Hats off as fashion makes a head start

The Life: Hats may have become old hat, but they are coming back in fashion.

Hats are staging their comeback. AFP

Q&A: Does it help if you are mad?

What's the best hat for the heat? There's nothing finer than a Panama. Ironically, these titfers come from Ecuador, not from Panama. They are made from the plaited leaves of the toquilla straw plant. It is said that the very best Panama can hold water and when rolled up be passed through a signet ring. They are woven by hand and known as Montecristi, after their town of origin, and can cost thousands of dollars. However, they are under threat from cheap Chinese competition.

That's out of my league. What else is there? Carrefour in Abu Dhabi is selling very natty polyester hats for Dh14 (US$3.80).

Why are hatters mad anyway? You're referring to the famous scene in Alice's Adventures in Wonderland with the Mad Hatter's tea party. It is commonly thought that hatters went mad due to their use of mercury when making hats. Best stick to a Panama.

A bowler, busby, capotain, caubeen, gat or ghutrah: it has well been said that if you want to get ahead, get a hat. But which to pick? Should it be a kepi, montera, porkpie, shtreimel, songkok or taqiyah? John F Kennedy, though in many ways an admirable fellow, is credited with causing the decline of hat wearing.

While it is an urban myth that he was not wearing a hat for his 1961 inauguration as US president, he was known as "hatless Jack", preferring to flaunt his locks and not appear an "old hat".

Hats became old hat, but they are coming back in fashion. I am not talking about the north Americans who wander around at all times in baseball caps, but the fedoras, trilbies and panamas that you see being worn by a youthful crew.

It is noticeable that the crowd at sporting events such as Wimbledon, Roland Garros and Lord's are often sporting them. Perhaps it's an awareness of the ageing effect of the sun.

But where to buy one? For my money, there is no finer hatter than Bates, Gentlemen's hatter of St James's, London. Lock's may be better known, but Bates' shop in Jermyn Street was magnificent. It used to have a stuffed cat displayed in a glass case (apparently the beast wandered into the shop in the 1920s and died a few days later, where it has remained ever since.)

I once bought a panama there and took it to Turkey, where I swapped it for a carpet. Other customers included Tom Jones, David Bowie, Peaches Geldof and Charlie Hoblyn, the city financier. Eric Clapton called it "the best hat shop in the world, bar none".

But the world of hatters were maddened a year or so ago when the Crown Estate, which owns the properties, decided to redevelop that end of Jermyn Street. Mr Bates found a temporary home at 73 Jermyn Street with Hilditch & Key, the shirtmaker, an arrangement that has since become permanent. You can now also buy hats at their branch in Paris in the beautiful arcade opposite the Tuileries Gardens, a civilizing influence on the French and not a beret in sight.

Top 5: Best-selling hats

1 Tweed cap

2 Racing felt

3 Trilby

4 Fedora

5 Panama

Source: Bates

The Quote: Live your life, do your work, then take your hat. Henry David Thoreau, US author and philosopher