Hats are back and off to the races
This season, hats, headwear, and their dizzying array of iterations, have been commanding newfound attention in a resurgence not seen in years.
Look to any runway of late, and your eye will have been drawn upwards. Past tailored shoulders and architectural corsets, past the latest glittering chokers and doorknocker earrings. This season, hats, headwear, and their dizzying array of iterations, have been commanding newfound attention in a resurgence not seen in years.
“Coming out of a long period of uncertainty and limited freedom, we are seeing consumers longing for a sense of optimism, which has led to people seeking out more playful accessories in uplifting colours,” says Pernille Sejer, head of design at local millinery mainstay Helen Kaminski, whose berets, visors and sunhats have found fans in Cindy Crawford and the Olsen twins since the label’s 1993 start. “There is also a sense of nostalgia from past decades, which has brought a romantic vintage styling into the mix.”
Cue a gamut of headpieces that mine eras and influences: Schiaparelli’s saucer styles and ultra-slim straw boaters, Jil Sander’s modern take on a 1920s beaded flapper cap, Gucci’s fuzzy raver hats, sequinned beanies at Erdem, floppy sou’westers in trippy whorls at Ahluwalia, and Richard Quinn’s oversized creations with sloping brims in English wallpaper prints, evocative of Queen Elizabeth II. Aside from any Platinum Jubilee effect, why the appeal now?
“Accessories receive the highest engagement across our social channels including Instagram, live stream and TikTok – and hats are no exception,” notes senior market editor at Net-A-Porter, Libby Page. “They are the ultimate accessory for a selfie.”
She sees the return of the headband (see Prada’s cult Alice band) several seasons ago as opening the door for the kerchiefs, snoods, caps and veils abounding now. “[It] meant that you could wear a less traditional headpiece to formal events and this broadened the type of styles within hats that we’d see.”
For others, the marriage of practicality and romance is behind the revival of an accessory once an essential in any well-heeled woman’s wardrobe.
“There is a sense of nostalgia, which has brought a romantic vintage styling”
“We believe that the hat at this time is enjoying a lot of use, since the sun is increasingly present in our lives,” reflects Elisabet Urpí one half of Spanish label Eliurpi, whose straw hats with XXL brims blend a love of art – the duo produce sculptures, too – and fashion. Their hats have won fans worldwide, and it’s easy to imagine their applications, albeit in fantastical proportions, under a blazing Australian sun.
Urpí is part of a milieu of next-gen milliners, mining modern references to revitalise the traditional discipline. Ukrainian milliner Ruslan Baginskiy is one such maker, who recognises that, while strict dress codes fell away as social mores changed, there’s a craving for expression that hats satisfy.
“In [the] last century people wore hats because they were an obligatory part of the ‘look’, and I’m happy that now people wear them because they feel this way,” says Baginskiy, who counts the Hadids and Madonna among his fans. Like Urpí, each piece is handcrafted, with inventiveness and craftsmanship on show in his fedoras with pearl chin straps to crystal-embellished baker boy hats.
With the races being prime ground for millinery displays, which chapeau to choose? If you’re naturally more understated, Urpí suggests their ‘Passemanterie’ style, an elegant bi-coloured cartwheel fascinator, while Page points to the revival of cowboy hats as “a great alternative to traditional hats seen at the races”, and silk scarves. “We love Pucci’s offering for the maximalists among us, or look to Totême for minimalist options.”
Whichever hat you choose, each expert counsels the right attitude is as important as what sits on your head.
“Hats have such a visual presence, they take courage to wear,” says Sejer. “It’s actually not about the hat at all, it’s about how you carry yourself whilst wearing it.”
Something to doff a new topper to.
This article appears in the October issue of Vogue Australia.