Why you need THREE hats to look ten years younger this summer (2024)

A hat to keep off the sun in summer – you would think we all had one of those by now but the truth is more complicated.

We may own hats, but the one hat that we’re happy to sling on for lunch al fresco, to walk the dog, for the weekend in the garden and for every single day on holiday – that’s hard to find.

As a result we often end up winging it, and going without any hat at all. I spent a boiling hot weekend in Devon recently and was forced to borrow my host’s 30-year-old, sweat-stained, Australian bush hat for protection. ‘What a shame’ my friend said when we looked through the pictures of us having lunch in the garden: ‘if only you weren’t wearing that horrible hat’.

And she was right: it was no different to pulling a grubby fleece over your best party dress. There and then I swore to put hats to the top of my priority list – and the key is in the plural.

We’re underprepared hat-wise because what we need is not one but three hats to be used in rotation as the occasion dictates. If you think this doesn’t really apply to you bear in mind that saving your skin from sun damage might mean you end up looking ten years younger in a decade, plus the right hat can and should be flattering and make you look cooler than you do without.

As for a hat’s hair crushing potential — that’s easily solved by buying the right size hat and taking it off when you don’t need it.

Here are the three hats that will see you through summer.

Straw fedora

This is a classic that covers most options and, if it comes in quality paper straw with a narrow black band, is smart enough to wear for a lunchtime event as well as on the beach. The Barts celery straw fedora (£45.95 hatsandcaps.co.uk) is the one I’ve been wearing most days in high summer for the last three or so years because it’s versatile, holds its shape, and it looks good.

With hats like this it’s important that the brim isn’t too mean (this one is 8cm) and the crown is deep enough (12.5 cm). There are cheaper straw fedoras out there but this one is built to last and doesn’t buckle in a rainshower.

The Somerville straw panama from Aspiga is a smart women’s panama and comes with a choice of coloured hat bands (£45 aspiga.com) and H&M’s straw fedora (£18 2.hm.com) has a more cowboyish look with creased crown and wider (9.8cm) brim.

There are few things more ageing than a floppy straw hat or, worse, a narrow brimmed cloche style, so it always pays to look for structure. Bucket hats are still in vogue but they’re tough to pull off. I’d make an exception, if you suit them, for Me+Em’s stylish raffia bucket hat which comes in cinnamon, black and natural (£95 meandem.com).

City baseball cap

Celebrities have been using baseball caps for keeping the sun off and retreating from view for decades and in the past couple of years many of the big designer brands have featured them in their collections, ensuring that every skin conscious, fashion conscious young woman now carries has baseball cap in her tote bag.

For our purposes, unbranded is best, but it does pay to invest in the grown up, tweaked version rather than a standard floppy sports cap you can pick up anywhere from Accessorize to Marks and Spencer.

The grown up baseball cap comes in smarter linen and has a stiffer crown which is that much more flattering. Try Whistles (£45 whistles.com) or Arket (£37 arket.com) and then get a cheap one for wearing by the pool.

Wide brim sunhat

You’ll only need this on holiday or in situations where the sun will find a way under your medium sized brim. Generally with hats, rounded shallow crowns and wide saucer brims do no-one over 50 any favours.

You want to look chic in your hat not like a character in Gone With The Wind so you’re better off with something sharper with a squarer crown and wide, but not satellite dish wide, brim.

M&S Collection’s straw wide brim hat (£19.50 marksandspencer.com) is a good manageable size and comes in warm chocolate or black (the cream has sold out).

Really big brims are also impossible to travel with but I do like an XL straw hat.Jasper Conran does a glamorous downturned brim straw hat in emerald green, red, bright pink or cobalt blue (£65 jasperconran.com). That could have gone in the car to Devon and saved the photographs.

Marks and Spencer