“Making the bucket hat cool again was no mean feat. It is after all the hat universally worn by babies, fisherman and Woody Allen. However, what I, and many other women, love about the bucket hat is that it is an accessory with no pretensions to chic.”
The bucket hat has made a return to fashionable heads the world over. ANNA SAXON reports.
Everything that was super dorky in our childhoods has suddenly become the highest of high fashion. ‘Norm-core’ and similar fashion movements reject the prim, precise and precious. Instead, the more casual your outfit, the cooler you are. These retro, nostalgia-based trends have come to represent a kind of anti-establishment, hard-partying attitude.
I could wear an outfit straight from Saved By The Bell to a club and I would fit right in. There is something about the complete lack of poise found in ’90s gear that makes it representative of a particularly stubborn, don’t-care-what-you-think look – and the latest ’90s-inspired trend is no exception. The newest fashion craze to crawl out of our memory banks and straight into 2014 ‘It’ status is the ever-dreaded bucket hat. This was the hat that any self-respecting 12 year old in 1998 would rather die than wear. As a kid, I would do whatever I could to avoid wearing it – curl the edges, hide it in my school bag, even throw it in the sea on one memorable occasion. Back then, only three types of people actually enjoyed wearing the bucket hat – owners of blue-tinted sunglasses, famous ’90s rappers… and your dad. Forget norm-core, we’ve hit full on dad-core.
Yes, the floppy topper made famous by hip-hop luminary LL Cool J and adopted Britpop bad boy Liam Gallagher is hot property once more. Only now not it’s not only being worn by trendsetters such as Rihanna and Miley Cyrus; it’s also hitting Parisian runways. Isabel Marant, fairy godmother of modern girl-meets-boyish charm had them on her catwalk all the way back in 2005; supermodel Anja Rubik wore one on the cover of Spanish Vogue last June. Ladies have successfully claimed the bucket hat as their own – a replacement for the overly feminine floppy summer hat and the boring snap back.
Making the bucket hat cool again was no mean feat. It is after all the hat universally worn by babies, fisherman and Woody Allen. However, what I, and many other women, love about the bucket hat is that it is an accessory with no pretensions to chic. The person wearing a bucket hat doesn’t care what you think of their look. That’s the whole point. Wearing a bougie buckets sends the signal ‘I try, but not too hard’.
So how do you pull off this trend? We recommend you keep the rest of your look simple. The hat is definitely the standout. Wear it with an athletic mix, or a white top and camo pants. The more dad-core your look, the better – why not fully commit to the ‘daggy-dad aesthetic’ and dig out your bum bag as well?
Take inspiration from these unlikely fashion icons and just wear what makes you feel good… and gives you good coverage from the sun, of course.
