20% Off ALL HATS This Sunday down here in Kensington Church Walk.
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Wondering what to do with that Christmas postal order from Aunt Ethel? Buy Boardwalk Empire on DVD is our advice to you.
Gripping story, powerful acting, outstanding period costumes and hats hats hats. It’s the best thing to happen to TV since Mad Men.
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On Sunday 2nd December there’s 20% off ALL HATS at our shops here in Kensington. Click below to view our Three Days Of Christmas film for more details.
To score a hat-trick is to score three goals, take three wickets, win three awards in a row.
The term was first applied to the game of cricket in 1858 – going into print for the first time in the year 1878.
The first use was to describe the feat of one H.H Stephenson, who took three wickets as a bowler for the All England XI at the Hyde Park ground in Sheffield.
And why Hat Trick? Well, the custom back then was to raise a collection for such sporting feats, and with the proceeds the hero was presented with a cap or a hat. The alternative was to allow the player to pass the hat around and trouser the cash.
The most famous hat trick in British sport is Sir Geoff Hurst’s three goals against West Germany in the World Cup final of 1966. And while we can find no evidence of his colleagues clubbing together to buy him a hat, we can tell you that he was dressed for the tournament (as was the entire World Cup squad of ’66) by Sir Hardy Amies.
And to finish: three hats…
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On Sunday 2nd December there’s 20% off ALL HATS at our shops here in Kensington. Click below to view our Three Days Of Christmas film for more details.
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More plunder from The Archive – it’s Hats Week here in Kensington
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They Can’t Take That Away From Me (1937)
Okay, not a hat song per se, but what’s the first thing that Ira Gershwin lists in his litany of memories of a lost love? What else but, “The way you wear your hat…” Fred Astaire recorded it first (1937) Francis Albert (that’s Mr Sinatra, to you) had a tilt at it in ’62, but we remain hypnotised by the Billie Holiday version.
You Can Leave Your Hat On (1997)
For so long associated with knickers, Sir Tom Jones turns his hand to hats here, suggesting to his companion that she divest herself of all items of apparel, while granting her leave to keep her titfer firmly in place. The old dog twinkles so playfully in his take on Randy Newman’s number that it’s impossible not to laugh out loud.
Easter Parade (1933)
By the immortal Irving Berlin. “I could write a sonnet/About your Easter bonnet.” Sheer lyrical class.
Wherever I Lay My Hat (That’s My Home) (1962)
Written by Barrett Strong, Norman Whitfield and Marvin Gaye, and recorded by the latter in 1962, this remains a soul classic despite having been assaulted by every clapped-out, pasty-faced crooner and karaoke bum from here to Blackpool. A testament to a great song.
Leopard Skin Pillbox Hat (1966)
Dylan’s obscurely hilarious attack on a hapless victim of fashion. Of all the ink that’s been spilled analyzing Dylan’s 50 year career, precious little of it has been dedicated to his hats. Yet from toppers to caps to wide-brimmed fedoras, he remains the greatest hat wearer of the rock age. The key to his success? Simple: wear the hat, don’t let the hat wear you.
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On Sunday 2nd December there’s 20% off ALL HATS at our shops here in Kensington. Click below to view our Three Days Of Christmas film for more details.
From The Archive for Hats Week…
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The Guv’nor is very found of the red topper on the wall above his head in our picture (below). Many years ago it was hanging outside his first shop. He set the trend for the boutique vintage clothes shop for men. He opened the very first one. And the red hat has followed him around from Brighton to Paris and back home again to Kensington.
“A good hat,” he always says, “will never let you down.”
He’s fond of the Hornets red topper for just that very reason: it has never let him down. The red top hat motif is featured on all the shops in Kensington and all Hornets business cards.
The Hornets Five: Famous Red Hats
1. The Crimson Topper Currently in Stock
The Guv’nor says: “Cheeky, I know. But it’s such a fun hat.”
2. Cardinal Lamberto
The only out-and-out Good Guy in the nest of vipers that is The Godfather Part Three, and the man who hears Michael Corleone’s confession. A brief cameo played with style and class by Raf Vallone. “I killed my mother’s son,” sobs Corleone. “I killed my father’s son.” Unforgettable.
3. The Parachute Regiment
Their maroon berets give rise to the famous nickname “The Red Berets”. The heroes of WWII’s Operation Overloard and Operation Market Garden. Nuff said.
