Straw Boater Hat Guide – Formal Summer Hats for Men

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The straw boater is a classic and distinguished warm weather hat for men; read on to learn how to wear it with flair.

What Makes A Boater Hat?

Straw boaters are most typically made from a type of stiff flat straw referred to as sennit. This can be any type of flat and naturally colored straw, and it’s typically plaited or braided at angles to construct a boater.

The finished boater will be slightly elliptical in shape, and will also have a flat brim and a flat crown (also known as a telescope crown). A boater will most typically feature a solid or striped grosgrain ribbon that runs around the crown.

Speaking of terminology, the boater is also known by a wide variety of other names including the basher, the skimmer, and the sennit hat, among others.

Boater Straw Hats with two ribbons
Boater Straw Hats with multicolored ribbons

Boater Hat History

Interestingly, the boater was worn by women and children as early as the 1860s, but it wasn’t adopted as a staple of menswear until about 20 years later in the 1880s. Much as the fedora was also originally a woman’s hat, so too was the boater. Once adopted into a man’s wardrobe, however, it quickly became popular as a formal summer hat, the warm weather alternative to the Homburg.

It experienced its greatest period of popularity in the late 19th and early 20th centuries and was most frequently used not just as an everyday summer hat, but also for boating and sailing activities, hence its most common name. Boaters have also been seen in a variety of other applications, however; as one example, given that FBI agents like Melvin Purvis were frequently photographed wearing boater hats, they developed a reputation as being something of an unofficial uniform for the FBI prior to World War II. This has been immortalized in movies like “The Sting” for example.

Boater Hats at a Baseball game - Walter Johnson & Calvin Coolidge
Boater Hats at a Baseball game – Walter Johnson & Calvin Coolidge

Since 1952, the boater has also been part of the uniform of the Princeton University band. You can see this in such places as a cover of Sports Illustrated magazine from October of 1955. Other notable wearers of the boater include entertainers like Maurice Chevalier and Harold Lloyd, as well as businessman John Jacob Astor IV, who was killed in the sinking of the Titanic. Fashion designer Coco Chanel was also fond of wearing boaters, and she did a lot to keep them popular among women in the early 20th century.

Straw Hat Day – An Interesting Tradition

Back in the days when it was proper etiquette for all men to wear hats whenever they were out of doors, Straw Hat Day was the day when men switched from their felt hats to their straw hats, seen as the beginning of summer. Of course, the exact date of straw hat day could vary from place to place. As you might have guessed, its cold weather counterpart would be Felt Hat Day, which usually occurred in September or October in most locations. In some cities, groups of rambunctious young men would seize and destroy any straw hat that was worn after Felt Hat Day in the fall.

Heyday of the Boater Hat
Heyday of the Boater Hat

In New York City in 1922, this destructive habit would escalate into the Straw Hat Riot, which lasted eight days, involved a mob of around a thousand hat destroyers, and resulted in a number of arrests and injuries. So as you can see, hats were taken much more seriously back in the day than they are now. Let’s just hope if you wear a hat stylishly, it doesn’t incite any riots!

Where might you still see boaters being worn?

Unfortunately, boaters are a bit of a rare sight these days, although they can still be spotted in certain settings. Examples would include sailing or rowing events as we mentioned before, as well as theatrical or musical performances. You may recall that straw boaters are a standard feature of many barbershop quartets, for example. Boaters are also frequently seen as part of school uniforms in the United Kingdom, Australia, New Zealand, and South Africa.

Barbershop Quartet
Barbershop Quartet

A notable example of this would be at Harrow school in London, where boys wear boaters with shallow crowns and wide brims that are frequently referred to as Harrow hats. Because of a historical association between boaters and political rallies held in warmer months, you’ll sometimes see inexpensive boaters made from foam or plastic at political rallies in America, even today.

Where to Purchase a Boater

Despite the fact that boaters are increasingly uncommonly worn by the typical man, their persistence (especially within the fiels outlined above) has meant that a number of retailers still offer them. As an example, the boater featured in the companion video to this article is produced by Scala, and can be found on Amazon.

How To Pull Off a Boater Hat

These days, many men are hesitant to wear traditional hat styles for one simple reason: they’re afraid that they’re going to look out of place. Truth be told, this fear isn’t completely without merit. After all, if the hat doesn’t match the wearer’s outfit in terms of formality or doesn’t match his face shape well, things are going to look a little bit off. However, confidence is key. So if you’re armed with the basic guidelines we’re about to give, you should be able to pull off a boater with no trouble.

Boater Hat and club blazer
Boater Hat and club blazer
  • As we mentioned earlier, the boater is a fairly formal summer hat roughly equivalent in terms of formality to the Homburg. As such, it’s going to look best in its traditional setting with a blazer, or with a summer suit of matching jacket and trousers.
Preston wearing an ensemble perfect for Warm Weather Black Tie
Preston wearing an ensemble perfect for Warm Weather Black Tie
  • Also, given that the Homburg is the traditional headwear choice for black-tie ensembles most of the year, the boater can also be worn with black-tie in the summer. A hatband of black grosgrain will look best with a full tuxedo, but warm-weather black-tie ensembles can be livened up a bit more with a colorful hat band.
  • Given that the boater will often feature a fairly substantial brim, remember to consider how it relates to your face shape. In general, though, wider brims will complement long oval faces, whereas narrower brims are going to complement squat rounder faces. Meanwhile, as you might have guessed, men with strong and chiseled facial features will look good in almost any style of hat including the boater.

CONCLUSION

While the boater takes a bit more confidence to pull off these days than the Panama hat or the straw porkpie, it can certainly be done–and now that you’ve got our tips for wearing one well, you should feel free to “rock the boat” a little bit this summer. What do you think of the boater hat? Share with us in the comments below.

Reader Comments

  1. A true Gentleman knows when fashions are out of style.. This is 2019.. not 1919, Wearing a straw hat will prove the wearer hasnt a clue on fashion and will be looked upon as such.

  2. You might also mention proper fit. In all of those period photos, the boater sits atop the crown of the wearer’s head. Yours unfortunately appears to be too big for you, as it comes all the way down to you ears, resulting in a rather (doubtless unintended) comical effect.

    1. I agree with Chris, the boater is too big on Preston. In addition hats should be tilted at an angle or tipped back. Boaters especially so.
      Great article!

  3. “Speaking of Princeton and its contemporaries. . . .” (3:10): what on earth does Preston think that the word “contemporary” means? Princeton University was founded as the College of New Jersey in 1746 and was renamed Princeton University in 1896. So anything existing during the period from 1746 to the present, or at least from 1896 to the present, is contemporary with Princeton University.

  4. Interesting article but I’ve never found the boater to be a very attractive hat.

  5. The straw boater is popular in Australia with some Private High Schools as part of the uniform . They are also often seem being worn by Tuba and Banjo players as part of a Dixieland jazz band for promtions in shopping malls .

  6. Great article. Never thought I would be interested in a boater. But now that I attend Polo matches on Saturdays and that I dress appropriately for the matches, maybe it’s time to invest in a boater.

  7. Great article.
    Very erudite and well written as always.
    In sartorial splendor and art.
    Enjoy!

  8. where can I buy actual buy a good quality boater hat made of sennit? Like the one showed in the video.

  9. Gentlemen,
    Thank you from my very core for this site! In a world where crass seems more and more the norm you provide me a soothing, dare I say renewing oasis of good taste. I check in each morning BEFORE doing the NYT crossword! That says it all. Thank you.

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