“My name is JD. I’m obsessed with hats, I absolutely am!
And not just any hats. Not caps, but actual hats- the Fedoras, the Homburgs, the Panama’s. These are the hats that I’m really drawn to. I can tell you that my grandfather is definitely the biggest influence in my obsession.
At an early age my grandparents would drive over from a little town in west Texas to my parents house. As soon as my grandfather walked through the door he would kneel down to give me a big hug. I’d come running up to him and every time the brim of his fedora would crash into my cheek.
I always stood back and looked up at him and he looked like such a movie star, such a gentlemen in his chocolate brown Fedora. And this guy, he was a blue collar manual laborer, a bricklayer.
But he was also the most gentlemanly, the most reserved and articulate man that I have ever been influenced by.
For me a big part of his identity was that hat. I think back to when they were leaving our house every Sunday, driving away in their old Chevy Impala, into the Texas horizon, I could always see, peeking over the window, the Fedora.
Now that I’m a young man, these hats are definitely central to my style. Most of my friends don’t recognize me when I’m not wearing a big brimmed hat.
I feel most complete and I feel most at ease and I feel most like a gentlemen when I’m wearing my hats. What else can I say?”