It’s not often that Kate Middleton scandalises with an outfit choice. The Princess of Wales is best known for her neat tea dresses, jeans tucked into boots (she’s a royal so by definition a horse girl and pulls it off) and relaxed casual wear. But this week Kate Middleton has had the fashion community clutching their imaginary pearls after appearing in a baker boy hat while joining a group of Scouts in the Lake District.
While Kate Middleton’s look caused less of a stir than her sister in law Meghan Markle’s recent podcast launch her Dickensian fashion moment has still left us shaken.
Image: Kensington Palace
What Is A Baker Boy Hat?
The baker boy hat is a controversial fashion item familiar that was everywhere in the naughties. Originally created in the 1910s it was a piece of clothing worn by young working boys (see also the newsboy cap) and carried associations with class.
In the 2000s it became less associated with class, more associated with trendy Y2K pop princesses and It-girls. For example, in 2003 this writer had just started highschool and my favoured approach to dressing was combining a hideous mismatch of trends I’d seen on various on best dressed regulars like Keira Knightley, Kate Moss, Sienna Miller and the Olsen Twins. Anne Hathaway appeared in several baker boy caps during The Devil Wears Prada and pop stars like Britney Spears tossed them on with tank tops for culottes. It all felt like a strong argument for the wisdom of the accessory.
Image: Getty
Image: Getty
One of my favourite looks was an orange “peasant” top, cargo pants and ugg boots. The deeply unflattering ensemble was always topped with a baker boy hat because if Mary Kate Olsen could do it, why couldn’t I? Photographic evidence that has been buried in school albums shows that I really couldn’t and legions of millennials agree.
Image: Getty
Image: Getty
Are We Ready For The Baker Boy Hat’s Return?
But despite the universal shudder the hat receives from normies, celebrities have made tentative attempts at stirring up a baker boy revival over the last few years. In 2021 celebrities like Gigi Hadid and Katie Holmes were spotted wearing baker boy hats with their pandemic face masks and while the trend didn’t pick up they kind of pulled it off.
Timothée Chalamet has possibly unintentionally been promoting the baker boy over the last year or so, the alarming hat perched atop his perfect curls while filming A Complete Unknown and Kendall Jenner wore the hat back in February.
Kate Middleton styled her baker boy hat with a matching green tweed bomber jacket, Aran knit and skinny jeans (another naughties trend Middleton is loyal to). But Jenner wore it kind of convincingly in New York with loafers, a suede coat and slim straight leg jeans. And, Anne Hathaway revisited her relationship with the 2000s accessory back in dip dyed wide leg jeans, a nautical trench and silver boots which… we kind of loved?
Against our better judgement, Middleton may have put the baker boy cap on the agenda as an accessory to watch for winter.
Ruby Feneley
Senior Writer, Fashion + Beauty
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