Once upon a time, in Litvish NY, it was acceptable even among the yeshivish to have some sartorial color to them. As a child I spent my summers in the Catskills, and straw hats were standard shabbos attire for most shul goers. The older adults in my child’s world came from the generations where hats were worn by every city dweller as a part of standard mens attire, and back then straw was the hat for the hot summers. An octogenarian from then shared with me his nostolga for a custom of his time and place. It was fair game for boys to snatch straw hats seen after labor day and to feed them to the horses on the street. And once upon a time, as a bocher, I wore a blue pin seersucker suit with a white straw hat for shabbos… Jus sayin
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