If there’s one thing you invest in next season make it a hat: we’re barely half way through the womenswear show season and nearly all of the A/W12 collections so far have featured headwear. If New York fashion week was about the beanie (see Beanies
If there’s one thing you invest in next season make it a hat: we’re barely half way through the womenswear show season and nearly all of the A/W12 collections so far have featured headwear.
If New York fashion week was about the beanie (see The Beanie Is Back) then London Fashion Week is about the peak. From day one’s Central Saint Martins MA show when Sabina Bryntesson added peaks to various sculptured headpieces, the protruding lip of stiff material has continued to cast a shadow across models faces show after show.
Normally worn during the summer to protect one's face from the sun, it seems that this winter anything goes as long as it has a peak. Simone Rocha sent flipped-up black and cream crocheted peaks down her catwalk – beautifully topping off her strong collection of layered lace, childlike shifts, oversized coats and chunky brogues in a kind of boy-meets-girl nonchalance. Henry Holland presented a similar style of flipped-up peak but in a totally different manner: his House of Holland collection was inspired by 70s sportswear and retro sitcom Mork & Mindy, with vibrant primary colours, dogtooth, zig zags and stripes exploding across garments. His Tour De Force hats, when flipped-up, revealed slogans – a favourite device of the cheeky designer – saying “Ride It” and “HOH”.
Christopher Raeburn, styled by AnOther fashion director Cathy Edwards, fashion met function in the NEWGEN women’s and British Fashion Award winner’s “Freeze” entitled collection. Oversized parkas, durable jackets and parachute skirts were teamed with contemporary rucksacks and most notably long peaked baseball caps that came in black and moss green wool.
"So, why has the trend for A/W12 reached a peak? With the London Olympics around the corner we would hazard a guess that, whether consciously or not, we Brits are in a much more sporty frame of mind."
Also with a functional aesthetic, Topshop Unique’s utilitarian theme reigned strong; mixing a sludgy green and black palette across workwear-inspired pieces, teamed with spike-heeled army boots and peaked fedora hats. Thomas Tait employed a similar colour palette with a punch of buttery yellow across peacoats, varsity jackets, bombers and slim trousers in a distinctly collegiate feel. In particular his contrast-coloured and solid black peaked hats were developed with skatewear brand HUF, giving the more tailored looks a relaxed skater-boy edge.
Elsewhere, Jonathan Saunders’ collection – which was made up of geometric patterns, tailored coat-dresses, riding jackets and sporty striped sweaters – was accessorised with a selection of leather peaked visors. J.W. Anderson’s PVC and Puffa (a fast-emerging trend for A/W12) pieces were teamed with unusual hybrid hats. Acne’s voluminous proportions teamed with a selection of wide-brimmed hats and also military style peaked hats – upping their game in more ways than one. Yesterday afternoon, Burberry Prorsum's S/S11 bobbled-raffia peaked hat morphed into a more grown-up and masculine grey mottled flat cap, perfectly balancing out the collection's twee-feminine bows that cinched in garments at the waist.
So, why has the trend for A/W12 reached a peak? With the London Olympics around the corner we would hazard a guess that, whether consciously or not, we Brits are in a much more sporty frame of mind. And from cycling to horse riding, skateboarding, golf, volleyball and baseball – whatever your style there is nothing that adds sporty-chic to an outfit like a peaked cap.
Text by Lucia Davies
Margot Bowman is an illustrator, designer and DJ living in London. She is the Creative Director of The Estethetica Review, a fashion publication focusing on ethical fashion published biannually in conjunction with the British Fashion Council. Lucia Davies is junior editor at AnOther. She has also contributed to titles that include Dazed & Confused, The Independent, It's Nice That, Nowness, Twin Magazine and Wonderland.
