I have a fedora hat. The style worn by Bogart in the old movies. I put a card with magic written on it in the band. This is like the old time reporters press cards. I made a gimmick that Velcros in. I was wondering what type of hat you wear, if any, when performing? I guess I always figured a magician should wear a hat. What do you think?

I generally do not wear a hat. The only time I do is for Steampunk conventions.

I do my best to distance myself from the stereotypical "magician" imagery, because that imagery is associated with a lot of negative traits. I also prefer to have my face clearly visible when folks are taking pictures or just generally seeing me. I am lucky in that I have a professional hair stylist in the family so I just make sure my hair is done nicely for gigs.

You are blessed with a full head of hair. Mine has been pulling a vanishing act for a few years now. I do like using the hat as a prop. I guess his is a little outdated today. I would love to find a dvd with modern ideas for using the hat.

You could shave your head. Though I have found through personal experience that sometimes you realize how oddly shaped your head is when you do that.

I just remembered I used to use my slouch cap in a coin routine. It was made in such a way that I could use it to vanish a coin. The only thing I had to do was use Stitch Witch to hold the sides and back of the sweat band still.

Gazzo does the melon under hat final reveal in cups and balls.

Oh! You could make an easy switching thing I bet, if you could somehow rig a panel to fall from the hat with a slip of paper or something on it.

Fez hats are fun to wear. The real thing or a cheap custom model works for me. A number of magician in the old days would wear a Fez. It looks fine.

The late Ali Bongo published a few ideas, magic gags, that the Fez could be converted to. One I remember is an ending for the Chinese Sticks, pulling the tassel on the hat to cause the tassels on the sticks retract.

The hat I wear to my shows is actually the same hat that I wear on a day to day basis. It used to be a fedora, but I fell in love with a short-crowned leather topper I found at a leather shop (In my avatar photo). I have a sort of steampunk-lite style, and the hat's become a kind of trademark for me. I don't do any tricks with it, however, and I'm often asked if I'm going to produce a rabbit from it. Alas, the rabbit comes out of a box.

I perform in a suit, so no hat except for summer picnic shows. Then I wear my Panama Hat for the sun.

No requirement for magicians to wear hats. I used to wear my Panama Hat all the time, but with a higher percentage of corporate work, it just doesn't fit the image I want to portray.

Hudson

I perform a flea circus, and my character is "stuck" in the 1920's. I wear a straw boater hat. Fits my character, show, and my age.

I'm a returning amateur and have not yet done a return performance. My photo shows me wearing a royal crown (not that I own) that I wore at a recent birthday tea party. I found out yesterday after a web search that the crown is still for sale at a reasonable price and it even has a secret pocket . I'm thinking of getting one, a bit whimsical.

Pork Pie made by Poll for juggling & manipulation. I've had Poll derbies too, but I've come to prefer the style of a pork pie.

Original straw skimmer. Cooler in door venues, perfect with my 1908 image and clothes, and not something they see very often.

Cowboy hat. Flat brimmed gambler's type

If you normally wear a hat, then wear one, but if you don't, then the spectators may smell insincerity. I usually wear a baseball cap flipped backward, so when I perform I wear a baseball cap flipped backwards. Wear what you feel comfortable in, because the spectators will see that you feel uncomfortable. that's just my take.

I normally do California gold rush with a period top hat or ren faire jester with a jester hood, but I did the 2019 California State Fair and also wore a straw skimmer because it seemed very "state fair."

As a kid, after seeing Indiana Jones and the Lost Ark, stores were selling Steson Fedoras models after Indy’s hat. Evidently they didn’t sell that well because I picked one up for $5, and still wear and use it today.

Dumbledore hat. With a couple additions: Magic and Mystery School logo, and Vulcan IDIC symbol.

https://www.google.com/url?sa=i&rct=j&q=......29786953

"I perform a flea circus, and my character is "stuck" in the 1920's. I wear a straw boater hat. Fits my character, show, and my age."

I'm a flea circus presenter and this heavily influenced my magic persona as well. I don't do multiple characters like some guys, so my flea circus persona is also my magician, etc. My hat of choice is a victorian 'smoking cap' (aka Dumbledore hat) of one incarnation or another.

"Dumbledore hat. With a couple additions: Magic and Mystery School logo, and Vulcan IDIC symbol."

Same - a few of these smoking caps custom tailored and I like them a lot. Whimsical look that has played well for me.

"Fez hats are fun to wear. The real thing or a cheap custom model works for me. A number of magician in the old days would wear a Fez. It looks fine.

The late Ali Bongo published a few ideas, magic gags, that the Fez could be converted to. One I remember is an ending for the Chinese Sticks, pulling the tassel on the hat to cause the tassels on the sticks retract."

Fez hats are fun for sure. I don't currently wear one, but close(ish) with the smoking cap. The tassel work with the Chinese sticks is great!

I think a hat is such a personal thing...one person looks great in a fez, another looks like a prune with a nipple on it's head. As for the magician look...don't you all think it has become so very cliché or tired out? I am talking about the fedora and white shirt with possibly a tweed style short waistcoat or something much LOUDER!? for the waistcoat. I can't actually recall right now.(I don't get out much).
I know one thing. You'll have to bring a gun and point it at my temples if you want me to wear a bloody fedora to any event! Even in the bedroom my wife had better have a ***ed good reas---aaahahAHAaaah scratch that. I'll wear it if she requests hehehe
But nowhere else ever! At no one else's request, ever!

So...
What is the next hat that you think ought to be the new magicians hat for 2020 or 2021 and beyond?!?

A Bowler is always a good one but it won't suit everyone. I have very little hair so I have a shaved head more formless. With a good head shape 😃

First off I just like hats, so I own several that I wear regularly anyway. My standard for a long time has been a wide brimmed brown fedora, but I also have a standard grey one, and often through the summer go with my panama hat. With all of these I too stick a card in the band, but I go for a Joker from a Bee deck. It's a fun look, and gets comments whether I'm performing or not.
I also have a couple Cowboy hats I wore while working at a western themed restaurant, a top hat I wear every year for a Victorian themed Christmas fair, and once for a Halloween I party wore a fez.
I like hats in a general sense, but I also agree with Jim Cellini who used to say "Hats make characters." There's a lot of fun to be had, and a lot to be said about your character in what hat you do or don't choose to wear.

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