To show that you mean business, it's important to have style. Enter: the nice hat. It may actually have utility — even conveying special powers — but more often than not it just looks cool, or even just sexy.
Fedoras are the most common Nice Hat, probably because they inherently invoke 1920s to 1940s era Gangsterland and Film Noir we all know and love.note Wizards and Witches have their own style to worry about. Commissar Cap is also a common enough version of this to have its own sub trope. The crowns of the ancient Egyptian pharaohs (since crowns are always cool) make this Older Than Dirt. In fact, the Cool Crown as Requisite Royal Regalia always overlaps with this trope.
A Sub-Trope of Costume Porn.
A Super-Trope to:
- Artsy Beret
- Commissar Cap
- Cool Crown
- Cool Helmet
- Dashingly Dapper Derby/Dastardly Dapper Derby
- Fedora of Asskicking
- Hat of Authority
- Hat of Power
- Press Hat
Compare Cool Mask, Pimped-Out Dress, Pimped-Out Cape, Nice Shoes, Coat, Hat, Mask, High-Class Gloves. Often an important part of a character's Iconic Outfit. Contrast The Hilarity of Hats.
Has nothing to do with Planet of Hats, unless it's taken to literal proportions, or downplayed as a Gang of Hats.
Example subpages:
- Advertising
- Anime & Manga
- Comic Books
- Film
- Literature
- Live-Action TV
- Manhwa
- Music
- Mythology
- New Media
- Pinball
- Professional Wrestling
- Stand-Up Comedy
- Tabletop Games
- Theatre
- Toys
- Video Games
- Visual Novels
- Webcomics
- Web Original
- Western Animation
- Real Life
Other examples:
- Donatello's David
(in bronze and not to be confused with Michelangelo's David in marble), which is made all the more amusing when you realize he's only wearing the hat and boots.
- Curtis:
- The title character often gives commentary on the church ladies' more and more extravagant (and silly) hats.
- Curtis himself is always seen with an oversized green cap — he even sleeps with it on.
- Dick Tracy's trademark yellow fedora.
- Garfield wore a ten-gallon hat in one strip to hide donuts inside. In another strip, he wore it again and hid a whole ham inside it. Then there was the story arc where he wears a sombrero.
- FoxTrot has Peter's signature baseball cap, which he's worn since he was a baby.
- Mandrake the Magician's top hat.
- Peanuts: Snoopy has worn lots of Nice Hats, such as his WW1 aviator's helmet, baseball cap, fishing hat, golf hat, tennis visor, attorney's bowler hat, Beagle Scout campaign hat...
