And Just Like That... Carrie Bradshaw made hats fashionable again

Sarah Jessica Parker as Carrie Bradshaw in And Just Like That...

She used to be all about heels, but now Sarah Jessica Parker’s iconic character has embraced statement headwear as she explores midlife in And Just Like That... Marie Kelly considers the particular confidence that comes with donning a chapeau.

I recently found a photograph dated from 1930 of my grandmother, great-grandmother and two friends sitting in a Dublin pub. Each woman was wearing a hat – my grandmother sported a chic feather skull cap, and her mother a toque hat with feather trim. In those days, leaving the house without a hat was akin to nipping to the shops in your pyjamas today – it was frowned upon and considered a flouting of the rules of respectability. Of course it was another 33 years before women were permitted to leave their heads uncovered at mass in this country. My mother remembers an embarrassing incident at our local church in the late 1960s. The elderly, and less progressive, parish priest laid his handkerchief on the head of a woman as she knelt down to receive Holy Communion because she was hatless. The humiliated woman returned red-faced to her pew, my mother recalls.

Ireland is no longer a nation of hat wearers. Perhaps this is because, as fashion historian Ruth Griffin explains, “In this country hats were intrinsically tied up with religion and respectability.” Women were obliged to wear hats for so long that maybe the novelty and sense of self-determination that comes with not wearing a hat is still a subliminal influence on our style choices. But if anybody can usher in a hat revival, it’s Carrie Bradshaw, the fashion magpie at the heart of HBO’s Sex And The City sequal, And Just Like That. The noughties style icon has returned to our screens with more flamboyance and fabulous outfits than we could have hoped for, and – most notably – with far more hats. 

In her younger years, Bradshaw was synonymous with Fendi baguettes and Manolo heels, but it’s the 55-year-old’s statement headwear that’s defining her midlife style. If there was any fear that the most important fictional character in fashion since Annie Hall would re-emerge from the show’s hiatus with a less eye-popping wardrobe because of her age, And Just Like That has put paid to any tired old stereotypes about how women over 50 dress.  

“If a woman rebels against high heeled shoes, she should take care to do it in a very smart hat.” So said George Bernard Shaw. And while Bradshaw’s hiatus from heels wasn’t a revolt, but a reluctant respite, her headwear has certainly taken the focus away from her feet, as each episode we wait for her next head-turning outfit topper.

From a Bavarian-style feather hat to a fedora and straw boater, Bradshaw’s choice of hats has proved as diverse as her humour is dry. She’s always had a no-fear approach to fashion and a penchant for peacocking, but without appearing puffed-up or affected. Dublin-based stylist and personal shopper Cathy O’Connor, also a hat lover and with a collection of about 30, believes hats are the ultimate mark of individuality. 

When we meet, she’s sporting a fabulous leather baker boy cap, which suggests not just a great sense of style but an inherent self-possession. “A hat makes you feel that little bit different,” she explains. “With one sweep, you can stand out from the crowd.” She qualifies this remark by adding, “You have to decide if you want to stand out though.” O’Connor has been shouted at from across the street on more than one occasion while wearing a hat. “I’ll often hear a ‘Hey Missus, love your hat’ when I’m out and about, and while the comments aren’t made with any malice, I do have to think about whether I’m up for being yelled at when I consider wearing a hat on any given day.”

Griffin agrees. “I once had a man take a hat off my head and run down a moving DART with it. A hat makes you stand out, but it can also provoke unwanted attention.” Yet Irish women are renowned for attending occasions such as the races in outfits, and hats, worthy of Royal Ascot. O’Connor explains: “Irish women are wonderful at dressing up for weddings and Ladies Day, where an extravagant hat is part of the look. These events are very much about the pleasure of dressing up and women are applauded for donning a fabulous headpiece. But if you take a hat out of this rarefied environment, it can make too strong a statement for some.”

