Sunday, February 10, 2008
HAT PARADE: A DEEPLY PERSONAL HEADWEAR JOURNEY
• Purchased in 2001, the W 2004 cap has been in constant use since. Riled leftists are usually pacified by claiming the W stands for “Wahhabist”. Deliberately removed only once, when testing a Bentley GTC in the US; my co-driver wasn’t a great supporter of the 43rd President, and it’s best not to anger a man driving at 140 mph.
• Everybody needs a Pope hat. Only available from a custom Pope supplier in Rome, the Pope hat is irresistible to visitors and sinister intruders alike. Unspeakable obscenities are made wildly entertaining when uttered by the wearer of a Pope hat.
• This Happy Arab ensemble was sourced from a Jerusalem market last year. A fellow journalist on the same trip wore an identical outfit when meeting Australia’s ambassador to Israel; he didn’t seem to mind, even when we kept calling him “Jimmy”. Come to think of it, we didn’t stay very long at the ambassador’s place.
• I can’t remember the year, but one time I got into a long argument about the merits of various muscle cars with this guy in an outré Manhattan bar. At the end of it - possibly to celebrate the novelty of our debate, given the location - he gave me his Mustang Boss 302 cap. I wore it once while driving my MX5 and got a ticket for cognitive dissonance.
• Direct from the Durdana Khan Cap House in Peshawar City, this sturdy and long-wearing ... object is ideal for keeping brains warm during long nights on the steppes of the Sindh Sagar Doab. Made from ... materials, this authentic example of ... something is also available in Extra Coarse and Dung.
• A Collingwood scarf as headwear! Feel those cultures merge! Bought at Victoria Park after a 101-point win over Richmond, 23 August 1986.
UPDATE. Australians have long been defined by their hats.