Hat of the Week- Ugly and Great Straw Porkpie

There's something great and also hideous about this straw 1970s porkpie. The top of the crown and the brim are made of spiral-sewn Milan straw braid, but the vertical sides of the crown are made of that horrible lattice wicker stuff from 1970s dining table chairs. The hat looks frankensteined together. Notice how the wicker is kind of crooked.



I like the idea of inserting a totally different material into a section of the hat. Truthfully, though, the execution on this one is a bit sketchy. It's kind of a surprise to me to see that it was 'professionally' made (the sweatband is stamped 'Imported from Italy'). It's got a ribbon sweatband inside instead of the more usual leather, probably for cheapness as much as to make it cooler to wear in hot weather.


Check out the heavy, lumpy upholstery trim used as a hat band. How weird. My parents had a couch that looked like that. You just know it's 100% synthetic and kind of wooly and scratchy at the same time. Makes my skin crawl just looking at it.


I'm going to make a guess and say that this was a super cheaply made hat, and maybe sold cheap in some touristy place somewhere. I hated it at first, but I can't stop looking at it, and that says something.