Looking back a century and more to the introduction of fine panamas to the world outside of Ecuador, the soft handwoven hats were transported folded in half and rolled, creating a crease that traverses the crown. Optimo is Spanish for "optimum," and in an era when everyone wore hats, finely woven rollable panamas were clearly the best that money could buy. Teddy Roosevelt wore an optimo panama. Al Capone owned many and even brought an Ecuadorian weaver to Chicago to weave exclusively for him. The Duke of Windsor wore a particularly fine panama -- rolled like a handkerchief in his breast pocket.

Cognoscenti proudly cultivated the softened, nonchalant curl of the well-worn panama, so different from the stiff profile of the workaday braided straw hat of the barbershop quartet. The Optimo is still a style preferred by connoisseurs of Montecrisit fino panamas.

In a time of stiff, formal, uncomfortable clothing, a soft handwoven panama was a modern trend looking forward to comfortable and even unisex fashion. Soft and comfortable fashion was revolutionary, setting the stage for the then shockingly loose and comfy clothing of the roaring Twenties.