A Fall guide to statement hats

From a Silly Little Hat convert

Sep 25, 2024

I could be trite and say “I wear a lot of hats,” which is true both sartorially and idiomatically, but I’ll spare you.

Hats, and various forms of head accessories, have been ubiquitous on the runways over the past few seasons. There were the exaggerated Triomphe caps at Celine, leather pillbox hats at Alaïa, leather aviator caps at Saint Laurent, a whole Heinz variety of wool caps at The Row, a calf-hair leopard number at By Malene Birger that drops in November (below), and the list goes on. Wherever you go, and wherever you look, there are hats.

Up until a few years ago, I’d never been a big hat person, personally, as I couldn’t shake feeling like a dorkier version of our beloved Princess of Genovia, Mia Thermopolis, in The Princess Diaries (no shade, Mia). But I, too, have developed a new fervor for hats of all kinds and the different characters they allow me to play. And I deeply appreciate the veil of privacy they provide, even if I do look a little silly in them (I can’t tell you how many times I simply have not been feeling myself, and I throw a hat on and I’m a new person).

I’ve always loved a bonnet (you can take the girl out of PA, but…) and have a fondness for pillbox hats, in particular, as I love all things 60s (leather gloves, box bags, etc.) and they remind me of Catherine Deneuve in Belle de Jour. I recently acquired a few vintage hats that absolutely complete a look and make it 100x more fun: a leather aviator cap, a black pillbox hat, a Persian wool little number, and a crochet bonnet. And perhaps that’s what’s at the crux of my appreciation for a hat: they’re just fun. And after all, fashion in its purest form should be fun, right? Or at least, make you feel something. Statement hats really do that for me.

Catherine Deneuve in *Belle de Jour* (1967)

And on the topic of Fun, I thought it’d be fun to round up some of my favorite hats and caps and bonnets for fall. Find them all below. And I know a lot of us feel funny in them–but I think if there were ever a time to embrace it (“it” being a little uncomfortable), the time is now.

Christina

A Fall guide to statement hats

From a Silly Little Hat convert

Vintage Leopard Pillbox Hat

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