Cowboy hats

WriteKnight

Arranger Of Disorder
Super Member
Registered
Joined
Mar 16, 2008
Messages
1,746
Reaction score
247
Location
30,000 light years from Galactic Central Point.
"His Stetson" - "His hat" - "His sombrero" - depends on what you're wearing and where in the country you're wearing it.

(By the way, cowboys wore all KINDS of hats. Broad brim, floppy, derbies and bowlers...)
 

MaryMumsy

the original blond bombshell
Kind Benefactor
Super Member
Registered
Joined
Jul 18, 2008
Messages
3,396
Reaction score
829
Location
Scottsdale, Arizona
Stetson is a brand. If a guy is wearing Resistol (George Strait) and you call it a Stetson, them's fightin' words. I think just call it a hat.

MM
 

Alpha Echo

I should be writing.
Super Member
Registered
Joined
Jul 11, 2008
Messages
9,615
Reaction score
1,852
Location
East Coast
Stetson.

Mmmm...

There is nothing like a man in a Stetson.

Mainly my man.

When he gets home from travel, I think I'm gonna make him put his on...
 

Gary

Super Member
Registered
Joined
Apr 23, 2006
Messages
968
Reaction score
153
Location
East Texas
Mary has it right. I've lived in "cowboy hat" country most of my life, and we call them hats. Years ago, they were often referred to as "western style" hats, but I haven't heard that phrase recently.
 

ELMontague

I was raised in West Texas. They're just hats. Though, you might take a clue from WriteKnight and be descriptive of the hat. Some folks wear broad hats made by Stetson. Some wear tight, weathered and sweat stained straw hats they got at the dollar store. Some men just wear a ball cap if your writing about current ranch work, your ears get burned so I wouldn't recommend it. And then you have to consider the material. Felt has many grades that have widely different price ranges. You can get a felt hat from WalMart for $20, but the felt is cheap. You can get a beaver felt hat for more than $500, a lot more if you shop at the right place. Straw hats aren't all equal either. There's straw and palm and reed.

If I were writing a cowboy hat, I'd describe the hat and then just refer to as a possession of the wearer from then on, if I referred to it at all.
 

Cav Guy

Living in the backstory
Super Member
Registered
Joined
Nov 14, 2006
Messages
809
Reaction score
146
Location
Montana - About a century too late
Sombrero was very common in period writing...even if the hat in question was a Stetson. Often they'd also be referred to based on their style...Montana Peak for example. If the character had an Army background he might call his a campaign hat, but that's not very common.

You could also just refer to it once (or describe it) and then just call it a hat.
 

KHCho

Registered
Joined
Feb 4, 2009
Messages
13
Reaction score
1
Location
Tucson
"Boss of the Plains" was a popular style of the old west beginning around the Civil War period. It was influenced by the sombrero (think Hoss Cartwright of the Ponderosa for an uncreased crown version). This was the hat Stetson first made in Colorado and cost as much as $20.
 

CDaniel

Writing for the brand
Super Member
Registered
Joined
Mar 14, 2009
Messages
8,600
Reaction score
1,378
In a modern setting it would work to put the brand name in, such as: Stetson, Resistol, Bailey, etc...
But in a period western, I'd use "hat" along with the description of it.

Dan
 

Thomas_Anderson

Super Member
Registered
Joined
Nov 17, 2008
Messages
429
Reaction score
22
Location
Baton Rouge, Louisiana
Sorry to resurrect this thread, but I thought sombreros were those hats with a huge brim that stretch out to your shoulders and had a tall peak.

I was thinking more like the cowboy hats that sort of resemble top hats.
 

