Trader Vic says no to the fez !!

OK, if you guys aren't going to heed the wisdom of Trader Vic, let's look at it another way... The fez was last decade's Tiki fashion trend. It's "old hat" now, ha ha.

If you want to be on the Tiki cutting edge for the 2010's (has anyone even noticed?), GET A SOMBRERO !!

Unlike the fez, there is a documented historic Tiki link to this headwear...

Also the iconography and sound of Exotica music arguably morphed towards this aesthetic...

Forward thinking artists like Wendy Cevola are ahead of the curve on this...

And you know that Tiki Oasis is going "South of the Border" this year, don't get left behind.

Trade in that tired old fez for a sombrero !!

[ Edited by: JOHN-O 2011-03-31 00:12 ]

fuck that shit - TURBANS!

I SAID SOMBREROS !!

lol

Hey, be careful. Remember that someone at J. Peterman tried to introduce the 'Urban Sombrero', back in the 90's. Total flop.

Turbans!

(I couldn't help it.)

Be rejected and thrown out of ANY place with the new Fezbrero!

Not quite sure what all of this REALLY has to do with fezzes, but a point of clarification.

I am in the hospitality industry and have worked Masonic groups for years. Sure, the Shriner groups I have managed HAVE "old members"...to use your relative term, but these group's also have "not-so-old members"...to coin my own term. My groups, especially the Royal Jesters, seem to be doing quite well and would not take kindly to being labelled "a thing of the past."

Additionally, a friend and former Shriner Imperial Potentate (the big daddy of the whole she-bang) would not take kindly to being called 'old' either. My buddy, Gary Dunwoody, is in his 60's and was the grand pooh-bah in 2005-2006. He works his ass off (as a business owner and active Shriner) and has more energy than a squirrel on Red Bull.

Anywho...

The Masons do not seem to be fading into history at all. In fact, this article in the Boston Phoenix talks about the resurgence of Masonic lodges. Read some of the comments at the end of the article too. Several "younger" Masons weigh-in about the growth of their chapters in other areas.

http://thephoenix.com/boston/life/115823-how-the-boston-rock-scene-grew-up-got-real-jobs-/#ixzz1IQZnUdLf"

"I think a lot of people's misconception of the fraternity is that it's a bunch of stodgy old men," says Master Mason J.R. Roach. Roach, 41, is a big dude with black hair and a couple of tattoos that he keeps covered up. Once he was the drummer for Boston stalwarts Sam Black Church and played with KISS, Ted Nugent, Motörhead, Black Sabbath, and Dio."

Now, back to fezzes. Wear them with pride, folks!!!

On 2011-03-27 07:46, Swanky wrote:
The era of Tiki was also the height of Freemasonry. If you have not noticed, most of the white Masons you see, and that is, Shriners in fezes, are mostly old. The time the Masons expect from you is a thing of the past. We modern men can't imagine spending most of our evenings at the Hall away from our wives, family and home. I was a very young person to be interested in being a Mason in the 1990s. Le Droit Humaine is a good branch if any one is interested. The ONLY accepted Rite of Fremasonry that accepts women! A sodality rather than a Fraternity.

But what is interesting is that while the white Masons are largely dying off and going away, in the black communities, Masonry is on the rise! It has had a real rebirth in the last 2 decades and it hope will continue to live and thrive through new groups embracing it.

Also consider that every PResident of the United States has been a Mason except Abe Lincoln and JFK, and until recently the same is true of Supreme Court Justices and Generals... So, for Vic to ban the Fez in TV was something of a bold thing. A lot of very powerful people would have taken note. But, they also likely understood. They all were wearing suits to restaurants and taking off their hats and standing when a lady entered, etc. And they all had sworn oathes of secrecy, etc.

[ Edited by: swanky 2011-03-27 12:55 ]

Trader Vics also said "no" to keeping its Dallas location open, so Trader Vics opinion means squat to many of us right now!

Since this all seems so subject to (gradual) change and innovation, I think a number of us should form a silent pact to -- patiently, over years -- make the do-rag an accepted part of tiki fashion.

well, it IS pirate-wear, and rum IS pirate drink, so...

Right on!
And it does have a good bit of heritage, i.e. "exotica cred" to rival that of the fez:

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Do-rag

[ Edited by: Thomas 2011-08-11 00:37 ]

Nuff Said.

.

Fezzes only look uncool on uncool people. Clothes do not make or break the man (or woman) and vice versa.
That said, a white jumpsuit with sequins only looks good on Elvis.

Fezzes have about as much to do with "tiki" as we non-Polynesians do, meaning anything goes
based on individual tastes, not polls or popular opinion.
"Tiki" as we know it is a co-opted, corrupted subculture any way you look at it.
I'm not a Muslim, Middle Easterner or Shriner, either. And yet I own a bunch of fezzes. It was part of my Thrillville trademark. I even have a custom made fez from Fez-O-Rama, which I cherish.

As a matter of aesthetic choice, I don't wear my fez hats much anymore, except sometimes when I host my monthly movie nites at Forbidden Island, and I write my pulp novels in the nude(;), but nobody tells me where and when I should wear anything, whether it's Vic Bergeron or Vic Valentine, Private Eye.
Cheers & aloha.

boom! :D

fezzes?
We don't need no stinkin fezzes
me and my homies are sportin sombreros

In 1966 Trader Vic says no to the fez then three years later...

Masons convention, 125,000 strong, comes to town and the Seattle Trader Vic's says yes.

aloha, tikicoma

Might I suggest some alternative tiki headwear to fezzes, sombreros, and turbans?

Turkish Viking Helmets

Beatnik Berets

Weiner Tiaras

Happy Fingers Institute Beanies

Knit Kitty Caps

??!

And my personal favorite, the Devil Hat

An impressive array of exotic headgear! (...making as much sense as a fez in Tiki, in my humble opinion)

The one headpiece that never comes up, but has definite link to South Seas history, would be the Kiribati/Gilbert Islander Pufferfish helmet:

These folks created full body armors and shark tooth weapons that already Robert Louis Stevenson collected:

http://www.penn.museum/sites/expedition/corselets-of-fiber/

I think any Tikiphile would cut quite an imposing figure wearing such a hat at Tiki Oasis :D

On 2014-12-02 16:51, MrBaliHai wrote:
Might I suggest some alternative tiki headwear to fezzes, sombreros, and turbans?

Knit Kitty Caps

That picture made me laugh so much I cried!

On 2014-12-03 08:32, tikilongbeach wrote:
That picture made me laugh so much I cried!

Once seen, it cannot be unseen...

:)

The Boise, Idaho Police Department says no to the fez!

(The guy on the right looks so much like my dad, it's scary)

I know after a few Navy Grogs I'm all about sporting my Tiki Ti fez...