Call it the Peaky Blinders effect, or perhaps it was all Dior's doing, but the baker boy cap is back, replacing the beret as your bad-hair-day saviour and statement-making plus-one. Primarily the uniform of dock workers, newspaper boys, and farmers in the 1910s and '20s, the stiff-peaked hat has been worn by everyone from Jane Birkin to Jeremy Corbyn since, and has now made its way onto the heads of off-duty models and street stylers alike.
Baker boy caps were styled with aplomb by back-in-the-day babes; in 1968, Brigitte Bardot taught us how to style our vinyl trench coat with her head-to-toe-leather look, complete with hard-as-nails cap. A few years later, Barbra Streisand in What's Up, Doc? wore a puffed-up checked number with long blonde tresses and mini dresses, while Jane Birkin spruced up a slouchy knit and denim get-up with a relaxed hat and wicker basket (another SS18 accessories trend to get excited about).
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Later on, the baker boy cap fell into embarrassing dad territory (see AC/DC's Brian Johnson), with the exception of Diane Kruger, who has been an advocate for the nonchalant piece since the '00s. When AW17 rolled around, however, designers proved their wearability. John Galliano and Prada offered oversized suede caps, while Miu Miu paired canary yellow jackets with their baker boy pieces. Then, in the same way she made the beret the headwear du jour that season, Maria Grazia Chiuri had us head over heels for the baker boy cap at AW18 this February. Girls came down the catwalk in checked blazers and oversized sunnies, slogan knitwear and tulle dresses, all capped off (sorry) with the hat, a surefire sign that the trend is here to stay.
It's street style-approved, too; just one scroll through Bella Hadid's off-duty looks and you'll find more than one baker boy cap, styled with athleisure, suiting, denim minis, you name it. Teddy Quinlivan paired hers with denim, black accessories and a simple tank top in an understated move, while Zuo An Xiao proved that a more formal look– a sheer blouse and flowing culottes – works just as well with the casual cap. As for us? We're looking to Lou Doillon, who regularly oozes Parisian cool by wearing hers with a Breton tee and blazer. Whether you team with a ballgown à la Dior, or your denim overalls, the baker boy cap is the surprisingly easy-to-wear accessory we didn't know we needed.