Believe it or not, National Hat Day is an unofficial but well-celebrated holiday. Every Jan. 15, people across the country are invited to pull out their favorite head topper and stick it on their noggin for the entire day.

National Hat Day's origins are unknown and its meaning and purpose are even more mysterious. Even the esteemed and long-standing Headwear Association (est. 1908) doesn't know how it got started.

Frankly, who the hell cares?!? You probably didn't even know that hats had their own holiday. (And I'm just as ticked off that I didn't get the day off from work either.)

So to celebrate this momentous day about covering up bad haircuts, we've gone through television's history and compiled the five best of television's most manly hats. May this auspicious guide lead you down the path of a future hat purchase and help you reach your own personal level of "Sombrero Serenity" (until the boss makes you take it off for violating the company's dress code policy.)

5. Don Draper's Fedora
This one's a bit of a no-brainer for all you melon-case aficionados out there. Though this popular style of hat has been worn by all sorts of iconic characters from the stage to the screen, no one rocks this noggin topper better than the world's most famous chain smoking ad man. It's sleek, stylish and simple. You can't ask for more than that from a hat short of, say, a fez that grants its wearer the ability to do college grade calculus or telepathically control female hormone levels.

4. Frank Rossitano's trucker hats
Frank doesn't just wear his hats. His hats wear him and every time he slaps a new one on his head, it makes him the two tons of awesome he thinks he really is. They advertise his awesomeness with important, manly titles like "World Champion," "Ninja Expert" and "Half Centaur" in big sticky stencil letters that could probably be read from space.

And now you can find your own inner Frank by making your own hats thanks to some advice from the master of emotional disguises himself. He probably received this divine generosity from the power bestowed upon him by his "Extra Sausage" hat.



3. Carl Kolchak's straw hat
Kolchak's hatmight look like it came from the darkest corner of a secondhand clothes store, but it perfectly fits one of the gutsiest reporters this side of the TV dial.

Carl Kolchak spends his days chasing stories like any good reporter, except he occassionally runs into more than his fair share of vampires, ghosts, Native American bear spirits and subterranian lizardmen. He covers them all from underneath a beat-up looking straw hat that has seen more horrors than any man would like to remember.

It may not be on any of Mr. Blackwell's useless year-end fashion lists, but the hat's gruff and well-worn exterior exudes tales of harrowing adventures and death-defying tales. If hats could talk, Kolchak's head-warmer could make you scream like a girl. It's basically Gary Busey in hat form.

2. Rick Grimes' deputy cover
Fighting "walkers" is hard work and proper hat selection can mean the difference between bringing your family to a fortfied safehouse or the undead bringing you home in a doggie bag.

The sheriff hat might just be standard police issue to the deputies in his department, but the fact that he still wears it with such pride makes a statement about the importance of retaining moral authority amidst chaos and holding onto the hope that the world will return to a day when his hat will once again carry such important honor and distinction. It also probably comes in handy as one more obstacle between his brains and a walker's gnarly teeth.

1. Raylan Givens' cowboy hat
This U.S. marshal doesn't have much of a story to tell with his choice of headgear. As a matter of fact, it's really just a one story sentence: He tried it on and it fit. The end. Roll credits. That cold and almost callous reasoning has become just as engrained in his identity as his astounding body count.

Most guys choose a hat because they want to show their support for their favorite NFL team or imagine themselves as some gun-slinging hero. Raylan doesn't see his job, his life or even his hat that way. He's just a regular civil serviceman doing a job that nobody else wants and he needed a hat wide enough to keep the blazing Southern sun out of his eyes.

It's also impressive that given all the people he's put in the hospital, we've yet to see a drop of blood get on it. Either he coats it in military grade Scotchguard or he has the world's manliest dry cleaner on his speed-dial.


What are your favorite TV hats?