Hats Off to Ya: Headwear Styles That Don’t Look Silly

Wearing a hat these days often feels like wearing a blinking neon sign. In a sea of bare heads, the covered ones stand out, and not always for the best. As much as you’d like your wardrobe to channel the glamorous looks of a Golden Age of Hollywood film, including its often gorgeous headwear styles, modern clothing remains much more subdued. For those of us that love hats, fitting in usually means toning it way down or giving up on hats completely.

Your mileage may vary, obviously, depending on what’s popular in your particular region. (For example, I don’t expect the Chicago crowd to feel as out-of-place in a hat as elsewhere in the country.) Here in the northeast, especially in the suburbs, I rarely see headwear styles that aren’t baseball caps or winter knits. Putting on a colorful 20s-style turban or giant floppy sun hat gets you seen as eccentric and odd at best, ridiculous at worst.

Always having to match your look to everyone else’s can get pretty dull, however. If I did that with everything, it’d be all jeans and T-shirts, all the time. You have to take at least some risks in fashion, and headwear styles can be a fun place to start. Here are a few of this year’s hot hat looks that are stylish enough to satisfy, but won’t make you feel like you’re failing at keeping it real.

The Fedora: Ladies fedoras bring a touch of classic style to spring this year with deep, rich colors in straw and soft wool. Unlike the gangster-inspired fedoras of years past, these have shorter brims and evoke a more feminine appeal.

The Cloche: The year’s neon trend crosses over into headwear styles with cute cloche hats. Channel a little Daisy Buchanan without the costume by finishing off a summer dress look with one of these bright toppers.

The Visor: Adapt a sporty look for your regular summer wardrobe with 2012’s hot visors in straw, canvas or leather. Stylish enough to wear with a dress and casual enough to rock at the beach, you’ll get plenty of use out of these headwear styles when the warm weather hits.

Photo credit: Bob Mical

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