NYTimes
THERE was a time when only beggars went bareheaded. This was some while ago, a century or so. But up until World War II and the period just after, a gentleman was not considered properly dressed without a hat. Even the names of hats were rich in character and historical association. The bowler, or derby, with the rigid shape of an upended bean pot, was named for a 19th-century English earl who popularized the style. The fedora’s name came from a play of that title, written for Sarah Bernhardt by the otherwise largely forgotten French dramatist Victorien Sardou.
Then the hat went the way of the dodo. Social historians are divided about the cause of the sartorial die-off, although an often repeated canard attributes it to President Kennedy and his rarely covered thatch of luxuriant hair. The real blame probably belongs to automobiles, though. Hats were knocked off when you entered a car and inevitably got squashed beneath a passenger’s wayward behind or went into orbit when you lowered the top to a convertible. [...]
THERE was a time when only beggars went bareheaded. This was some while ago, a century or so. But up until World War II and the period just after, a gentleman was not considered properly dressed without a hat. Even the names of hats were rich in character and historical association. The bowler, or derby, with the rigid shape of an upended bean pot, was named for a 19th-century English earl who popularized the style. The fedora’s name came from a play of that title, written for Sarah Bernhardt by the otherwise largely forgotten French dramatist Victorien Sardou.
Then the hat went the way of the dodo. Social historians are divided about the cause of the sartorial die-off, although an often repeated canard attributes it to President Kennedy and his rarely covered thatch of luxuriant hair. The real blame probably belongs to automobiles, though. Hats were knocked off when you entered a car and inevitably got squashed beneath a passenger’s wayward behind or went into orbit when you lowered the top to a convertible. [...]
15 years ago or so some major French designed created a line based on chasidic clothing, complete with waif-like female models wearing shtreimls and bekishers on the catwalk. We all figured: Ah, now the chasidim will have to change what they wear finally. but unfortunatley it didn't take off.
ReplyDeleteIt was not a French designer. It was the Italian designer Fabio Inghirami and the clothing was for men on male models. There was actually a well heeled chassidishe bochur in BMG Lakewood who was looking into it. Everything he wore except his lange suit jackets were from Italian designers. Since Italy does not produce reklach & bekishes, he had a NY tailor use Italian fabric. A second chassidishe bochur dressed the same way except he wore a kurtze suit jacket. They would usually trade notes with the Litvishe feinschmeckers as the other chassidishe thought they were nuts.
ReplyDeleteWhy does the frum world think that wearing some dead piece of rabbit on their head make them any holier? It's something I just don't get...
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