Welcome to Addressed, a weekly column where we, ahem, address the joys (and tribulations!) of getting dressed. So far we’ve unpacked how to wear shorts at the office and beyond, how to pack for a carry-on bag for a work trip, how to dress with style in your third trimester, and even how to layer without looking like that chair in your room (you know the one). Download the Vogue app and find our Style Advice section to submit your question.
This week’s question comes from a Vogue editor: “I hate bucket hats and baseball caps are too bro-y, but I need to protect myself from the sun—what are my alternatives?”
First, let me say that I absolutely live for a little hat—the jauntier and weirder the better. In the summer I love to lean into the classics, so you can almost always find me wearing a bucket hat at the beach or by the pool, but I understand your conundrum, they can often appear somewhat childish. Still I think they are the most practical of sun hats because they do a great job of truly covering your face, and I think there are many designers approaching the style with enough savoir faire to avoid the kiddie connotations.
Loro Piana has been going hardcore in the millinery department, and I think its crochet version in “nougat”-colored cashmere is just delightful—as is this one in natural crocheted raffia from Polo Ralph Lauren. There are also a few truly out-there designs from designers that decided to chop and screw the style: at Hed Mayner, the designer’s spring collection featured a hybrid baseball cap/bucket hat; and Miuccia Prada and Raf Simons had an absolute ball making unhinged ladies’ gardening visors with little plastic nuclear-inspired windows on the brim (turn your real-life anxieties into a fashion statement!) for Prada’s collection. (They also have terriffic nylon and crochet versions that could possibly change your mind about bucket hats!)
Baseball hats, I agree, can be trickier to pull off, and it can be hard to find one that isn’t emblazoned with a logo for this thing or that thing. So if you don’t have a sports team that you feel like repping at all times, a plain ol’ canvas—or even leather, like at Coach—option could be great. But as I think summer is a time to have fun, I would invite you to dip your toe in the wonderful world of personalized hats. Five or six years ago, a group of friends and I all got matching beige caps that said MARK RUFFALO across the front in a serif font. It was an inside joke (and I can’t even recall how it got started), but it was fun. It’s like repping your own team of friends.
There is always the wide-brim sun hat, which brings a real level of drama and panache to every occasion—and can be subverted from its saccharine ways—just look at how Alessandro Michele paired his at Valentino with a pair of groovy trousers and an opulent cropped jacket on the runway. There’s also the cowboy hat, which is enjoying time in the spotlight thanks to the millions of people seeing Beyoncé’s Cowboy Carter tour.
But realistically I think your answer lies in a trustworthy hat from the people that make hats for actually doing stuff outdoors. I love Patagonia’s Brimmer Hat and Surf Brimmer Hat styles—I also think the chin strap is a cool look, as long as you don’t tighten it right underneath your neck. REI’s Boonie Hat has a bit more of a flared brim, and its Horizon Breeze Brimmer Hat has a real safari vibe, which is never not synonymous with Yves Saint Laurent and therefore chic.
