Wear a hat when you are outdoors

I have quite recently picked up the occasional habit of wearing a hat when I am out and about. Not the usual baseball cap or tiny little trilby that some wear but the larger sized hats that actually work in keeping the sunshine and if it isn't a panama straw hat, the rain away.

A hat does complement one's way of dress. It is also functional. Here in Malaysia the sun beats down on us and then very often the heavens open up too. One could carry an umbrella around most of the time but A hat is easier to carry around. Once you are outdoors, its on your head leaving your hands free to move about.



The one in the main pic is something that I grabbed from Uniqlo. It is a fedora shaped panama style hat made out of straw paper. There is cloth lining on the insides making the hat pretty durable. The real Panama hats, like the ones made by Montecristi use actual toquilla (no, not tortilla or tequilla okay) palm straw can cost upwards of USD80 to more than a thousand Dollars depending on actual quality of the weave. And I don't know any local resellers of the brand. This one, made by a fashion retailer is sold for under RM60. It works just as well in keeping out the sun and its loose weave lets air circulate around inside but its brim may not be as constructed as I like. But beggars cannot be chosers. The hat from Uniqlo works well enough.

Brown fedora, cotton pants, no socks and a woven leather loafer.....

The second one is a wool fedora hat made by Dorfman Pacific. This one is slightly more durable in that you could use when caught out in the rain. I bought this over in Perth a couple of years ago and it has served me well over there and also here in the Klang Valley.

Now add the fact that I get to pretend like I'm Dr. Henry Jones Junior (if you don't know who this is go Google it) wearing a hat seems to be all fine and dandy to me.