At the Drop of a Hat
By Richard Boon
They obviously fell off somewhere, but a local trader can help restore them.
Look at any old crowd photos or newsreel footage up to the mid-1950s and you’ll see something that unites most men: a hat. Today if you see anyone sporting one, it’ll likely be as a fashion accessory, a means of personal expression: aiming for the cool, the chic, the hip, the beat, the street, or anything else that’s not the norm.
Way back when – and still today, to a certain extent – hats denoted certain economic or class relations. ‘Doff’ isn’t a word much in use these days, as a verb indicating an acknowledgement of social standing by tugging one’s hat/cap (rather than a peasant forelock) – cap wearers, indeed, would more likely actually remove them as a mark of servile deference; hat wearers just touching the brim, maybe with a nod of the head.
Their use may have diminished – climate change, anyone? – but there’s nothing like a hat to make a statement (or keep your head warm – estimates suggest that 30% of body heat is lost through the uncovered head). And even if you don’t know what it is you want to express, there’s someone in the neighbourhood who can help.
 Stamford Hill’s Hat Centre – one of only 28 listed hatters (including milliners) in London – has been wholesaling, retailing and advising about hats since it was opened in 1983 by Ari and Esther Mandelovics. More than just a retail idea, there’s a whole philosophy in their approach, as Ari (hat size 6 – what’s yours?) explains: ‘There’s a hat to fit every head, but you have to look for it. You have to be relaxed to buy a hat. The customer buys it. I don’t sell it. Selling hats needs a rapport – you break the ice, then follow the customer.’
The store is packed with stacks of hats. Male: fedoras, homburgs, derbys, tops, flat caps (one-piece or segmented with a central button: there’s a nuance here that Ari can explain); in felt, wool or leather (popular with Dreads) and – ‘I may be Jewish, but I’ll still call a small trilby by its common name‘ – pork pies, and more. Female: a vast range of hats and bonnets, regularly required and ordered for special occasions.
No milliner himself (‘I didn’t want to be lumbered‘) – though he can source, if required – Ari offers measurement, fitting, adjustment, and some repair services, once you‘ve found your hat (or it, you). During my short visit with him he fielded a walk-in customer looking for a flat cap (the range offered was simply too great for an instant decision) and a telephone enquiry: ‘You want a normal hat? A normal hat! What’s a normal hat? The hat I wear is normal! In the wearer’s eyes everything is normal!’
When it comes to fashionable trends, Ari notes both the huge impact of the Blues Brothers movie on sales of trilbies at the time, as well as that of Boy George in the early days of Culture Club sporting a wide-brim hat. Nowadays hip-hop is making a mark: ‘You can tell how successful some rap or hip-hop star is’, he adds, ‘by the number of bodyguards with them when they visit the shop.’
You don’t need to take bodyguard. Just use your head.
The Hat Centre, 18 Stamford Hill, London N16 6XZ. Tel:020 8806 4434 Open: Mon-Thurs 12.30-3.30; Fri 10 - 1; Sun 10.30-2.30. More information on hats: www.hatsuk.com |
