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It’s hard to imagine the fedora without Frank Sinatra or Frank Sinatra without the fedora. There was a time, however, when Sinatra was noted for the fact that he didn’t wear hats. In the 1940s, Sinatra was seldom seen in a hat (other than the yachting caps he wore in the first half of the decade) at a time when few men ever left the house without one. A 1951 magazine actually referred to the man as “hat-hating Sinatra.” It was in the early period of his comeback, around 1953, that Sinatra began to wear a fedora, just as it was slowly going out of style, particularly in casual Los Angeles. He sported them constantly, whenever he left the house, in films and on television, and always at recording dates as pictured here. What had prompted this change? With Sinatra’s comeback came an upheaval in Sinatra’s personal style, but more importantly, his hair was quickly disappearing and hats were a way to cover it up. Sinatra found, too, that he looked particularly good in a hat (and indeed always had). It has even been said that Sinatra was consciously emulating one of his idols, Humphrey Bogart. Sinatra consistently wore his trademark cocked fedoras well into the 1960s, until they eventually became passé. His 1950s image is forever associated with the fedora, cementing the hat’s status as a symbol of cool.
Snagged a minted memorymoog, still in the original box! Came with a stupid cat too. (Taken with instagram)
