5 Best Places to Debut Your New Hat
Hell yeah! You pulled the trigger on that new hat!
But now you have to decide when and where to wear it for the first time.
When one buys a new hat, wearing it for the first time is the biggest hurdle. The last thing you want is for someone to call it out or make fun of it.
However, after you wear your hat for the first time, you can say, “This hat? It’s not like it’s my first time wearing it. I’ve always worn this hat.”
So, to help you decide where to debut your new hat, we’ve put together this list of 5 optimal places:
1. Funeral
Who’s going to tell you your hat looks bad at a funeral? No one, because everyone is too emotionally occupied.
There’s such a somber tone at a funeral that no one would dare address something so trivial as a hat. And whoever takes time away from the funeral to be so juvenile as to heckle a hat, well now they’re the asshole.
You can’t lose!
2. Dick’s Last Resort
This restaurant would make for a fantastic place to debut a hat. Why? Because they’re famous for their staff being incredibly rude and heckling patrons - it’s the whole appeal of the place.
They make it easy! You’ve got plenty of built-in excuses here:
"The staff only made fun of my hat because that’s what they’re supposed to do."
"If they had free will, they probably wouldn’t have heckled my hat."
"Na, I didn’t take it personally. They’re literally paid to make fun of us."
3. Your Own Brick & Mortar
Admittedly, this option is a more expensive one, but it’s a solid investment:
Open up your own business.
Get a traditional, physical location and run your business out of it. No one can tell you shit - it’s your store! So what if you wear a new hat?! It’s your store!
There’s also the branding angle.
The most famous example of this is Ike of Ike’s Sandwiches. He’s bald so he opened a sandwich shop and made himself the logo. Once the sandwiches were a hit, no one looked at him and thought “bald,” they looked at him and thought “sandwich.” Perfectly played.
4. Another Country
Debuting your hat in another country gives you a couple options.
If people in the country hate your hat:
Chalk it up to a difference in fashion norms. Brush it off - there are different norms in different countries and in this country, people just didn’t take to your hat. Doesn’t mean it’s a bad hat, it’s just a different hat.
If people in the country love your hat:
Oooooh baby! Now you’ve got exclusivity on your side. Now you’re cooking with gas! When you return home you can say, “Well, people in [other country] loved the hat, actually.”
It’s a win-win!
5. The Museum
Museums often host historical and cultural exhibits. In fact, some might say it’s what they’re most known for.
Most of these exhibits demand a certain reverence… a kind of respect that might make you feel inclined to… say, take your hat off as a sign of respect. Bingo.
With museums, you have the option to take your hat off at any moment and it’s deemed perfectly normal behavior.
It’s not backing down from a bold fashion choice - it’s showing respect to the Harry Houdini exhibit.
Remember this simple phrase when wearing a new hat at a museum:
If someone stares, you can ditch.
If no one cares, wear that bitch.