4. Redcap
From Scots Border mythology. A Redcap is a malevolent, murderous goblin said to inhabit ruined castles along the English border. They have a fondness for murdering travellers and using their blood to dye their hats. It is said that if a Redcap’s hat dries out then it will die – making it an insatiable killer. Welcome to Scotland!
5. Tommy Cooper
Wearer of The Fez and the second funniest Englishman ever to have drawn breath (only Stan Laurel tops him). “I went to the Army & Navy Stores to buy some camouflage trousers… but I couldn’t find any!”
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On Sunday 2nd December there’s 20% off ALL HATS at our shops here in Kensington. Click below to view our Three Days Of Christmas film for more details.
Hornets Vintage the Online Shop
Hornets Hire & Stock Catalogue
It’s Hats week and we’re plundering The Archive for hat stuff to celebrate 20% off ALL HATS this Sunday at Hornets…
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1. Raised It
In a lavish style, I might add. On a morning constitutional down by the canal. A barge trundled by. I raised my hat. The chap on the barge raised his. And we laughed, both of us. Heartily. Not a word was exchanged, but it was a great moment. A moment of victory. “We,” we seemed to say in our mutual hat-raising, “have halted the march of time. We have made the world that little bit better. We have paused to consider the lilies.”
2. Tapped It
Briskly with the index finger of my right hand as I passed two ladies not of my acquaintance. We all smiled.
3. Removed It
As a funeral cortege rolled by. Who was in the wagon? Doesn’t matter. Somebody’s son. Somebody’s daughter. My hat made me mark the moment, pay my respects. My hat made me consider that I am not the only person in the world and that life is short and important occasions should be marked and commemorated and we shouldn’t sweat the small stuff.
4. Chased It Down The Street When The Wind Took It From My Head
An inconvenience? An embarrassment? Not in the slightest. It gave the queue at the bus stop a right good laugh – one of them actually applauded when I finally caught the thing. Which then made me laugh.
Sir Arthur Conan Doyle once said that the best cure for arrogance is a course of skiing – put an arrogant man on skis and his pomposity will soon be levelled as he slips and slides and falls like a newborn foal. Making him wear a hat in a high wind is a similar leveller. My hat made me laugh at myself and not take myself so seriously. A good thing, from time-to-time.
5. Left It on the Tube
I lost my hat? This surely IS a calamity.
Well, I didn’t actually lose it. I left it on the train. And I was stopped at the door of the train in the nick of time by a very pretty girl with laughing eyes who handed my hat back to me with a smile. Brightened up my day.
But what if, you say, I had really lost my hat. No problem. I always know where to get another one.
My hat introduces me to pretty girls. My hat reminds me to perform the small rituals that make life civilised. My hat is my conscience, my reminder to be civil, my consiglieri. My hat is nothing short of a bloody genius.
Oh and it protects my head from the elements, too.
And it looks like this:
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On Sunday 2nd December there’s 20% off ALL HATS at our shops here in Kensington. Click below to view our Three Days Of Christmas film for more details.
Here’s another from The Archive for Hats Week – 20% off all hats this Sunday 2nd December at Hornets.
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“It is said…” Those three words often hide a multitude of sins. And they come in quite handy when trying to discover the origins of the saying “Mad as a Hatter”. The etymological source of the phrase is disputed, but (here we go) it is said… to come from the use of mercury in the curing of pelts used in the making of top hats. Exposure to the mercury made hat makers go doo-lally. Hence Mad as a Hatter.
The great anomaly of the tale, however, rests is the maddest hatter of them all. Lewis Carroll’s Mad Hatter exhibits psychiatric symptoms the very opposite of those associated with mercury poisoning – which induces a sense of timidity and lack of self-confidence.
Carroll created Alice in 1865, but the phrase appears as early as 1829 in Blackwood’s Edinburgh Magazine. Actors to have played the part include Peter Cook, Anthony Newly and Johnny Depp.
P.S. For pre-decimalisation Horneteers, the ticket in his hat – 10/6 – means ten shillings and sixpence (or half a guinea).
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On Sunday 2nd December there’s 20% off ALL HATS at our shops here in Kensington. Click below to view our Three Days Of Christmas film for more details.
A great book to celebrate Hats Week here on The Hornet.
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Hatless Jack
By Neil Steinberg (2004)
Neil Steinberg’s 2004 book Hatless Jack has the good grace not to bill itself as a “style bible” – too classy a book for that. Besides, it’s a history book, too. A very stylish one at that.