Puma

Retired and loving it!
Super Member
Registered
Joined
Apr 21, 2006
Messages
7,340
Reaction score
1,535
Location
Central Ohio
Sombrero is Spanish for hat and did originally refer to the Mexican style of hat with a huge rim and high crown. But, sombrero is used loosely to refer to any kind of brimmed hat - even here in Ohio on occasion if someone is joking around. Puma
 

Arkie

a reader's ear and a writer's heart
Super Member
Registered
Joined
Apr 19, 2005
Messages
688
Reaction score
82
Location
Arkansas
My Time/Life book titled "Cowboys," shows four distinctive styles of cowboy headgear, but does state cowboys wore everything from "boaters" to "bowlers." The Sugar-loaf sombrero had a high peak and broad brim, but not as broad as we normally think of the Mexican sombrero; Plainsman, low peak and medium brim (good in the wind) I think a lot of the drovers wore these on trail drives; Montana peak (I think this is the one you see in the Wyatt Earp movies; and the Texas hat (the Texas hat had a medium high rounded crown with a star on the side half-way between brim and peak and a one-inch band with a bow tied under the star. This one looks like the early Texas Ranger hat and the hat popular with town constables.
 

Sargentodiaz

Super Member
Registered
Joined
Oct 30, 2007
Messages
1,330
Reaction score
61
This is a subject that has always fascinated me.
When I lived on a ranch in Southern California, I wore a straw hat to keep the sun out of my eyes. Have no idea what it was called as I bought it at Sears.
Over the years, I've noticed that hats vary greatly from area to area throughout North America.
Recently, I'm aware of the hats worn by Mexicans and it surprises me to note, that while most have a singular style, they vary from area to area within Mexico as they do here in the USA.
The Sombrero seems isolated to Mariache groups and some isolated small villages in desert areas made of straw.
 

Puma

Retired and loving it!
Super Member
Registered
Joined
Apr 21, 2006
Messages
7,340
Reaction score
1,535
Location
Central Ohio
But isn't that about the way they always show Pancho Villa in movies (and other Mexican bandits)? Puma
 

CDaniel

Writing for the brand
Super Member
Registered
Joined
Mar 14, 2009
Messages
8,600
Reaction score
1,378
In the last two Zane Grey books I read, he used the word sombrero to discribe the cowboy's hats.

Just thought I'd through that out there.
 

Brutal Mustang

Loves interplanetary chaos.
Super Member
Registered
Joined
Apr 14, 2008
Messages
2,003
Reaction score
449
Location
Casper, Wyoming
I'd just call it a "cowboy hat". I'm a country gal, and I don't have a hang up with the term. Honestly, it's the quickest way of getting the image you want into your reader's head, which is what good writing is all about.

As for the type of cowboy hat, most of us country people wear felt in winter, and pale bleached straw for summer.
 

frimble3

Heckuva good sport
Super Member
Registered
Joined
Oct 7, 2006
Messages
11,574
Reaction score
6,396
Location
west coast, canada
I think it would depend on your setting. If everyone in the story wears a 'cowboy hat', then just descibe it and call it a hat.
'Cowboy hat' implies that there are other kinds of hat. A generation ago, most men wore hats. A cowboy come to town would stand out, if the townsfolk wore some other headgear, derbies, perhaps?
 

Jonah Hex

Super Member
Registered
Joined
Apr 26, 2011
Messages
75
Reaction score
5
Location
Italy
Sorry for reup this topic, but maybe this picture can be useful for you. It came from an italian book (click for enlarge).

 

Sargentodiaz

Super Member
Registered
Joined
Oct 30, 2007
Messages
1,330
Reaction score
61
Sorry for reup this topic, but maybe this picture can be useful for you. It came from an italian book (click for enlarge).


while many think the 3rd down on the left is the typical vaquero sombrero, it is actually both of the top two in that row. The 3rd is typical of peones.
 

Jamesaritchie

Super Member
Registered
Joined
Feb 13, 2005
Messages
27,863
Reaction score
2,311
What's another word for that kind of hat? It feels kinda silly calling them a cowboy hat in a story, and they've got to have an actual name.

Each kind of hat had a name. Knowing that name isn't enough. You also need to know who was likely to wear which kind of hat, when each kind of hat was first made, which part of the country a hat was most popular in, etc.

I've read about too many characters wearing Stetsons before the first one was even made, or before they became popular, or who think every Stetson was alike.
 

MaryMumsy

the original blond bombshell
Kind Benefactor
Super Member
Registered
Joined
Jul 18, 2008
Messages
3,396
Reaction score
829
Location
Scottsdale, Arizona
Cool page, Jonah.

My personal choice is the second down on the left. They call it a Texano. I have one in black felt and one in brown leather. The leather one is hot hot hot. Your head sweats a ton.

MM