Why did men stop wearing hats after WWII?

Question

I once heard a reason why after WWII, the wearing of hats by men declined sharply and eventually ended altogether. Can you help?

Answer 1

The story goes is President Kennedy was constantly photographed without a hat and everyone admired and emulated Jackie and him thus they quit wearing hats.

God Bless You and Our Southern People.

Answer 2

I don't buy the Kennedy argument as it happened here in the UK as well. Although we admired him, I can't see that the fact that he didn't wear a hat would have affected our fashions to that extent. I think I go along with the car argument. As more and more men drove, wearing a trilby hat - I think what Americans call a fedora - just became impracticable. Further, people weren't out in the elements as much - after all. wearing a hat would keep your head dry just like an umbrella. I think also, that there was an element of class in it. After all, up to about the time of WW2 men at the top of society wore top or silk hats, the middle classes bowlers, the lower middle class the aformentioned trilby and the working classes flat caps. As these distinctions began to blur, the need to designate your class by the hat your wore became less and less important. There is also another factor in the UK and that is that during WW2 clothing was in extremely short supply - ladies had to darken their legs with gravy browning to make it look as if thet were wearing stocking and made underwear out of parachute silk if they found any. Why waste precious clothing 'coupons' on fripperies like hats when you couldn't get a decent jacket?

Answer 3

People are alluding to Kennedy as the role model for hatless men. But I was born right after WWII and I grew up without seeing men in hats, and Kennedy wasn't that popular yet. Of course they wore baseball caps sometimes.
I don't know exactly why men's hats went out of style, except that clothing became more informal in general. I think it may have been a reaction against the extreme discipline necessary during the war, especially in the military. People felt that peace had come, the men were home from the war, and it was time to have a good time.
My mother noticed her pastor (a man my age) wearing his baseball cap into a nice restaurant and, in embarrassment, whispered to him, "Take your hat off." She realized then that the younger generation had no knowledge of the etiquette of hats!

Answer 4

A different version of this question was asked last month on Yahoo and yielded some pretty interesting answers. There are all kinds of answers from "respect for Kenndey" to "rejection of class lines during Viet Nam."

My grandfather wore a hat whenever he left the house until the day he died in 1993. Women used to wear gloves as well. Another lost tradition.

Answer 5

Along with the Kennedy answer, there was a shift in attitudes about being part of the "leisure class".

Previously, being tan meant you worked outside as a laborer. During the 1960s, the wealthy stopped sitting in the shade on the veranda and began to sunbathe on their yachts, play tennis on their outdoor court, ski in Aspen, etc.

Having a tan became the sign of wealth. And a suntan that ended in a hat line would be déclassé.

Answer 6

I suspect it has something to do with the spread of automobile ownership after WW2. People were not so exposed to the elements as when they were pedestrians. Throughout the Western world male hat wearing seems to have become more of a fashion statement than the practical necessity it once was.

Answer 7

The last time I checked, people still wear hats. All the time.

Answer 8

Not true. I am wearing a hat right now. Even in my avatar I have a hat on.

Answer 9

Because the fashion changed dramatically, and wearing hats was just too old fashioned, everithing changes, so , our clothes will !

Answer 10

The "Clark Kent" look went out of style?