Adelaide Hatters

There are quite a few different hats in this small two-​level store!
How can I choose only one hat in a room that is full of pretty hats? I was pleased with the fact that the shop assistant was willing to take a good 15 minutes to help with deciding what to get from the store. There are all sorts, casual ones to wear in the street or beach, a few baseball caps, plenty of straw hats, and upstairs is a small wall of more expensive hats to wear for the Adelaide Cup horse races carnival. I told her I needed a cool white hat because I saw one of my favourite athletes wear it to the Opening Ceremony Parade of the 2000 Sydney Olympics.
After the shop keeper told me she would order one from interstate (Melbourne), as they didn’t have any in stock in Adelaide, after several weeks of waiting, I bought a white Kangol BERET for less than $ 80. Sold!
Buret. Not Buree, or Baray.
It’s Beret.
It makes me remember one of my favorite Simpsons episodes in which the rich American blonde kid is trying to correct his French waiter, who ignored his verbal correction: «Showdair? Showdair? It’s Chowdah! Say it right!»
See:
I don’t know why, but I had a crazy need for a Beret. A-​S-​A-​P. And it’s not just any hat.
I walked in, told the kind lady what I needed, she said she didn’t have any in Adelaide, but she can order one from interstate, I paid a decent price, and just like that, I went out of the store wearing my much-​needed Buree.
Beret.

It is always a surprise to me that there are plenty of fellows wandering around Adelaide wearing their baseball cap backwards because some rapper did so back in the nineteen nineties, and now somehow it is considered cool, but barely any fellas wander about wearing a decent brimmed hat to stave off the disastrous South Australian sunlight.
After all Australia has one of the highest incidents of skin cancer or melanoma in the world, in fact South Australia is the skin cancer capital being the driest and hottest state with the least shade provided by the various councils.
Particularly vulnerable are the pale skinned derivatives of English migrants whose skin is much too fair to deal with the relentless burning. They are a nasty scar waiting to happen a lot of the time, and yet they wear the silly little American baseball cap to be cool.
This business, Adelaide Hatters is a classy little establishment that has supplied hats to the smart folk for quite a few years by now. Tucked away in Adelaide Arcade they have an air of quality about them which I suppose is because hats tend to be thought of as ‘old school’ these days; women’s hats are a little strange at the moment, «Fascinaters» I think they call the most popular types at the moment which are more like the star on top of a Christmas Tree than an actual hat to shade your face.
The selection of men’s hats is great with prices as low as fifty dollars to start and obviously you can get quite high in price; but lets face it, you want to save your ears, nose, eyes and face from burning, a hat costs less than surgery or cancer doesn’t it?
The need to slap on sunscreen is reduced if you are wearing a hat, and sunscreen is not a cheap item either, so it is both a health issue and a money saving exercise to purchase a decently brimmed hat that can be worn wherever, rather than to be caught at some stage of life with a nasty side effect of gloriously bright sunshine.
It can take a little time to decide on a decent hat, and they don’t get too concerned here if you try a few then go away to think about it. I have a great Akubra, but there are a solid variety of men’s hats to go through, some more effective than others.

My boyfriend and I came here to look at hats for a fancy dress, 1930s themed, event. They definitely have a really good selection of pretty much every styles and sizes you could want. However, I’d recommend that if you’re looking for something you’re only going to wear once or twice, go to a different shop. It is rather expensive and their cheapest hats cost about $ 45.
Staff are very friendly and helpful though, even if we didn’t end up buying anything. Whatever you’re after, if you want good quality and assistance, you’ll get it here. They have cowboy hats, straw hats, sun hats… just everything really.

I often nip in here to try on a dozen hats in the mirrors. The shop assistants kindly ignore me, obviously used to people trying hats on then leaving. They have a fantastic range of ladies’ casual hats, as well as a large range of men’s.
Some of their casual wear hats are decently priced, though many of their hats are very good quality, with prices to match.
The little balcony part upstairs houses fascinators and formal ladies hats, with a gorgeous array of feathers, colours and jaunty angles. Never look at the prices of these. Many are about $ 300 for a tiny patch of headwear. Still, it is very fun to browse up here — they maintain a very exclusive air, because few people venture up the stairs.
The men’s hats are potentially the best, as there is a huge range of fedora hats, top hats, flat caps and akubras. Sometimes, I drag my man in and tell him how cute he looks in all the styles I put on him, until he drags me out of the shop.
This is one of the places you will actually find things you’re looking for, because they have a large range of styles, colours and sizes. It’s rare to find a good hat shop these days, so I appreciate this one.