It’s true. Trilbys, boaters and bucket hats aren’t often seen on the heads of women across our towns and cities; a beanie or beret, perhaps, but you’ll rarely find anything as flamboyant as a fedora. Dingle-based hatmaker Kathleen McAuliffe, however, says she has seen a slow but steady change in women’s attitudes to hat-wearing over the two decades she’s been selling headwear in her shop on Dingle high-street. Originally from Portsmouth in the UK, but the daughter of a Corkonian who took her to Castlegregory on holidays as a child, McAuliffe settled in the town in 1993. She explains that her business is split half and half between tourists and locals, but “It’s the local women who are far more adventurous in their choices. Tourists tend to buy practical items to protect themselves against the south-west coastal weather, but my regular customers buy for fun and style.” 

McAuliffe comes from a rich ancestry of hat-making – her great aunt made hats for the late Queen Mother – and she created headpieces for the exclusive London boutique Browns before relocating to Ireland. According to Griffin, there is a culture of hat-making here in Ireland too, from Richard Annsley of Grafton Street, who created straw bonnets in the 19th century, to the hat-making factory, Western Hats, in Castlebar in the 1930s. “In the first half of the 19th century, hats were available to buy in the local drapery store of every market town as well as in larger department stores in bigger cities,” explains Ruth. “There were also plenty of haberdasheries from which women could buy trims and accessories to customise their headwear,” she adds.

Today, it’s more difficult to find casual hats, explains O’Connor. She recommends Gráinne Maher for exquisite trilbys and boater hats, and Margaret O’Connor for elaborately embellished berets and contemporary fedoras. “Once you begin wearing hats, you become addicted,” says O’Connor. “It’s like the explanation point of your outfit.” But there’s another aspect to hat-wearing that may resonate more strongly with women. “Hats create a perimeter around you,” the style expert explains. “Lady Gaga is said to have worn wide-brim hats so that nobody would kiss her.” 

Former Vogue acting social media editor and hat lover Niamh O’Donoghue agrees. “I only wear oversized, wide-brimmed hats for this very reason,” she explains. “They protect my personal space and give me a level of comfort,” she says. “Also, I’m very petite, but a big hat gives me a sense of power in a room and a sense of authority that I might not otherwise feel.” The 28-year-old commissioned her first hat five years ago from UK milliner Anthony Peto, who had a shop on Dublin’s South Anne Street before Covid forced its closure. This purple, fedora-shaped, hand-woven straw hat was adorned with a two-foot pheasant feather hand-dyed in Paris. “I view hats as pieces of art,” O’Donoghue reveals. “I have them displayed in my home as others would artwork.”

She also feels that most Irish women have an innate desire not to stand out. Growing up in a culture shaped by the Catholic Church’s preaching about humility and servility, it’s not surprising. But O’Donoghue believes young women, certainly, are beginning to experiment more with hats and thinks this is, in part, due to two years of track pants and takeaways. “Women among my generation are ready to get back out into the world and be the best versions of themselves post Covid, and a hat can go a long way to making you feel like your very best self.” She cites the style hacks on TikTok as a great source of hat inspiration. 

It was author Margaret Atwood who said, “I myself have 12 hats, and each one represents a different personality. Why just be yourself?” As restrictions begin to lift and life shifts up a gear, there’s no better time to tap into our alter egos. O’Donoghue explains that the most important thing to consider when buying a hat is the fit. She advises that you measure the circumference of your head if you’re buying online, but qualifies that off-the-rack hats can be resized by a milliner if needed. O’Connor explains that a hat shouldn’t feel too heavy on, and says that both texture and shape are important. “A piece with a curved design and tactile finish can be very flattering,” she adds.

If you’re a tentative hat wearer, then there’s always the option to tie the ribbon of a hat around your shoulders and let the hat sit on your back like a backpack, a la Carrie Bradshaw in episode 3 of And Just Like That. As humorist Irma Bombeck said, “ I have a hat. It gives me a certain dignity…People are generous in their compliments. Someday I may get up enough courage to wear it, instead of carrying it.” 

This article originally appeared in Sunday Independent Life, March 2022