Straws In The Wind
June, 1958
Straw as a Male Headdress has come a long way since King Lear wobbled around the moors with hunks of it sticking in his hair. Built into boaters (also called skimmers, sennits, sailors and straw hats), it rendered nifty the noggins of our flask-toting sires, becoming the symbol of an era and the trademark of hardy harlequins named Chevalier and Astaire. Last summer, a few avant garde and sportif types wore the boater with the same trepidation -- and earned the same stares -- that Bermuda shorts...
