F.M. Light News | Stetson Hops Onto Broadway with the Revival of Evita

We love Stetson hats. Apparently, so do the costume designers on Broadway.

One of the reasons we think Stetson is great is their commitment to tradition, and their long history. The costume designers for the revival of Evita on Broadway were happy to discover Stetson’s great vintage style. But, I’m telling the story instead of just showing you (a video’s worth way more than a thousand words, after all).

This makes us want to hop a plane for New York for a night out on Broadway with Evita and Stetson!

Here’s what Stetson has to say:

In the 1940s, hats were considered an everyday necessity, and the revival production of the musical Evita on Broadway captured that moment in time using Stetson fedoras and newsboy caps.

We recently sat down with Barry Doss, Associate Costume Designer for Evita to hear first hand why Stetson was chosen for the production. Watch the full interview on our YouTube channel.

One of America’s most familiar hats, the fedora was often worn by famous actors (and infamous gangsters) in the 1940s and 1950s-the period when Eva Perón came to fame as Argentina’s first lady. Today fedoras are primarily considered men’s dress hats, but the creased classic actually started as women’s fashion.

The legendary 19th century actress Sarah Bernhardt wore a similar hat in the 1882 play Fédora, first performed in the United States in 1889. Bernhardt played a heroine named Princess Fédora, and that’s how the stylish fedora got its name. Other famous heads graced by fedoras? Harrison Ford in the Indiana Jones movies and pop-star Michael Jackson, to name a few.

Another classic, the newsboy cap, is flat and gently rounded with a small stiff brim. Most often made of fabric, the caps were popular among boys in the late 19th and early 20th century-and have been part of our casual-wear culture ever since. (Think Jimmy Cagney in Yankee Doodle Dandy.)