Tips For Wearing Hats

Recently I have received a number of questions and/or comments about wearing hats and while I might not be the most prolific hat-wearer I do have the perspective of wearing hats at every possible hair length. From the shortest Jean Seberg pixie cut to long hair brushing my elbows, I've been wearing hats. These are my "hat tips" because it doesn't matter what length your hair is--you can wear a hat (and when it gets cold you probably have to anyway).

Tips for short hair: In winter wearing a hat isn't even a style choice, but reality. I don't know how anyone with shorter hair (or long hair for that matter) can survive a Northeast winter without a hat. It traps warmth in, helps keep the top of your head dry when it's snowing, and generally makes life bearable when there's a mountain of snow burying your car and you have to shovel a driveway or walk everywhere to get anything done.
-don't be afraid of hats--a lot of women with short hair think hats won't work with their hair, it's completely untrue; hats look amazing on short hair and help frame your face

-keep the hat in proportion to your hair--as in small knit caps, vintage fascinators, etc

-try to keep some of your hair around your face visible by setting your hat further back

-tuck your ears into knit caps
-a few hats to try: berets, cloches, pill box styles, knit caps, boater hats

Tips for medium-to-long hair:

-experiment--similar to how short hair looks best with small hats, larger hats work nicely on longer hair, but with medium length hair even more styles work so play around

-style your hair--don't get stuck thinking your hair always has to look one way when you wear a hat, straight, curly, even side braids look nice peeking out underneath hats
-a few to try: wide brim hats, fedoras, bowlers, boater hats, bigger/loose-fitting berets

General tips:
-confidence--every styling choice you make from your makeup to your shoes works best with confidence; if you look comfortable in a style then it looks good
-try to forget it is there--one of my best tips for wearing red lipstick is applying it an hour before you leave your house, by the time you leave you tend to forget it's on your face and you're less self-conscious; try something similar with a hat wear it for awhile before you meet up with friends and you won't notice it as much
-you don't know until you try--instead of writing a specific style or color off (regardless of the suggestions above!) try them out in a mirror, you could be surprised by how something looks on you
-pay attention to fit--you don't want a hat so large it falls down and covers your eyebrows if you turn your head too quickly and similarly you don't want a hat that flies off your head because it is too small, the best judgment for fit is does it allow freedom of movement?

-it's ok to wear hats indoors--it used to be common practice that women would wear hats in churches out of modesty, so women wearing hats indoors is not impolite; however it is probably uncomfortable to eat a meal in a hat! so don't worry about whipping it off the instant you cross a threshold, but do take it off if you're hanging around for awhile