Reverse Panama

The Vintage Hat Series: genuine Panama hat, handwoven from straw in Ecuador.The most classic and famous of men’s summer hats, the Panama, is understated and distinguished in its white and black simplicity. It’s as sharp as the man (and sometimes woman) who wears it.

What I love most about this hat I am wearing is that it couldn't be further from that concept: wide-brimmed, black, swathed in white chiffon and adorned with an enormous bunch of creamy roses. And it is still a genuine Panama hat made in Ecuador.

I am not sure of its vintage (I found it in a charity shop), but it has an elegant Thirties air about it. I feel that I should be wearing a tea-gown and sauntering through an orchard at sunset, carrying a basket of flowers. Perhaps I can try to fulfil that little fantasy sometime this summer…