Sun Hats Are The New Status Symbol – Here’s How To Find The Best Style To Suit You

You’ve nailed the classic pair of cat’s eye shades, and are pretty chuffed with your trusty basket bag, but sun hats? They’re often tricky.

It’s probably because we’re out of practice. We wore baseball caps at school but since, royal family members excepting, there just doesn’t seem to be much occasion for an extravagantly-brimmed straw hat. Or does there? Three words. Cannes Film Festival. Because as the celebrities have been gathering on La Croisette, a very distinct trend has emerged when it comes to sun hats: the bigger, the better.

Anya Taylor-Joy, arriving in Cannes, wore the iconic straw hat with a circumference to rival a small beach umbrella's: Jacquemus's La Bomba, which set the bar for main character headgear when it launched a few years ago. At the premiere of Megalopolis, meanwhile, Yseult arrived wearing head-to-toe Dior, modelling the luxury brand's famous post-war 'New Look': a cinch-waisted jacket, a flaring skirt and an impossibly chic straw hat that slanted to one side.

Margaret Qualley also packed an oversized hat, which presumably had its very own suitcase, by Chanel. Paired with a simple little black slip dress and decorated with a crystal pin on the upturned brim, that hat could shield your shoulders as well as your forehead from any oncoming rays, while making a serious style statement. Impressive, non?

On the set of And Just Like That..., meanwhile, Sarah Jessica Parker has also been spotted wearing a truly maximalist hat as her alter-ego, Carrie Bradshaw; a fantastical, checked design by Maryam Keyhani.

From our (extensive) research, there appear to be three main schools of thought when it comes to hat-wearing. Are you a straw person (classic and low-maintenance), a bucket kind of gal (open to tie-dye, likes shell necklaces) or very much a baseball cap believer (hello, RiRi)?

For the former, try COS, Toast and Gant, whose logoed sun hat has the diameter and the drama to rival Jacquemus' La Bomba. Ganni, meanwhile, is something of a one-stop-shop for bucket hats so bookmark its crochet and denim styles now.

Try a sun hat on for size this weekend. Your (non-burnt) nose will thank you on Monday.

Shop: The Best Sun Hats

Natalie Hammond is Grazia’s Senior Fashion News Editor. She loves winter, hates summer and can often be found writing about the weather (and what on earth to wear).