Fred's Hat Etiquette

[Jaen1950]

In another forum I frequent, remarks were made that recent "Dancing with the Stars" routines had violated the "hat etiquette", that is, men danced with their female partners while wearing their hats, which were part of their costume.

 

In reply to the opinion of "get over it, Fred Astaire and everyone else did it too", someone asserted that Fred Astaire had _never_ violated the hat etiquette and linked to a couple of clips to illustrate - Fred in tails with hat (dancing with men), Fred in tails without hat (dancing with women).

 

So my question is, did Fred ever violate the hat etiquette? Did anybody from his era? Is there actually a hat etiquette as applied to dancing? Personally I love hats on anybody and don't mind whether they come off, but I think it might be an interesting (if minor) cultural insight. I plan to research this a bit myself but thought I'd toss it out there for you who are so much more familiar than I.