Classic Hat Etiquette
These hat etiquette rules were culled from etiquette
books published before 1970. Do you have a favorite
classic hat etiquette rule? Let us know and we'll publish
it here!

* 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.
* Attention to Detail: A Gentleman's Guide to
Professional Appearance and Conduct
* The Indispensable Guide to Classic Men's Clothing

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
* 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.  
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