Inspired by the hat made by Baron Hats and worn
by
Viggo
Mortensen
in “Hidalgo”
When
Baron Hats was asked to
create the hat Viggo Mortensen wears
for his starring role in the
Touchstone Pictures instant classic
motion picture, “Hidalgo”, we knew
we had a tall order. First of all,
the hat had to be a character onto
itself. It had to be something very
special and very original, and
secondly, we were dealing with one
of the greatest costume designers in
the business, the legendary
Jeffrey Kurland, who has an
eye for amazing detail. We’ve had
the honor of working with him many
times before,
and he always challenges and
inspires us! This hat had to invoke
both realism and heroism of the main
character of Frank Hopkins, who had
a strong sense of humanity and an
almost visionary political
morality.
So the hat had to have a sense of
subtle functionality, and yet
express both his humility and
strength. The film is based on a
true story… a race held yearly for
centuries. It was known as the
“Ocean of Fire”, which was a 3,000
mile survival race across the
Arabian desert. At the time, the
race was restricted to only the
finest Arabian horses ever bred, and
exclusively owned by the royal
families. However that all changed,
when, in 1890, a wealthy sheik
invited an American cowboy,
Frank T. Hopkins, and his horse, to
enter the race for the first time.
For Frank, the “Ocean of Fire”
becomes not only a matter of pride
and honor, but a race for his
steadfast principals, and for his
very survival as he and his horse
attempt the impossible. We created a
very unique design, using
inspiration from the real Frank
Hopkins’ own vast life experiences,
such as a being a solider, a Pony
Express rider, and a performer in
Buffalo Bill’s Wild West Show!
We call our hat, the “Dune Rider”,
and it is shaped with the original
blocks in our dramatically slanted
“Mesa Tip” Tear Drop Crown. It is
then enhanced with our “harmattan”
hand-shaped brim, then finished with
our special hand-woven soft-leather
cowhide hatband with the “Pony
Express” tail at the back. Our “Dune
Rider” is dyed the same special
“Sahara” sand-tan as the original,
using our exclusive raboteux method,
to give it the “rode hard and put up
wet” look. However, if you want to
have it aged even more (as you see
in the photos from the movie), we
can do that with our special aging
process for an additional charge.
The hat also comes with a specially
design suede sweatband, hand
stitched, which was created just for
this hat to handle the extra heavy
brow sweat one would conjure up from
long hot days in the desert!
The “Dune Rider” is like the
character itself. It straddles both
sides of time… expressing a strong
sense of a historical past of brave
individualism, yet seems uniquely
contemporary, making a statement of
one’s own sense of courage and
strength in a world that seems to
have forgotten both.
If you're not
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HAT DETAILS
CROWN:
5” front - 4 ½” back
Sloping Mesa-Tip Tear Drop
BRIM: 3 ½” “Harmattan” hand-shaped
HATBAND: Hand-woven soft-leather
cowhide hatband with “Pony Express”
tail
SWEATBAND: Specially designed
hand-sewn 100% Suede
Because
Baron Classic Reproductions are
custom made to order, delivery time
is generally between 3 to 5 weeks.
However, as a result of increased
film production demands, Baron is
pleased to now carry several
PRE-BLOCKED HAT BODIES which allows
us to have certain sizes of this hat
completed in approximately FIVE to
SEVEN DAYS at
NO
EXTRA COST TO YOU! SO HOW DO YOU KNOW IF YOUR HAT
SIZE QUALIFIES?
Simply order the Hat in your size
using the order form below. If
that size is in our "Pre-Block"
inventory, it will appear
automatically (prior to final
checkout) on your invoice as a
**PRE-BLOCKED EXPEDITED PRODUCTION**
Hat.
That's it! If your hat is not
in the inventory, no problem... it
will be of course be custom made
with the same care and craftsmanship
on our regular schedule with
delivery in 3 to 5 weeks.
Either way you'll receive a
classic
and incomparable hand crafted custom
Baron Hat!
Questions?: Please
email us.
Our Classic Reproductions hats
are custom hand-made-to-order, so please allow
four to six weeks for delivery. If
you MUST have the hat sooner, e-mail us for
special Rush Delivery prices and your delivery
date needs to:
rushorders@baronhats.com
ore,
and he always challenges and
inspires us! This hat had to invoke
both realism and heroism of the main
character of Frank Hopkins, who had
a strong sense of humanity and an
almost visionary political
morality. 
Because
Baron Classic Reproductions are
custom made to order, delivery time
is generally between 3 to 5 weeks.
However, as a result of increased
film production demands, Baron is
pleased to now carry several
PRE-BLOCKED HAT BODIES which allows
us to have certain sizes of this hat
completed in approximately FIVE to
SEVEN DAYS
