More often than not, when we think of accessories we immediately think of the big three: Handbags, shoes, and jewelry. Maybe sometimes sunglasses but for some reason or another, there’s always one accessory that somehow gets neglected amongst the rest: Hats. Hats are practical, cozy, and can make you look stylish. A superior hat is a great addition to your wardrobe. Compared to the practicality of shoes and handbags, it's easy to consider hats an afterthought. Everyone needs footwear to walk in, and bags store all things you would otherwise have to carry individually. That being said, hats are plenty practical when they are protecting your head from heat, cold, or rain. Plus, they are major styling pieces. Hats are functional, they not only look good on you but can also protect you from the sun, rain, and wind. They can also make you look taller and hide any imperfections on the head. If the endless jokes about royal headgear and the recurring headlines of Pharrell’s Buffalo hat have taught you anything, it’s that hats have the ability to make a statement.
Hats can make you look and feel better! Whether they’re a unique Philip Treacy topper, a vintage baseball cap, or an original Coco Chanel (yes, she began her fashion career as a milliner designing hats!), hats have an effortless nature that can communicate and elevate the style, and also reveal a lot about the wearer. A tall guy with a big head can look good in a wide-brimmed hat while a short man with a thin face should wear a hat with a narrow brim. While different types of hats have different types of personalities, the same is true when someone puts one on their head. It has been worn by a cowboy, a marine soldier, a fisherman, a Russian, and others. Hats are eternally stylish. Not quite like the “thinking cap” your school teacher used to tell you about, but more like a beret that makes you feel like a French spy or a red, square plaid hunting hat that makes you feel like Holden Caulfield from The Catcher in the Rye. What are the pros and cons?
Baseball caps are designed to be worn - with the bill of the hat facing forward, providing shade to your face and protection against the sun’s UV rays - and even better yet, with the addition of a pair of sunglasses which protects not only the upper cheeks but also the eyes themselves. The pros of wearing a baseball cap frontwards serve a purpose. It keeps the sun out of your eyes. The pros of wearing a baseball cap on the side or backward serve no real purpose other than fashion. Long ago, cavemen struggled to find a way to keep the sun out of their eyes. This was a major problem when they went out hunting dinosaurs because with the sun shining in their eyes they couldn’t see that the dinosaurs had all been killed by Strom Thurmond millions of years before. The cavemen solved this problem in a very ingenious way - they took large leaves and used vines to tie them onto their heads in such a way that a long section of the leaf stuck out over their faces, creating a shady cover for their eyes. This allowed them to lay back and take naps during the heat of the day when they were supposed to be out hunting dinosaurs.
Many years later they realized how stupid they looked when they wore leaves on their heads, so they invented the baseball cap. So next time you’re leaving the house with your shoes on, your bag packed, and your jewelry in place, try to incorporate a hat into your look. They may get left behind often, but they mustn’t be forgotten. A baseball cap is designed to keep the sun out of your eyes. Many people who played catcher would wear the hat out of habit, but the look was popularized by “Oscar Madison” in the “Odd Couple” movie and TV show in the early ’70s. You are free to wear what hat you like and when you will wear them. Eventually, the way you wore your hat became a fashion statement. It was no longer a utilitarian item. Have you ever worn a fedora hat with a faded outfit? In the 70’s it became ghetto chic to bend your hat’s peak into a square, or at a perfect triangular angle. Do you have a blue suit? By the 80’s it was chic to bend your hat into a very round shape, which was actually somewhat functional, as it served the purpose of keeping the sun out of your eyes.
Why not pair a blue suit with a Panama hat? With the popularity of gangster rap music in the ’90s, the wearing of a baseball cap backward became the rage. That served no purpose other than fashion. However, there’s only one thing that you should keep in mind. Always remove your hat when you’re inside so that you can remember to wear it again as you go out. There are different styles/types of hats and they usually vary in shapes and sizes of the crown and brim. Fashion has since included wearing the cap sideways, or the current fashion of using a completely flat bill (which also comes from the gangster rap world). None of those fashions serve any purpose beyond fashion. Basically, a hat is composed of the crown, band, and brim. The pros of wearing a baseball cap frontwards serve a purpose. It keeps the sun out of your eyes. The pros of wearing a baseball cap on the side or backward serve no real purpose other than fashion. And with the fashion statement please consider a hat and a cap for the city.