You may have limited use for sunglasses in the cooler months, but again, since the hat is such a strong statement, it’s better to limit your accessories to a hat OR sunglasses, but not both. Leave that look to the Blues Brothers. How to Buy a Fedora Hat We certainly don’t think so! While there has been a decline in hat wearing over recent years, a fedora or any other type of classic hat can still be worn well if you follow the principles of classic style. The Blue Brothers, along with their iconic hats, were conceived long before their feature film in 1980.

In 1974, John was hired as a writer for the syndicated National Lampoon Radio Hour. Shortly after, he became the show's creative director and immediately hired old friends Ramis, Doyle Murray, and Flaherty, and added the young Gilda Radner, a Toronto Second City alumne, to the group. This team also created the National Lampoon Show, which opened in NYC in 1975. Subsequent additions to the cast included Bill Murray and Richard Belzer. John's big break came later that same year when he joined NBC's groundbreaking TV series Saturday Night Live. It was here that he rose to fame and his unpredictable, aggressively physical style of humor blossomed. In 1976, John and Judy were married. Fedoras typically come with a fabric or ribbon band that sits just above the brim, which is typically finished in a decorative bow. The style of this ribbon hatband can change the overall look of a fedora hat quite dramatically. For example, a fedora hat with a wide ribbon and bow has a very vintage look and a fedora hat with a narrow band looks more contemporary. A wide ribbon lends a vintage feel Here, a slimmer ribbon gives a more contemporary look The trilby is like the fedora hat’s “little brother.” The main difference is that a trilby has a shorter crown and brim but has many of the same features of a fedora, such as being a soft hat with a pinch at the front of the crown. Another benefit of the fedora being a soft hat is that it’s easy to measure yourself for one. Simply take a measuring tape and place it around your head above the top of your ears to get the circumference measurement needed. Regardless of your overall head shape, after a short wear-in period, your fedora will start shaping to your head to give you the perfect fit. Consider vintage hats for better quality. Vintage is a great way to score a deal on a fedora hat featuring higher-end materials or unusual details, such as a high crown. Buying vintage will also help you get a truly classic look at a price point that allows you to build a collection. Older hats are often of much better quality too, and the sweatband can easily be replaced or cleaned, meaning you can add a fantastic fedora hat to your wardrobe for less money than buying the equivalent from new.Keep in mind that just like suiting fabrics, not all felt is going to be the same quality. But typically speaking, rabbit or beaver felt are considered to be the best type of felt for fedora hats. This is due to their soft yet durable properties, along with a natural water resistance which will make your fedora very practical. Why is it Called a Fedora Hat? Harrison Ford’s iconic performance as Indiana Jones is so connected with the fedora hat that it has become one of the hat’s most defining fashion history moments. Simply put, Stetson is a well-known brand that manufactures hats and was famous for their models of fedoras that they made during the golden age of menswear.

When their first feature film was released in 1980, The Blues Brothers were launched into even greater fame than they had experienced so far. While both actors and this specific act was already known and loved by many who watched Saturday Night Live, many who were unfamiliar with the television show were introduced to the comedy duo with the movie. These fans may not be aware that The Blues Brothers existed long before their big screen debut, as Aykroyd and Belushi were original SNL cast members and met even before the show began. 3. Dan Aykroyd’s affinity to hats may have inspired the costumes for the duo Aykroyd has been honored numerous times for both his acting and screenwriting capabilities. In 1977 he received an Emmy Award for writing on SNL and he later received two more nominations for writing, and one each for acting and Outstanding Comedy-Variety series. He received an Academy Award nomination as Best Supporting Actor for Driving Miss Daisy. He has been inducted into Canada’s Walk of Fame and maintains his Canadian roots as a longtime resident of Kingston, Ontario. In 1994 Aykroyd received an honorary Doctor of Literature degree from Carleton University.Most compelling, though, is the portrayal of Chicago. The film was, at least in part, conceived as a love letter to the city, and was filmed on location. It opens with a jaw-dropping aerial shot of the heavy industry of the city’s south side, a Blakean panorama of dark Satanic mills, a world corrupted by humanity. The street scenes – like those of so many location-shot movies (think of The French Connection) – are compellingly grimy. In those sections, and those sections alone, the film manages to find the poetry in the city it hymns, especially in the big song-and-dance routines. But judge The Blues Brothers on its own terms, not as an illustration of the politics of race, rather as a comedy. Aykroyd and Belushi? Comic legends! John Landis? One of the most interesting American comedy directors of his era. So why didn’t I laugh? Because Aykroyd’s labour-of-love script (rejigged by Landis) neglected to put in actual jokes. It has a great deal of ridiculousness, and physical goofing, and situations exaggerated to preposterous extremes. Just not jokes. I’d assumed the line I’d heard quoted most often – “No, ma’am, we’re musicians” – came at the end of some bravura riff, not that it was a single response to a single question. That isn’t a joke. Nor is saying – “We’re on a mission from God” – every few minutes. The first thing you need to know about Jim Belushi is that he's a performer. Not an actor, not a comedian, not a singer, but a performer. Which is pretty much all those things put together and multiplied by two or five or something. The second thing you need to know—and this is in some ways more important than the first thing—is that he has absolutely no shame. None. Zip. Zero.

