It is a global trend and as more men rediscover the benefits  of the weather protection and dress styling that hats offer, the trend  will continue to grow.

Strand Hatters were recently in the media with an article in the Sydney Morning Herald about the return of hat wearing as a fashion trend for younger men.   See the link below

Strand Hatter’s has been a oasis for the hat lover  for years and many times I have called on them to immediately solve a hat dilema for me with my work in the stage and screen industries.

It is a tribute to good business that this specialty shop has survived in a climate where  shops that dedicate their merchandise to a few items are now limited.

Big apparel companies selling  top to toe clothing options under  the one roof  are todays’ one stop shopping trend.

Hats off to Robert and Nathan at Strand Hatter’s, offering this specialty hat fitting, styling and sales service.

Recently I visited Strand Hatters with Steven Lewis, a journalist and podcaster from the blog Open Crown.

In the spirit of promoting the wearing of hats,we worked with the Strand Hatter’s staff and a hat client to style a hat that suited this young man. We selected a range of hats to find the ones that best suited his personality and physical features. Below is the podcast of this session.

http://www.smh.com.au/executive-style/style/cool-for-hats-mens-headwear-back-in-fashion-20090904-fbhs.html

He had a brisk trade in spraying   logos onto his blank truckie caps. Rap tags and New York skylines were his favorite themes. He was very adept with the spray can, creating  on a very small space, logos with clever perspectives and his silver pen highlights finished the images in a slick shiny apple way.

This gig had taken him to Japan where he demonstrated his skills in the hat shops in Tokyo. This has been his living for the last 7 years.

He claimed  to be  the best hat maker in New York!

I paid up and commissioned one for the road.

a bit of style exploration in a Tokyo hat shop

In Tokyo in the depths of winter earlier this year, I was delighted to see young Japanese men wearing hats on the streets.

They seem to have embraced all kinds of styles, from striking black felts perched on top of their dark hair  to a range of soft knitted and pattern made hats. There is endless variety to choose from in the hat shops that line the streets of Harajuku and Shibuya.

ca4la is the most famous of these shops and is well stocked with an impressive array of local manufactured styles along with top international brands. ca4la has multiple store in Japan and recently opened a shop in London.

What inspird me about the Japanese was their willingness to be playful with hats as a fashion accessory. They are not afraid to make a statement about what they put on their heads, in fact they proudly experiment, unafraid of what others may think.

I beleive they are leading the way in contemporary hat wearing.

I had some fun with a few hat freaks and my photographic companion, Katerina Stratos one night out in the Tokyo hat shops.