Find of the week: Harris tweed hat

I must be honest; I've never been a big wearer of hats. I'm a rather tall fellow, so putting something on my head only makes that fact even more readily apparent. When winter rolls around, a flat black or gray stocking cap is my friend, but the rest of the time I usually steer clear (with the exception of one embroidered 10 gallon that pushes my height to roughly 7 feet cumulative when I put it on).

It was then, with a bit of whimsy, that I purchased a tweed hat this weekend. I was ten steps away from leaving a local thrift store empty-handed when I saw a nice brown number sitting on a chair by one of the (empty) dressing rooms.



Upon picking it up, I flipped it over and looked inside, only to find that it was not only my size, but also a Harris tweed, made in the good old United Kingdom. Smashing!

Just look at that sensuous salmon-colored lining!

I'd bought hats in the past and they'd sat in the bottom of my closet, so I was determined to wear this one immediately. Fortunately I had a tweed jacket (that I'd paid $3 for) close enough in color to roll with. The day of wearing was chilly, so I paired it with a blue and white striped Stafford oxford ($1) and a vintage silk tie ($1.99) with a Toscano v-neck wool sweater ($2).

The tie pattern was this close to being too busy, but I decided to risk it

There were more than a few comments at work, which I expected, but I'm darn well going to get some good use out of a sweet Harris tweed hat. Did I mention that it was only $3 dollars? Double smashing!