Why hats are topping off fashion’s quiet luxury moment, from Florence Pugh’s Robert Wun ensemble and Lily Collins’ berets in Netflix’s Emily in Paris, to SJP’s pillbox in And Just Like That …

May 24 , 2023

Schiaparelli spring/summer 2023 featured boater hats that elevate certain looks from the collection. Photo: Handout

Move over, Y2K looks – this season’s runways and red carpets, from Dior to Ferragamo, show that careful dressing is making a comeback, and so is topping off ‘fits with hats

Ukrainian designer Ruslan Baginskiy is having a moment: everyone from Blackpink to Madonna has worn his creations, and he even made a hat for the late Queen Elizabeth

If there is one word to describe the most recent fashion season – especially in Paris – it would simply be elegant.

A model presents a creation from Balmain womenswear autumn/winter 2023-2024 collection during Paris Fashion Week in Paris, on March 1. Photo: AFP

After a seemingly endless parade of Y2K cut-outs, slinky, low-rise jeans and high-saturation colours, designers have been ensnared by a feeling of pulled-together chic. And amid the fresh fervour – spied everywhere from Dior to Ferragamo – for the nipped-in silhouettes of the 40s and 50s with midi-length pencil skirts, smart cropped jackets, leather gloves, boxy handbags and perfect trenches, were hats.

Loads of them. Hats, hats, hats!

Hats off to Ukrainian designer Ruslan Baginskiy, who is very much having a moment. Photo: Ruslan Baginskiy

It’s not just on the runways that we’ve seen a return to hats as a mood for dressing with deliberation and care takes hold. And what could be more “together” than purposely topping an outfit with a hat? At the London Critic’s Film Awards in February, Florence Pugh was positively dazzling in fire-engine red Robert Wun topped with a truly haute matching veiled cowboy hat.

Actress Florence Pugh stuns in a Robert Wun ensemble at the London Critic’s Film Awards, UK, in February. Photo: AP

Fashion influencer Leandra Medine recently posted a photo of herself in a smart black velvet number, while Rachel Tashjian – the influential American fashion editor and founder of the invitation-only newsletter Opulent Tips – boasts a marvellous collection of hats. Recently, on the podcast A Thing or Two, she spoke of her lust for headgear and shared some of her favourite places for buying them, including The Hat Shop, Amy Downs and Gigi Burris.

Meanwhile on screen, Emily Cooper, the ambitious American at the centre of the ultimate fashion fantasy show Emily in Paris, is never too far from a beret (though approach berets with caution, especially when in Paris) or a bucket hat.

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