* Shall I Wear a Hat?

* When Women Wear Hats

* A Gentleman and His Hat in an Elevator

* A Man and His Hat Out of Doors

* A Gentleman Lifts His Hat

* A Boy Takes Off His Hat

Etiquette Books

May we recommend. . .

* Essential Handbook of Victorian Etiquette

* The Amy Vanderbilt Complete Book of Etiquette (March 2000)

* Emily Post's Etiquette (16th Ed)

Shall I wear a hat?

Not withstanding the continued practice of certain younger women to go hatless on all occasions, best taste exacts that in a city a hat be worn with street clothes in the daytime. In fact, it is impossible for a hatless woman to be chic. With an evening dress a hat is incorrect.

Emily Post. Etiquette: The Blue Book of Social Usage, 1959.

When Women Wear Hats

Hats or some head covering is worn at church services in those denominations requiring it. In the country, when hats are worn at all by women, they may be removed with coats if desired. It is usual at house christenings, weddings, and funerals to treat the house, for the occasion, as if it were a house of worship and for women to keep their hats on. This, however, is not technically necessary, either for guests or for the woman of the household. At garden parties or garden weddings it is purely a matter of preference whether a woman, who has been shown to a cloak room first, decides to remove her hat or leave it on as an important part of her costume.

In town at formal receptions, including wedding receptions, teas, luncheons, and meetings women guests usually keep hats on if they have worn the. But at wedding receptions in particular, hats are often removed especially if the reception includes dancing. Although, except perhaps at the home of an elderly and very conservative woman, on such an occasion the lack of a hat would not be in any way remarked these days. In fact, even at formal luncheons the modern hostess often suggests that guests leave their hats with their coats, if they wish. Certainly if most of the women at such an affair are hatless, one or two women who cling to the older convention in the matter will seem inelastic, to say the least.

Hats worn with dinner suits or dinner dresses are intended to remain in place throughout the evening and are usually tiny enough not to obstruct the view of those behind one in the theater. If there is any doubt about a hat obscuring someone's view at the theater, the movies, or a meeting, a woman should remove it promptly. If she's asked to remove it by someone having difficulty seeing beyond her, she should do it immediately with murmured apologies.

Amy Vanderbilt's New Complete Book of Etiquette: The Guide to Gracious Living, 1963.

A Gentleman and His Hat in an Elevator

Etiquette Books

May we recommend. . .

* Attention to Detail: A Gentleman's Guide to Professional Appearance and Conduct

* The Indispensable Guide to Classic Men's Clothing

* Emily Post's Etiquette (16th Ed)

A gentleman takes off his hat and holds it in his hand when a lady enters the elevator in an apartment house or hotel--any building which can be classified as a dwelling. He puts it on again in the corridor. A public corridor is like the street, but an elevator in a hotel or apartment house has the character of a room in a house and there a gentleman does not keep his hat on in the presence of ladies.

But in public buildings, such as offices or stores or buildings which contain neither apartments nor assembly rooms, the elevator is considered as public a place as a bus or a trolley car. What is more, the elevators in such business structures are usually so crowded that the only room for a man's hat is on his head!

A Man and His Hat Out of Doors

A situation that requires some dexterity is that of a gentleman on a Sunday or weekday in a city street who stops to speak to a lady of his acquaintance, in taking his hat and his glove off, and in getting his walking stick and his cigarette out of the way. This constitutes a maneuver that needs considerable practice to be done without effort, though the process is easy enough to describe. First of all, he transfers cigarette and stick, if encumbered with either, to his left hand, takes off his hat and transfers it to left hand, and at the same time grips the fingers of right glove, pulling it off! He than gives her his gloveless right hand. All of which perhaps explains why the smart would never carries anything but a crooked-handled stick which can be hung on the left arm. If the gentleman and lady walk ahead together, he puts his hat on; but while he is standing in the street talking to her, he must remain hatless, no matter how cold the wind nor how torrid the sun, for so long as she may be pleased to stand and talk to him. Nor may he smoke. In the country he may very well be bare-headed and also be smoking a pipe, but in a city street there is no vulgarity greater than for a man to stand talking to a lady with his hat on, cigar, pipe, or cigarette in his mouth.

It should not be necessary to add that, out of doors, every American citizen stands with his hat off at the passing of the flag and when the national anthem is played. If he didn't, some other more loyal citizen might take it off for him. Also every man should stand with his hat off in the presence of a funeral.

A Gentleman Lifts His Hat

Lifting or tipping the hat is a conventional gesture of politeness shown to strangers only, not to be confused with bowing, which is a gesture used to acquaintances and friends. In lifting his hat, a gentleman merely lifts it slightly off his forehead--by the brim of a stiff hat or by the crown of a soft one--and replaces it.

When walking with a friend who bows to a lady who is a stranger to him, a gentleman lifts his hat without either bowing or looking directly at the lady. This is because it is a fixed rule of etiquette that a gentleman must never stare at a lady.

If he passes a lady in a narrow space, so that he blocks her way or in any manner obstructs her, he lifts his hat as he passes.

. . . A gentleman lifts his hat whenever he says"Excuse me," "Thank you," or speaks to, or is spoken to by a lady. Needless to say, he always takes his pipe, cigar, or cigarette out of his mouth as he lifts his hat, takes it off, or bows. And a gentleman always lifts his hat to his wife when he encounters her, or joins her, or takes leave of her in public, because, if for no other reason, the public does not know the lady is his wife.

A Boy Takes Off His Hat

A young boy must learn to take off his hat to a lady or a gentleman. He should also take it off to a girl, or at least lift it. To another boy he either makes a gesture of salute, or waves his hand, or very likely calls out, "Hi Jimmy!"--unless the boy is with his mother or another lady, in which case he takes off his hat if he knows her.

Emily Post. Etiquette: The Blue Book of Social Usage, 1959.