Alicia Roache, Staff Reporter
This group of dancers in their fedora hats practises dance moves backstage at Teen Fest, held at Ranny Williams Centre, Hope Road, St. Andrew recently. - WINSTON SILL/FREELANCE PHOTOGRAPHER
THE HAT refuses to quit. The fedora, popular since the 1880s is still a fashion mainstay. Usually a soft felt with a crease running lengthwise down the crown with a short brim that runs around the head, the fedora got its name from an 1882 French play Fédora written by Victorien Sardou.
The heroine of Fedora wore the hat, according to mydivascloset.com, which became a popular clothing accessory of gangsters and tough guys in the 1930s.
Since then, its star and 'gangsta' status grew and the fedora (popularly called the 'felt' hat in Jamaica) has made cameo appearances in movies, it was the signature hat of Indiana Jones, in the movie of the same name, and Clarke Kent was often seen wearing one in earlier versions of Superman.
It has appeared in comics such as Dick Tracy, and everywhere in music videos, posters and at award shows. Superstar singer Frank Sinatra was often depicted in the mid 1990s wearing one, legendary Rapper Notorious BIG wore them, and lately artistes like R. Kelly and Usher have been photographed wearing fedoras.
The fedora not only transcends time but goes beyond the fashion spectrum unlike any other accessory. Many Orthodox Jews wear black fedoras, as do the Amish. But the fedora is also a hot fashion accessory, even now. And quite true to form, if it's hip, it's in the dancehall. Nowadays, it is a hot fashion staple, especially among dancers.
PART OF 'DRESS CODE'
One such dancer, Rizzla, aka Joseff Clarke says the hat is a part of the 'dress code' for dancers.
Another popular dancer John Hype, who says he has five of the famous hats agrees that it is a part of the image associated with entertainers in general, rather than dancers in particular: "Once yuh a entertainer on a whole yuh haffi know how fi present yuhself enuh."
The hats, he says, are worn on special occasions in the dancehall. In dancehall jargon that means "a big dance or a anniversary", like the recent Firelinks anniversary dance to which he wore one.
And of course, one hat won't do. Rizzla, who is more renowned for the dance and for replicating the image of Zorro, says he has three fedoras, each in a different colour for his various outfits. "Mi have a grey, woolen one, a black one wid smooth material and a white one from straw."
Fedoras, which were first made in stock colours - black, grey and brown - are now available in nearly every colour imaginable and in various materials including leather, corduroy, felt, straw, fur and twill. Like the delectable icing on the proverbial cake, the right fedora, moreso even than the right handbag, can make a really great outfit.
But before you can get the nod of approval for wearing one in the dancehall, you have to present the entire package.
"Yuh haffi mek sure seh yuh clean," John Hype says. That, according to Rizzla, means no jerseys or sneakers. "A black an white affair yuh ago, see nuff people have on dem felt hat," he says. Even the dancers recognise the value of the fedora, as more than just fashion, but an iconic image of class and sophistication in the same way it is a suggestion of street credibility and subversion.
"Mi haffi have mi jacket suit, mi gentleman (shoes), mi tie, an mi felt hat kotch pon mi head and the walking stick," John Hype explains.
HOT FASHION
He says that each of his five fedoras - two white ones, a red, a blue and a black - , costs upwards of U$S250 (J$ 15,000).
"Some a dem done by order," he says. "It is expensive to dress like this." And image is everything, for most people anyway.
But while in Jamaican dancehalls the 'felt' hat, for many, is a sign of membership, and a suggestion of the same subversive elements associated with the bad boy image, for many others, like Rizzla, it is just hot fashion.
"Dat type of style is the right style for di video light," Rizzla says. "the style is like yuh going to a big dance weh di ooman dem come ina dem Versace dress and dem expensive clothes and shoes and bag," he explains. "Yuh haffi a come wid fashion. Yuh caan jus a come a dance inna jersey alone. You wear yuh felt, shirt, shoes pants, yuh suspenders and yuh walking stick."
It's just 'big pimping'.
