Poet Hat, Indiana Jones Style

Description:

The Indy Hat

Before Herbert Johnson moved to its present location sharing the store with Swaine Adeney it was situated at 13 Old Burlington Street. One rather uneventful afternoon two gentlemen came in and introduced themselves as Mr. Harrison Ford and Mr. Steven Spielberg.

Little did we envision at this point that the following conversation involving hats was going to produce one of the most instantly recognizable iconic pieces of headwear of the decade. Mr. Spielberg announced that he was on the brink of making an adventure film with Mr. Ford as the central figure and said that a hat was required as pivotal to the character and the plot.

The Salesperson courteously asked if there was a particular period involved, they didn't want anything too specific, so he suggested employing the oldest shape still being manufactured and carried in open stock. A tall crowned wide brim fur felt called "The Poet", as it had been made continuously since the 1890's and was ageless. As the character was to use it in different terrains a shade of brown called Sable was chosen. To make the hat very distinctive, we shaped the brim into an ovoid to give protection to the eyes and neck, reducing the sides also helped with camera angles. The brim was pulled down to give an explorer/safari look, the original ribbon being changed from 50mm to 39mm to make the tall crown appear even taller.

This we set about whilst the future Indiana Jones patiently waited for the hat's return from the workroom. When the hat reappeared it had been total transformed and they appeared pleased. We carefully noted what we had been done and made a template as the original hat was to have a test run.

It evidently worked as the following week we received an order for 45 hats of assorted sizes, for Mr. Ford and the stunt extras. Since the huge success of the films, we have had the pleasure of making dozens of Indys for the aficionados of the films. Each one carefully cut by hand using the original patterns. Each size is ever so slightly tailored to keep the hat in proportion to the wearers hat size and each one hand rubbed to give it its unique shape. Every hat to this day is given the same unique attention as given to that first one on that eventful day.