In fact, one of my top picks for the season is
The Mr. Kim Camel Reid, a vented
stingy brim fedora with a toyo brim and crown -- and a raffia body.
The Charcoal Craig is another
Mr. Kim hat, this one all toyo but in two tones, and trimmed with distressed brown leather belting and antique brass buckle. Look for the vintage pinstripe ribbon with double cat and cat pin on
The Brown Craig fedora, while
The Camel Craig features an ikat triple pleated band above its very stingy 1 1/4 inch brim.
Stetson brings us two limited edition hats:
The Rantoul, a luxurious pinch front fedora; and
The Open Road, produced in an exceedingly fine and tightly woven straw with a center dent crown and a brim that measures 2 3/4 inches. The trim, a grosgrain ribbon, is narrow on this made-in-Texas
dress straw hat, and the sweatband is leather. There's another hat from Stetson sure to go fast this season. Called
The Oswego, it's a pinch front
fedora with a "C" crown and snap brim made from a Japanese "Bu" shantung woven body.
Borsalino always pleases with
straw dress hats, from the once-in-a-lifetime
Vented Montecristi to something brand new this season called
The Mazzini. A stunning
stingy brim fedora in open weave Abaca (a natural fiber from the banana family of plants), the hat is exceptionally lightweight and pleasing in rich, natural tones with color tinged grosgrain trim.
The Panama With Fantasy Band is also new from Borsalino. It's a classic
Panama fedora with a striking natural colored grosgrain band with a dark tinge at its edge.
I'm kind of partial to
The Santana Panama Special, truth be told. It's a magnificent
Santana Panama hat made
exclusively for Hartford York. The vented body is crafted from finely woven straw with a brim that's just stingy at two inches. The trim is a three pleat leather and grosgrain band with pick stitching and a Santana lion pin. Look inside for the fancy tooled leather sweatband and embroidered lion tip sticker. Now that's a hat!
You'll see other favorite
straw dress hats in our inventory this season, including
The Elegante, a Panama safari style hat from Christys' London in very fine Grade 20 straw.
The Pinch Front Fedora from Biltmore of Canada is a
Montecristi Panama hat sure to turn heads. It's as nice a hat as we have to offer.
Biltmore offers other top-of-the-line
Panama hats (just to make your decision-making task more challenging!) with
The Classic Fedora and
The Montecristi Pork Pie.
Back by demand from
Borsalino are hats like
The Panama Fino, a hand woven snap brim Ecuadorian hat with tan grosgrain band and bow;
The Turndown, another blocked-to-perfection Panama
straw dress hat, this one with a turned down brim; and
The Stingy Brim Panama, a classic hat with a pinch front, 1 3/4 inch brim and grosgrain ribbon trim and sweatband.
The moral here is: seek
dress straw hats at HartfordYork.com, and ye shall find them.