When Appeal pal Beth Spotswood went to report her latest Tourist Trapped column for SF Gate, she made what some might consider a controversial choice: she wore a hat.
As Beth puts it on her personal blog:
Hats are the kind of thing women buy because other women and gay men love women in hats. Straight men do not historically enjoy a woman in a chapeau…all day long, I could feel that hat on top of my head, standing out, looking very Buena Vista Social Club. I only grew more self-conscious as the day wore on.”
Appeal style columnist Babe Scanlon had this response to Beth’s concerns:
Here’s how I feel about hats: who do we dress for? Ourselves, or at least we should. If we want to wear a hat, we should wear a fricking hat.
If it looks bad, it’s not our problem because we can’t see it on our head anyways. And any prospective mate who doesn’t like you when you look awkward is a bad bet anyhow.
Babe, who has had her own struggles with hats, followed up with this note for Beth:
All dressing, hats included, are about presenting oneself. And in the case of hats, it’s also about learning to present yourself as comfortable in your skin. Sometimes your skin wears a hat, which may not always be comfortable, but that’s ok because sometimes your skin also farts at a bad moment.
Learning to pass off a hat you feel awkward about can prepare you to make it look like you’re happy with the decision you made to fart.
What’s your hat stance? Sure, we only have ladies talking in this piece, but we know dudes wear hats too.
