Good grief! Ball type caps are unsuitable and juvenile? I must live on a different planet than some of you. Straw fedoras look ridiculous in my part of Earth, where most men wear ball caps.

I can't say that ball caps are my favorite manly fashion item, but I'd give a man in a ball cap a second look before I'd give one to a man in a fedora or a beret. At least where I live, the former would be rather normal, and the latter rather silly.

Why is one type of hat any more suitable, or less juvenile, than another? In the US, ball caps are considered suitable day wear outdoors, and they aren't just for kids.

If you have to buy a new hat for every country you visit, you will need a wardrobe of silly hats.

I bought a rather chic South Park ball cap at Ostia and thought it was a lot less stupid looking than the fake straw ones with fake flowers on them that were for sale there. I would have felt elderly and pathetic in the floppy fake straw with flowers.

I think my husband would have felt that same way in a straw fedora. He was wearing an extremely suitable and mature SPQR ball cap, bought outside the Forum in Rome. He looked hot. I was excited to be with him. I think my South Park hat had the same effect on him. We had a romantic time in Rome, despite our headgear.

My attitude is that no one should go out in public looking like a slob or a fool. Is the baseball hat clean (not stained with years of grime, sweat and sunscreen from years of wearing it while mowing the lawn)? Is it appropriate to the situation (walking around or sitting in the park is okay -- going to the theatre? no)? Everyone will be able to identify you as a tourist anyhow, so why care?

Looking like a slob is much greater offense than wearing a ball cap.

My husband (who is Parisian) and I were sitting in a café in Lyon (where we lived) a few years ago.

It was a hot day and my husband, who was 28 at the time, was wearing long shorts, flip-flops, a t-shirt and a baseball cap. Despite the fact that we ordered in French and were speaking in French to each other, the (French) waiter insisted on addressing my husband in English, as he just couldn't get it out of his head that my husband wasn't American!! Even when my husband answered him in French, the waiter carried on speaking to him in stilted English.

Meanwhile, he addressed me in French, which is ironic since it was me that wasn't a native speaker.

Ronda, shame your dermatologist hasn't clued you in, baseball hats are NOT good for hubby.

Baseball hats cover very little, ears are completly exposed ( and cancer loves them exsposed bits , and backand sides of neck completely exposed.

My hubby is also blue eyed blond (whats left ) mostly baldy, and has had many precancerous moles removed, and a baseball cap was poo pooed by doctor.
He now wears a hat with a brim . Covers ears and neck .

Tilleys Endurables , googel "Tilly Hats" there are many styles available, I was in the store todays looking at the womens hats, I mean I am not wearing a baseball cap in Paris, the only time I wear one here is when I am driving kids to school on " bad hair days" and I don't get out of the car! LOL

Are you lot familiar withh the PJ O'Rourke essay "Horrible Protestant Hats"? If not you should make your aquaintance with it. You'll like it.

I think we are getting to the point at last. I'm sure baseball caps are great in their place. But their place is not on the heads of middle aged in Paris.

Now which hat to chose....?

"I think we are getting to the point at last. I'm sure baseball caps are great in their place. But their place is not on the heads of middle aged in Paris."

And who appointed you the Commissioner of what is correct and what isn't...

Personally, I think the coming fad is to wear the baseball cap backwards.

xyz123 wrote: "Personally, I think the coming fad is to wear the baseball cap backwards."

Now, that is prescient.

Only if you have eyes in the back of your head.

Shouldn't the point be that he's a grown man and can choose to wear what he feels comfortable in?
Bring the cap. If he feels comfortable wearing it, so be it. If he winds up feeling like a tourist(which he is)and uncomfortable, he won't.

I didn't realize that grown ups should be told what they can/should wear on their own vacation. It's just a baseball cap.

If you think the ball cap is incorrect, how about the American's I've stood in lines at attractions such as Neuschwanstein with wearing sweats and sneakers?

Let the guy wear what he wants.

Wow

Paul

I'm surprised that a lot of the people here are not encouraging the guy to wear his baseball cap, just so they can feel superior if they happen to be in Paris at the same time.

Just because adults have the right to choose doesn't mean they always make the right choice. But I do agree -- if, even though he has head-covering options, he chooses to dress like a kid, okee dokee.

And just to reiterate, for me it's not a matter of looking like a tourist, but looking like an attractive adult.

Wanna make those 'adult' decisions? Then don't opt for kids' clothes.

I can't believe what I'm reading here...who is to say what is children's wear, teen age wear, young adult wear, middle age wear, old age wear whatever......manhy people wear baseball caps all the time and not just Americans just like many people when on holiday walk around with sneakers and not dress shoes, with blue jeans and not dress pants, with t shirts not dress shirts.

Trust me, there will be plenty of other people in Paris wearing baseball caps...some of them may even be from Europe and some may be from France.

<i>even though he has head-covering options, he chooses to dress like a kid, okee dokee.</i>

But the other head covering options are certainly no better.

To repeat, most men look like nooges when wearing a hat. I consider this an objective fact. I wear a hat from time to time. It always makes me more nooge-like than I am without it.

I mean what are your options? A fedora? Fine if you are in a mafia movie. A pork pie? Great if you are going to a 1910 theme party. A cowboy hat? A little too much John Travolta in Urban Cowboy. A beret? Unless you have been trained to kill a man with your bare hands, you look like a beatnik-wannabe. A flat cap? You look like a limo driver, even if it does say Kangol on it.

This page has a nice listing of hat styles:

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hat

Is there honestly one listed that isn't, objectively, silly looking? I can't find one.

I see no reason to find the baseball cap any worse than any other type of hat. Indeed, because the baseball cap is so common, you can at least pretend that you never even thought about the choice, and are wearing it out of a need for head covering.

If you wear any other type of hat (save a wool hat in winter), it is clear to all around that you went shopping for that hat. That you put thought into the choice. That you think it looks cool. That you are wrong. Or it could mean your wife dresses you. Now that is much more embarrassing than wearing a baseball cap.

Hats, of course, can be practical, so I'm not saying don't wear them. But wear them because they are practical, not because one thinks them fashionable.

Some of these opinions might be written by 60 year old botoxed women pretending they are 30.

&lt;&lt;I see no reason to find the baseball cap any worse than any other type of hat. Indeed, because the baseball cap is so common, you can at least pretend that you never even thought about the choice, and are wearing it out of a need for head covering.

If you wear any other type of hat (save a wool hat in winter), it is clear to all around that you went shopping for that hat. That you put thought into the choice. That you think it looks cool. That you are wrong. Or it could mean your wife dresses you. Now that is much more embarrassing than wearing a baseball cap.&gt;&gt;

Well said. I think we have a bunch of women who want to play dress up with their men.

Oh no, honey. I want to play undress with mine!

Is your husband old and fat? Does he have spare tire and saggy skin? If he does, it doesn't matter what he wears in Paris because no one will even notice him.

In large cities like New York, London, Paris, Buenos Aires, only the bold and beautiful get looked at.

Thingorjus

and young!

I've heard that the latest thing to wear on one's head in Paris is a crumply, brown paper bag, rolled up at the bottom to form a &quot;brim&quot; at forehead level.

Totally the coolest thing and I'm certain it will catch on stateside soon!