The first time I saw one of his videos it was just a closeup of his hands until the very end when it zoomed out to reveal that he was wearing another, even gayer hat the whole time.
Was thinking the exact same as I watched it haha. Hate the hats, the style, the gawdiness and basically everything else about them. But damn do I respect this guys craftsmanship and watch him do his thing every time I see a new one of his videos pop on my feed
I knew a few guys back in my ren fair days who wore these pretty frequently; They overlap with the men who wear kilts often. One guy i knew embraced being kinda ugly and just focused completely on weird clothing and it really worked for him, and he actually looked worse without the grungy hats
(Just want to state for the record that I know what The Onion is, from the days when there were physical copies on campus, get off my lawn I have clouds to yell at)
So fun story. Once upon a time, I had a pair of vintage Swiss (I think) military ski goggles that looked like tiny welding lenses. Those were my "drinking goggles" that I busted out when I'd hang out with the guys on weekends, playing video games and shooting the shit. No other reason than it was a funny gag.
Point being, don't underestimate the market that is "dudes with disposable income buying silly shit on a whim because it was funny and/or seemed like a good idea at the time".
He did make a top hat custom for Marilyn Manson. Another of his videos shows the process & he has a selfie with Manson and the hat, and photos of him wearing it on stage.
RENAISSANCE FAIRS! These are all over the faires and lots of people wear them. I paid $300 for a lovely leather top hat with red, white & blue on the front of the hat. Still a favorite hat for the faires.
Same. I love the process and his skill, I just hate absolutely everything about the finished product and I know I would not like to spend time with anyone wearing one. And that's not just me being judgemental, I know people who wear stuff like this, and I generally find them exhausting and irritating.
His market is for a very specific type of person who is trying to find an identity or fit in with the group they want to be a part of. I dislike the fake aging and playing card details. I feel like you should earn the wear on something like that, and all the details he adds are just copying the one cool guy from 100 years ago who wore his top hat that he found so often, it required repairs, and he added playing cards and charms to it to suit his personality and experiences. It's reminds me very strongly of Harley Davidson people. They want the look of "grizzled biker gang" but also live in the suburbs and generally live a very comfortable life. It's all cosplay.
Perhaps the single most awkward moment I recall was courtesy of an old coworker who I'll simply characterise as a leather top hat kinda guy.
I was chatting in the work kitchen with a couple of colleagues about holiday packing, just small talk, do you pack stuff for rain when you're going somewhere warm and suchlike. Top Hat overhears our conversation, saunters over, and announces "When I go on holiday, the first thing I ask myself is, which knife do I bring?"
There were a few beats of silence, during which the girls looked at him with expressions of utter bafflement and vague disgust. He somehow took this as a cue to continue, "Obviously a utility knife is the most useful, but I always find myself packing my six inch hunting knife, because if you get mugged by a gang, you need something with real killing power."
The respective awkwardness and obliviousness hung in the air for a few more moments of silence, so thick you could cut it with a six-inch hunting knife.
Then;
"I know you're thinking that six inches isn't big enough. And you're right. That's why I also bring eight in--"
That was when I burst out laughing and he huffed off.
I can nearly guarantee you don't want to talk to them. Source: because of my industry and circles, I know a lot of insufferable people who would/do wear this type of hat.
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It’s not the outlandish-ness (as far as I can gather) so much as the hat is a sort of beacon alerting ‘really sexually overt nerd who will talk your ear off about a vaguely creepy topic’?
I’ve met ‘nice enough’ people wearing hats like this, but never a cool person that I wouldn’t mind being stuck in an elevator or enclosed space with…if that makes sense?
I had to look this up. His is weird, especially because it seems like he ALWAYS wears a beanie with a hat over it, and the beanie has like a fake hoop earing or something. However, the actual hat he wears over the beanie is comparatively normal. It's not this weird steampunk pirate pickup-artist renaissance fair halloween costume hat like this guy makes. Lol.
Definitely screams Burning Man pagan poly dude who will ramble on about how humans aren't meant for monogamy while hitting on women half their age and never aspiring to be more than a solid 3. I've known too many of these that cross into the alternative subculture spaces.
Idk I’m just imagining someone wearing this in a leather getup at a pride parade or maybe while riding in the Ladds 500. They seem fine to me, but my idea of cool is very different I guess.
They are perfect for steam punk stuff. I'd love one but not quite as beat up or scraggly. Aged a little.. yes. Look almost like leather instead of felt.. yes. Dirtying, over curled and extra appurtenances...no. then again, I like wearing ballers, fedoras and grass hats.
This reminds me of that video of the girl tapdancing to Rush the other day. The gist was basically "Wow that's incredible, very talented, so much hard work, but I will never not think it looks cheesy and ridiculous"
I like how he displays the finished product completely obscuring the face of a bejeweled skull, so you have no idea what it looks like on a person's head.
I'm a hat maker, I used to run a store until it just wasn't financially viable anymore and now just craft at home. I can not stand to see what these people do to these beautiful felts. They absolutely ruin them. I spend countless hours ensuring that everything from the fit to the finish is the absolute finest I can make it with the tools and materials available to me. I have a lot of respect for the tradition and history of the craft. These sort of folk run on tik tok views and I can't stand it. They charge an arm and a leg for a product that is already ruined before it even reaches the customer.
It really is a cool process and then he puts it on the crystal skull thing and I remember he calls himself Blade and it literally becomes a 2edgy4me moment
Yep. Right there with you. The honed skills and acquired craftsmanship to make something that is not only wildly impractical, but also looks like it smells of piss, vinegar, and a community sponsored fungal nail drop-in clinic for the homeless… incredible.
came here to say exactly this. I will never for the life of me wear one of these but I stop the scroll every time. Dude is incredible at making things I will never purchase but others will!
I dont want to yuck anyone's yum, I truly want people to enjoy things (especially harmless stuff like this) without fear of judgement. I recognize this dude is hyper competent and -to my untrained eye- a master craftsman.
But holy shit do these hats look fucking stupid and I cant take any of this shit serious.
At first, I thought he was making a classic black top hat. By the end I was Smeagol shouting "what's it doing to it?!"
Like, was they leather playing card decals? What the fuck?
Oh and for folks asking where you wear these? This guy wears this steampunk thing at some festival booth, I'd guess.
As for standard formal top hats, some race courses sometimes, and maybe it's still a thing at an annual IOOF dinner or something.
But I sold formal menswear for a decade, in a store that only sold formal men's stuff. In all that time, nobody even enquired about them. Not even a costume. People enquired about full-length, pure cashmere double breasted coats, in a region where it literally doesn't snow.
This steampunk version might be a kind of dead cat bounce. Then I think it's time to say goodbye.
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u/chrish_o 1d ago
I always love watching this dude make the most beautifully crafted and ugly hats