If you want an inexpensive way to give your fedora hat a new look, changing the ribbon is a great way to do this.It’s quite strange, how a hat that was considered casual in the 1920s is now considered formal in the 2020s! But, as we’ve discussed before, clothing, in general, is becoming more casual. This means that when you wear clothing that’s higher on the formality scale, like a suit and a fedora hat, you’re more likely to stand out from the crowd. Silent Elwood never did put more than two sentences together, but all those lost words burned from his Special 20 blues harp. And Joliet tore that voice from some hidden darkness, twisting his chubby body, snarling at the heavens, a born sinner. They used the basement because it was secret and because the echo gave them a nice dirty sound: Howlin’ Wolf and Little Walker, slapping like a bad dream around the chilly room. And then one night, Jake brought in a gleaming E string he said came from Elmore James’ guitar. He held it tight and as it glowed in the bulb light, Jake sliced Elwood’s middle finger and then his own. Now the solo boys with soul in their blood were brothers. Jake and Elwood Blues … the Blues Brothers. Buy a hat from a genuine hatmaker. There are many hours of training that go into becoming a hatter, and you can see the difference in a quality fedora made by a skilled craftsman. See the list below for sources of fedoras from companies that specialize in the production of hats. The location and the sharpness or softness of the pinch can vary. Some low-end or cheap fedora hats have a permanent pinch that is fused and can look less authentic than a pinch that has been made by the wearer. In 1979, having just appeared in Steven Spielberg's financially unsuccessful 1941, Belushi and Aykroyd quit SNL to pursue their own movie projects. The following year, they starred alongside musical heroes Ray Charles, James Brown and Aretha Franklin in John Landis' now legendary The Blues Brothers. In 1981, John appeared in the movie Continental Divide, playing a hard-nosed Chicago newspaperman who finds romance in Colorado with eagle expert Blair Brown. That same year, he and Aykroyd starred together again—and for the last time—in the film Neighbors.

Born in Chicago on January 24th, 1949, John Belushi was the second child and eldest son of restaurateur Adam (an Albanian immigrant) and his vivacious wife, Agnes (whose parents were Albanian immigrants). From a very young age, John and his older sister, Marian where allowed to roam their neighborhood of Humboldt Park unsupervised by adults. This fostered in John an early sense of independence and love of adventure. Jake had a vision. It was his, the only real one he'd ever had, and he clung to it. There had been too many messy gas station holdups with only some green stamps and a case of Valvoline to show for the risk. Joliet Jake had always been full of schemes. But this was different; it played across his tiled cell wall 24 hours a day. And the ending was always the same – Jake and his younger brother Elwood cruising out of Calumet City, Ill., with the sun in their shades and a full tank of gas. He absentmindedly rubbed his Buddha belly; even on a diet of jail food and Chesterfields, Jake had gained weight. Someday they’d have a penthouse on Lake Shore Drive… float around with bourbons and blonds. It was out there for the taking and Jake could smell it like ozone in damp air. Dan Aykroyd is an Academy Award nominated and Emmy Award winning actor, comedian, musician, writer—and, most recently, business entrepreneur. He studied criminology at Canada’s Carleton University, but dropped out before receiving his degree to pursue acting, first working as a comedian in various Canadian nightclubs and going on to gain experience in Toronto’s Second City comedy troupe.

Biographies

Wayne’s charismatic and animated physical style were instrumental in forming a persona that now complimented his achievements on the live music stage. All of this has culminated in the opportunity to be cast as Jake Blues in the Classic Blues Brothers Stage Show—a part that Wayne is very specifically qualified for and passionate about and which is, in reality, the pinnacle of his life’s work. Over the past fifteen years, Wayne Catania has been the face and personality of the immortal Jake Blues, touring the continental US and Canada with both Official Blues Brothers Revue. Hailing from Toronto, Canada, Outside the world of All Things Blues Brothers, Wayne enjoys everything about vintage automobiles and cycling.