From Leonardo DiCaprio to 'Lupin,' the Polarizing Flat Cap Is Back
March 02 2021 - 4:12PM
Dow Jones News
By Jacob Gallagher
AGAINST CONSIDERABLE odds, the flat cap has conquered
contemporary pop culture. These idiosyncratic, Anglo-ish sloped
hats (you might know them as newsboy caps, paddy caps or golf caps)
edged into the zeitgeist with the 2013 premiere of "Peaky
Blinders," the BBC drama set in post-World War I Ireland that now
streams on Netflix. Since then, the flat cap's trickle of influence
has grown into a deluge. It's a style signature of the roguish
thief Assane Diop (played by Omar Sy) in "Lupin," a Netflix series
that debuted in January, and it topped off Ralph Fiennes in the
recent film "The Dig." Off-screen, too, celebs like Brad Pitt,
Leonardo DiCaprio and Idris Elba seem flat-cap fixated. And one
such hat even perched on the head of Tampa Bay Buccaneers coach
Bruce Arians during the NFL playoffs earlier this year.
The popularity of these caps has recontextualized them. Will
Bailey-Watson, 33, a university lecturer in Reading, England, noted
that in years past they were "almost exclusively" worn by the
elderly or tweedy countrysiders. Now, he turns on the TV and sees
30-something sports pundits all flat-capped out. Binge-watching
"Lupin" convinced Mr. Bailey-Watson to sample the style himself.
One recent winter day he threw on his new Ted Baker cap with a navy
topcoat and a pair of Adidas sneakers. After months of lockdown
slovenliness, he said the dressy cap made him feel "special," and
put a spring in his step. When he posted a photo of the outfit to
his Instagram, however, his friends' reviews were mixed. "It proved
very, very divisive," he said. The debate focused on "whether or
not someone like me should be trying to pull off something like
that."
When Mr. Bailey-Watson says "someone like me" he means someone
so relatively young, or someone whose job isn't calling the Man U
game on TV. The flat cap challenges average folks because it
carries a lot of baggage. My female colleagues described the hats
as an "immediate red flag" on men -- denoting a pretentious
pretender -- a sentiment that women often share on social media.
I've also seen this headwear described as hats for aging ska
trombonists and caps for craft-beer nerds. Many associate them
firmly with the campy 1992 Disney musical "Newsies."
Even those who happily wear flat caps acknowledge their
regrettable connotations. Mark Wood, 65, a retiree in Powell, Ohio,
was given his first wool newsboy cap by an Irish-born employee
about three decades ago and has worn the style since. He currently
favors a wool version from San Francisco's Goorin Bros: "It's
stylish, it's comfortable and it's very warm especially at this
time of year." But he has an ulterior motive. "You know, my
hairline is not what it used to be," he said, adding that he's
observed that the flat cap has "become a hat of bald men."
When describing the caps, the under-40 fans I spoke to all used
some variation of "old." Though Austin White, 31, a digital
resources coordinator at a music company in Bloomington, Ind.,
called the style "an old-timey hat," he wears the flat cap he
bought around a year ago frequently. A bit of a fantastical
dresser, he savors its theatrical look. He said it makes him feel
like an early 20th-century paperboy hollering "Extre! Extre!" or,
when he wears it with a turtleneck, a poet. Flat caps don't seem to
be flying off the shelves near him: He's the only young person he
knows who owns one.
Some consider the maturity that such a hat conveys a positive.
Brett White (no relation), 36, a reporter and producer at the
entertainment website Decider, bought his first flat cap at Old
Navy over 14 years ago, soon after moving to New York. Though it
was nothing he'd seen folks wearing back in his Tennessee hometown,
it lent him, he felt, a bit of urbane sophistication. Mr. White has
since amassed four flat caps and wears them a lot, he said: "It
just goes with my whole vibe," which encompasses emerald green
suits, '60s-ish brown turtlenecks and the occasional ascot.
If you dress less expressively, the panache of a flat cap can
conflict with your look. Kyle Brager, 34, an associate service
administrator for a medical equipment company in Robbinsdale,
Minn., recently purchased a flat cap, inspired in part by "Peaky
Blinders." Mr. Brager's style is hoodie-casual and he said he
hesitates whenever he reaches for his flat cap: "It is a little
stepping out of the comfort zone." Each time, he's settled for a
beanie instead. Perhaps he'll revisit the newsboy when he's a
retiree like Mr. Wood.
Write to Jacob Gallagher at Jacob.Gallagher@wsj.com
The Wall Street Journal is not compensated by retailers listed
in its articles as outlets for products. Listed retailers
frequently are not the sole retail outlets.
(END) Dow Jones Newswires
March 02, 2021 15:57 ET (20:57 GMT)
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