Classic Fedora SE
My most popular style in a Safari Edition. Yes, tickertape parades would be in order were it not for modesty and a sense of environmental responsibility. This is a hat you need to put on the short list.
Why would you want the Safari Edition rather than the Montecristi Edition? Good question.
Okay, I’ll help you out. They look great. Even though it is the same style, the Cocoa and Caramel colors are a completely different look. They probably hook up with a whole different section of your closet than the light-straw-black-ribbon classic Panama hat look.
Field tested in Hawaii. I made a couple of Classic Fedoras SE for myself. Put a wide black ribbon on one. A wide brown ribbon on the other. Cotton twill sweatbands in both.
I’ve been wearing one or the other, sometimes both, about once a week for a couple of years and they still look good enough to show off on this page (2nd and 3rd from top). Who knows how many Mai Tai’s they have survived.
These don’t show dirt as much as traditional near-white Panama hats. I often reach for one of these when it’s windy enough that my hat might undertake unmanned flights, and landings in places where I wouldn’t want my hat to be.
This would be my choice for a travel hat if I wanted to wear a fedora and I wasn’t me. Virtually all of my travel is to Montecristi, so I have to wear a Montecristi hat to uphold the honor. You understand.
I don’t coddle these hats like I do some of my Montecristi personal hats. Maybe I’ve been lucky. Maybe I haven’t abused them as much as I think. But if I have to choose one of these or one of my Montecristis to go banging around in the bush, or to put into an overhead luggage compartment, no contest, amigo mio.
No guarantees, either. I don’t recommend putting any hat into any overhead luggage compartment. Who knows what’s up there? Body parts maybe. Weapons grade plutonium maybe. No nail clippers.
I’m just saying: got a gun to my head, I go with the Classic Fedora SE.
As you can see, changing the ribbon color and/or width changes the look, changes the personality of the hat. And perhaps your own as well. Sorry, ribbons are not interchangeable. Choose your favorite color. Or order lots of hats.
Ordering six would not be considered excessive.
Not by me. It is possible to imagine, if one stretches the mind, that there may be some wife or husband somewhere who might consider six hats all at once to be excessive.
Fashion is like Physics. Some people just don’t get it.
Find perfect. Make a decision. Take a position.
You may quote me if it helps. Call it Black’s 12th Hyperbole. Makes it sound almost indisputable. If that doesn’t work, play Randy Newman’s You Can Leave Your Hat On, and act accordingly. If that doesn’t work either, you’re back to choosing your favorite color.
Let me know how it goes.
Specs—Hand blocked. My hands. 4 inches tall, mas o menos. Pinch front. Dimples to die for. Tear drop top. Snap brim 23⁄4 to 3 inches wide, woven edge.Many choices of ribbons, hand sewn. Cotton twill sweatband, hand sewn. Weave count comparable to some of my hand-blocked Montecristi hats. This is a serious hat.
PRICES Why One Panama Hat Costs More than Another
$500
BRIM details
2 3⁄4 to 3 inches
CROWN
4 1⁄2 inches
SIZES details
21
1⁄2
to 24
1⁄4
inches
(54.5 to 61.5 cm)
I will send you size test bands
and will custom size your hat,
included in the price.
Extra shipping cost outside of U.S.
SWEATBAND see choices
Standard sweatband for this style is cotton twill.
RIBBON see choices
Standard ribbon for this style is 1 1⁄16 inch black.
Classic Fedora SE Order Now
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Pipsqueak Productions, LLC
Text and photos © 1988-2010, B. Brent Black. All rights reserved.