The Jack in question is JFK, 35th President of the United States and the first one not to wear a silk hat (a “topper”) on his inauguration day. As a much-copied style icon of his day, did JFK, therefore, single-handedly (or, rather, single headedly) kill the hat making business? This oft-repeated conspiracy theory is the diving off point for an incredible journey through headgear from the Roman god Mercury’s winged helmet to the shapeless beanie (no, Hornets stocks neither, go away please).
The main business of this book is the journey of the hat from its absolute de rigueur status in a man’s wardrobe to 21st Century style choice and statement garment. And Steinberg’s analysis is nothing if not comprehensive: did the changing design of the automobile do for the titfer? Was it the indignity of having to chase after one’s headgear on windy days that men grew sick of? (Among the book’s best advice is: Never run after your own hat.) Or was the hat’s assassin really Soviet leader Nikita Khrushchev rather than Kennedy? The cool, carefree young President may well have set an attractive bareheaded example, but the aged, saggy Khrushchev was never seen without his beloved Homburg. Perhaps, in this case, there was such a thing as bad publicity.
Constantly surprising and informative, if you want to get ahead…
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On Sunday 2nd December there’s 20% off ALL HATS at our shops here in Kensington. Click below to view our Three Days Of Christmas film for more details.
Hornets Vintage the Online Shop
Hornets Hire & Stock Catalogue
It’s all about hats here this week on The Hornet. This Sunday, 2nd December, there’s 20% off ALL HATS at our shops on Church Walk.
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Five hats worn in the 1942 movie Casablanca
1. Fedora. Worn by Humphrey Bogart as club owner Rick Blaine. The closing scenes of the movie, with Bogart in iconic trenchcoat and fedora combo, have become ingrained on the popular imagination – so much so that it is almost an effort of will to imagine Bogart dressed in anything else.
2. Panama – worn by Paul Henreid as Victor Laszlo. (See also Now, Voyager, the Bette Davis vehicle from 1942 in which he wears a similar hat). This white headgear helps underline that, despite stealing Bogart’s woman, Laszlo is still a good guy.
3. The Kepi – the French-style military/police hat worn by Claude Rains as Captain Louis Renault. (See pic from the shop, above, and still from the movie, below.)
4. Fez – worn by Sydney Greenstreet as Signor Ferrari. The fez was once banned in Turkey (1925) by Mustafa Kemal Atatürk, first President of Turkey.
5. Homburg – That Peter Lorre’s character Ugarte is a nogoodnik is plain to see from his unforgettably clammy performance. To underline his untrustworthiness, note that he goes bareheaded for most of the movie – although in the scene where he grovels to Rick he is seen to be carrying something resembling a homburg.
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On Sunday 2nd December there’s 20% off ALL HATS at our shops here in Kensington. Click below to view our Three Days Of Christmas film for more details.
Hornets Vintage the Online Shop
Hornets Hire & Stock Catalogue
The Man From The Hornet writes…
We’re never here to tell you what to think. We’re certainly never here to tell you what to think of your Prime Minister. But even if you did think he was a first class prat, would you ever dress like this…
… in his presence?
That’s Canadian pop muppet Justin Bieber, above (no, that’s him on the left, you dummy) meeting Stephen Harper the Prime Minister of Canada.
Harper emerged pretty well from the whole affair, later putting out the following missive on Twitter:
“In fairness to Justin Bieber, I told him I would be wearing my overalls too.”
Thanks to Canada.com for the full story and pic.
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Spotted in the Edinburgh Evening News…
“A pair of cufflinks given by the Japanese Second World War head of state Emperor Hirohito to his Scottish chauffeur is to be sold at auction in the Capital next month.
The 18-carat gold chrysanthemum-styled cufflinks were given to driver Alec Irvine in 1921 by the then Crown Prince of Japan, on his historic six-month tour of the UK and Europe.
The visit, five years before the Crown Prince became Emperor in 1926, was the first time that a member of the Imperial family had ever travelled overseas. They are expected to sell for about £1200 at Bonhams, in Queen Street, on December 13…”
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We’ve just added some splendid new cufflinks to Hornets Vintage the Online Shop. At a much more reasonable price, needless to say. Click HERE to view them.
On Sunday 9th December there’s 20% off ALL CUFFLINKS at our shops here in Kensington. Click below to view our Three Days Of Christmas film for more details.
Hornets Vintage the Online Shop
Hornets Hire & Stock Catalogue
Not Fashion. Style. 