This week’s most-wanted: a vintage-inspired sun hat
Photo: Claire Pepper
This summer’s style challenge: how to wear a straw hat in the UK without looking like Dominic Cummings…Easy when you have a chic vintage-inspired style from Gil Fox. And wouldn’t be seen dead walking down a London street with a staff. Anyhow. banish all thoughts of the Barnard Castle Botherer. Let’s talk about lovely Gil Fox, instead. The self-taught milliner started making hats in 1986, ‘ I wanted something that looked vintage and slightly distressed,’ she says over the phone, ‘hats that look like they’d had a previous life.’ This relaxed approach to style is right up my alley; I’m wearing her vintage straw hat in the photos.
After leaving school, Gil was working as a stage manager at the Royal Court Theatre in London, when one of her colleagues who ran a stall at Camden Market each weekend, encouraged her to go along. ‘ It was an amazing place for innovation,’ she says of Camden in the eighties, ‘it was definitely the place to be. I started making hats, it was weird, it all happened by trial and error really. And then Liberty picked me up there…’ When an American company placed an order for £2, 500 worth of hats, Gil realised she had to make a career decision: whether to put herself forward for another theatre job or follow the millinery path. It was then she decided she needed some proper training and found a milliner in Soho who kindly showed her all the basic hat-making skills.
Now aged 61, and after selling in large department stores around the world, Gil prefers to trade on Etsy and through her Instagram feed. Most of Gil’s hats are one-offs, hand-shaped using vintage fabrics where possible – my patterned hat is made from a 1970s straw (unworn!). And she still loves the distressed look, ‘ Hats are not precious, my hats aren’t making a big statement,’ she adds, ‘I’ve always thought that you should treat them like a pair of jeans. I want them to merge with the wearer’s style – take on your shape, take on your look and when they fall apart, that’s when we love them the most.’
Check out Gil Fox hats on Etsy HERE. More vintage-inspired, sun hats:
STYLE NOTES: I’m wearing an old J.Crew shirt and my Claire Stratton ring.
Please note: affiliate links in this post may generate commission.
Discussion (14 Comments)
Hi there, I’m not colouring my hair – the different coloured streaks are natural! Who knew…
irene says:
Hi Alison,
I really enjoy reading your posts and I love the earrings you are wearing on the picture in this one.
Could you please tell me where you bought them? I would really like to have similar ones.
Thank you!
IreneHello Irene, my large silver hoop earrings are very old and I can’t remember where I got them from – sorry. But I do remember they were as cheap as chips! There’s a website called The Hoop Station selling all different sizes of hoops
https://thehoopstation.co.uk/
Cee. says:
Lovely to see straw hats ; light and airy and a proper brim to shade the face….
My mother still looks beautiful in hers and I
now wear them too. Admittedly have sewn hat elastic in place for gusty summer weather!
(Sometimes tucked a silky scarf/bandanna round base of crown)Susan Maxwell says:
Great hats…
On the subject of hats, I’m loving the hats worn by characters in The Durells (Corfu in the 1940s), so stylish.Kate West says:
That is a gorgeous hat. I have taken to wearing straw hats whenever the sun comes out and feel quite at ease in them. I love your way of putting things together, just right, not try too hard. You get better at it all the time. It is quite a skill, you do it better than the French and at one time I really thought they had that look tied up.
Cindy says:
Love this and these straw hats. I have 2 I use and because I don’t like hat hair I place a pony tail atop my head, wrap it , one pin to it. My outing I enjoy sun or not and when I remove the hat and pony tail I still can enjoy my hair do. Humid conditions won’t bother my hair as much with my hair safety tuckked under my hat. ( we have 2 dogs and they are only leashed to go out to potty as we live within the city, no backyard for us)…. so I try to save my hair do best I can. In my 60’s gotta do what I can . Thank you for your writing and sharing.
carole b says:
I have two fold away straw hats from M & S, one with a dark navy ribbon binding, both bought around 25 years ago. Although somewhat battered, they still look very stylish, and are very useful (and portable). Travelling to Rome about 20 years ago, I remember lending my friend (then in her mid 70’s) one as we approached the queue for the Sistene chapel, thinking we were in for the long haul. A guard beckoned us forward, and with a kindly ‘Prego’ moved the rope to one side and let us in, ahead of the whole queue. Fond memories.
Rochelle Reed Smith says:
I wore my lacy straw hat until I realized that the odd dot pattern emerging on my forehead was suntan. Had to switch to a hat with a solid brim.
Mrs Tonia says:
This is a cool looking straw hat which suits you well.
I have a large collection of sun hats from
Cloche shaped ones to bucket shape to wide brimmed Panama hats. My favourite worn every summer to shade face, hair and neck were purchased in the 90s. A lovely green Nicole Fahri Panama and a french open weave style with a floppy brim.
Don’t need more because my collection meets all outfits and needs. I even have folding crochet bucket shape portable ones which I used to throw in luggage.These straw hats are great to beat the sun and add some style to the summer outfit.
Your writing always inspires me and gives insight into how the past generation thinks about the fashion of this era.
Please keep writing to us.
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Those hats are amazing! Are you colouring your hair again now, Alison? Would love to hear your latest thoughts!