Flat Caps Are Still Not Just for Your Grandfather Anymore
The flat cap agenda is gaining momentum.
I wrote an article for Vogue back in 2023 about the return of the flat cap, with Bevza leading the charge. Since then, the cap has only picked up steam—moving from something worn at night, paired with dresses or used as a styling accent, to a true daytime piece. A practical topper. When you wear it, you wear it. And lately, I’ve found myself reaching for mine more and more—not to make a statement, but because it does something hats rarely do: it finishes a look without trying to become the look.
And if we’re being precise—which we should be—there is a difference between the flat cap and the newsboy. The flat cap is sleeker, more sculptural, almost aerodynamic in silhouette. The newsboy is fuller, looser, more nostalgic—its volume teetering into costume. They’re often confused for each other—also called a paddy, golf, or driving cap—and telling them apart can be like spotting the twin with slightly better posture. Newsboys often have wedge-shaped panels and a puffier crown. Flat caps? Fewer panels, flatter brim, sharper lines.
Historically, both styles go deep: the cap’s popularity dates back to 16th-century England, when a government mandate required boys and men to wear wool caps to boost the struggling trade. What began as a working-class uniform eventually became leisurewear for the upper class. Today, we’re somewhere in between.
Svitlana Bevza, founder and creative director of Bevza, understood this duality when she reintroduced the flat cap in her Spring 2024 collection. “I thought, Why is it considered a traditional hat for a man and not a woman?” she told me. “I wanted to shake things up and showcase the caps in a different light and on different people.” That’s what makes the flat cap resonate now—not just as a nostalgic callback, but as a recalibration. In 2023, I described it as the kind of accessory that gives me “the satisfaction of a retired CEO, strolling the grounds of my countryside estate after a single-malt lunch”—and I still stand by that. It’s eccentric, rural, a little smug. But never chaotic.
The flat cap is one of the last unexplored frontiers of “quiet luxury.” After years of tonal trousers and whispery knitwear, it feels like the natural next step—an unexpected punctuation mark that still suggests restraint. But unlike the copy-and-paste simulacrum parading under the “quiet luxury” banner, the flat cap is added by someone who knows exactly who they are—or wants you to think they do.
We’ve seen it on Bevza’s Spring 2024 runway, on Prada’s Fall 2024 runway, and most recently, at Khaite’s Fall 2025 show—who, to me, got it exactly right: strong trousers, a great coat, and that cap. A whole look built on precision. It’s not trying to be cool or sexy. Which, of course, is why it is.
And yet, in the same breath, the newsboy is reappearing too—its scruffier, more populist cousin. It says worker. It says archive. It says “I thrifted this and didn’t think too hard about it,” which, of course, means they did. Kendall Jenner wore one just last month. The flat cap, by contrast, resists that kind of self-conscious styling. It doesn’t wink. It just sits there—clean, firm, a little smug. I love that about it.
And while it may read British heritage on paper, it lands differently now. Less about evoking a time or place, and more about projecting a mood: a kind of soft authority. No logos. No explanation. Just a well-placed brim.
