The almost universal wearing of hats in the US disappeared by the 1960s. There are some dress-up holdouts (Church ladies and the folks who go to the Kentucky Derby), but hat culture seems to be pared down to billed caps and knit watch caps, and here in Minnesota during the winter you will still see the odd trapper hat (think Elmer J. Fudd from Bugs Bunny).
I’m a hat wearer.
I almost always have a billed cap on. Actually I sport mostly long-billed caps because they cover my nose and most effectively remove the flare and glare different light sources present to my “new” eyes.
I also want to put a plug in for billed-caps as the most useful rain or snow accessory if you’re wearing a hooded coat. You can cinch your hood close so you don’t have any wind coming into the hood, yet the bill keeps the top of the hood from moving around on your face and impairing visibility. (The bill also keeps rain or snow out of your eyes, or off your glasses, in most situations—horizontal rain you’re on your own.) These benefits of the bill cap are especially helpful if you are working a tracking dog in a downpour and you want any visibility at all! But it’s also useful if you’re simply walking around with friends and want to stay warm.)
Besides billed caps in- and outside, I also wear a huge sun hat with a 3-inch brim that covers all sides and angles when I go for a walk.
I think if I had grown up in the US I might not always be wearing a hat. The five and a half years in Australia going to a private girls school wearing a straw boater type hat everyday convinced me this was the way to go. (We did wear a beret during the winter months, and that was not satisfactory to me, but that’s a story for another day.)
Regardless of whether I was a hat fan or not, I know I would enjoy drawing people with hat hair. It strikes something nostalgic in my mind. Hence today’s sketch.
When I was younger I actually got a short hair cut because the rules at that same girls school about hair length annoyed me. (Yes, I braided my hair before I got it cut, but for 2 years I explored short hair options. Then I let it grow long again and embraced braids.)
What I can tell you is that today’s sketch might as well be a self-portrait. I have very curly hair, which when short curls right up, especially in high humidity. Put a hat on that, stand and walk around in 100 degree Fahrenheit sunshine, and this is what you get when you take your hat off.
Happy days.
That is some really good advice.
And it is nice to see one of your very fine drawings with hair done so well.
So glad you enjoyed this one. I love sketching hair.