

August 22 is Armitage Day in RA Land!  Fans of Richard Armitage will be joyfully celebrating his 40th birthday.  Calexora at Befuddled Musings put together and published a lovely birthday book with messages from fans all around the word.  If you missed leaving a greeting you can still do so at Richard Armitage Net.

Really Phylly?  Did you really feel the need to put me in this ridiculous headgear?!

Awww Richard!  Lighten up! At least it's not a picture of you in your "birthday suit"!  ;)

We also have plans for a much better hat for Richard to wear soon!

If you are interested in seeing Richard wear a crown... please sign this petition to show your support for the Richard III project.