Let fashion savvy go to your head
Hats act as a first line of defence against forces of nature such as the sun's intense UV rays, rain and snow. They are also great for concealing bad hair days. And what's more they come in all shapes, sizes and colours.
As men's fashion is currently experiencing the revival of Edwardian style - three-piece suits with exaggerated lapels, ascots, pocket watches and brogues - hats, a male essential during that period, are back in vogue. Alessandro Sartori hit the jackpot with a collection inspired by this era. Almost all the models who walked the Z Zegna runway sported a bowler hat. Unlike traditional bowler hats, which are made of felt, Z Zegna's (top right) are made from soft angora wool. They come in black, camel and grey. I especially like the black version because it reminds me of Magritte's surrealist paintings.
If you are looking to invest in a hat, there are only four other styles, apart from the bowler, that you should look at: the fedora, the trilby, the newsboy and the Panama. Berets are a bit tricky and rather costumey. And leave trucker caps to frat boys. Even Ashton Kutcher has outgrown the style he so popularised. Sun visors don't count either, even if they boast luxury monograms.
Fedoras and trilbys are the safest, although people often confuse the two; fedoras have a wider brim than trilbys and a ribbon band. Fedoras and trilbys are failproof because depending on how you wear them, you can tap many different looks and attitudes. Take the Dunhill tricolor fedora (below): wear it cocked to one side of the head as they did on the runway and you can look very modern; wear it straight on and you can channel Johnny Depp or one of the lead actors on Mad Men; tilt it back a little and pair it with an old T-shirt and jeans for a more casual approach. When it comes to sizing, the general rule is that if your finger can slip easily between your head and the hat, then it's a size too big. For Resort 2009, Gucci showed a lot of fedora hats in materials such as canvas and straw (above centre).
The first hat I ever bought after my baseball cap days was a suede newsboy cap from Banana Republic. I wore it with all sorts of different outfits: with riding boots and a Prince of Wales chequered blazer for a grouse hunting look, with a T-shirt and sweater vest (a failure because I thought I could come close to looking like Brad Pitt), and with a camel overcoat, black trousers and patent leather ankle boots for walking around the city. The last one was the most successful, I think. I am glad that there are a lot of newsboy caps this season. Loewe showed them in black wool. I like how they were paired with chunky sweaters and even chunkier scarves. Burberry Prorsum's grey newsboy caps have a little more room on top, making the shape slightly slouchy. I can see European men with salt-and-pepper floppy hair wearing these.
As soon as the spring merchandise arrives in the stores, I'm heading straight to Louis Vuitton to nab one of the Panama-style hats shown on the runway by Paul Helbers. Take note, though, real Panama hats are hand woven and can be crushed and rolled without losing their shape. I'm not sure whether Louis Vuitton's - which come in jet black and metallic silver (below) - can be rolled, but they do look super stylish, especially with butterfly pins. I would wear these exactly as they did on the runway, with a T-shirt and rolled up khakis that show a lot of ankle.
I love Panama hats. A few years ago, I spent a summer in Italy wearing a Panama-style hat from H&M, which looked just as stylish as the Borsalinos and Hermes the Italians in Capri were wearing. But unfortunately it didn't survive the combination of heat and seawater. At a Hermes sale recently, I got myself a Panama hat that's become one of my prized possessions - definitely worth the investment.
Shopping list
Burberry Prorsum, Alexandra House, Central, tel: 2868 3511
Dunhill, Pacific Place, Admiralty, tel: 2537 1009
Gucci, The Landmark, Central, tel: 2524 4492
Hermes, The Galleria, Central, tel: 2525 5900
Loewe, Pacific Place, Admiralty, tel: 2918 1120
Louis Vuitton, The Landmark, Central, tel: 8100 1182
Z Zegna, Peking Road, TST, tel: 3417 3088
