marketing 101: hot girl in a baseball cap

Fresh off another delightful New York City weekend, I write to you from my dining table, despite having a beautiful and recently rearranged home office (the main reason we opted for a two-bedroom apartment), halfway through my iced latte, which I usually reserve for midday. Powering through my work day with a few minutes of writing here, an extra shot of espresso there, a typical Monday, it is indeed.

We went into the city to see a taping of Last Week Tonight with John Oliver (one fourth of my dream blunt rotation) on Saturday, which has been on our bucket list for years. The show was outstanding, and the rest of our weekend followed suit — drawing with crayons at Funny Bar, a restaurant that, despite technically being Gen-Z ourselves, made us feel very old. We ran through Central Park on Sunday morning during off-leash dog hours, which is how I’d personally prefer to start every day. We had lemon ricotta pancakes at L’Artusi, bopped around, and back home we went.

Between the five-mile run through Central Park yesterday morning, the afternoon mezcal cocktail that followed, and the four-hour drive home (to which I really can’t take the credit — Jack drove, I passengered), I appear to be completely spent. But, one thing I will always have the energy for, in true al dente fashion, is dissecting a tried-and-true celebrity street style staple, an accessory we all know and love. I present to you, the humble baseball cap:

A baseball cap is a precious thing. They are a practical accessory that, on the surface, could seem like an afterthought; the last piece of the outfit puzzle, a way to protect your face from the sun, support your favorite team, or, dare I say, political party. Everyone wears them. The baseball cap does not discriminate on age, socioeconomic status, gender, or so forth. You can find them at Goodwill for a dollar or at Prada for over $600.

I recently picked up some Library Science merch in the form of a baseball cap, to add to my collection (more on that later).

I don’t think it’s a coincidence that all of my celebrity style muses are partial to baseball caps — Miley Cyrus, Zoë Kravitz, Jennifer Lawrence, Taylor Russell, and Gracie Abrams just scratch the surface. I mean, how else is a celebrity going to promote their boyfriend’s new album or non-alcoholic beer company? Or tastefully advertise to the world that they volunteer with City Meals on Wheels? Lily Collins even has a Library Science hat of her own, perhaps in some sort of nepo baby-allegiance:

As far as celebrity-approved baseball caps go, some of the heavy hitters recently have been the OH MARY! Cole Escola cap, as seen on Kaia Gerber, The New York City Ballet cap worn by Timothee Chalamet (that didn’t age well), Dakota Johnson, and Greta Lee, the Ralph Lauren Polo cap has always been a staple for a slew of celebs, including Kendall Jenner and Jennifer Lawrence, and any of the baseball caps from IDEA Bookstore in London. Harry Styles, serial queerbaiter, famously wore their Techno is my Boyfriend style, and we’ve seen Olivia Rodrigo in the objectively cool WINONA version. Literary merch is a whole separate dialogue, but if Library Science isn’t your vibe, I’ll leave you with The Paris Review baseball cap worn by Emily Ratajkowski. I fear I may have even influenced myself.

Celebrity or not, I find myself fascinated by the hats people choose to adorn themselves in — like little walking advertisements. However, instead of advertising a product, we’re actually marketing ourselves. We’re like “hey! look at me! i like art! i’m cultured!” or “you see this seemingly random phrase on my hat? It’s an inside joke from a podcast I listen to, oh, you’ve never heard of it? let me enlighten you.” They’re the perfect conversation starters, or enders, of course, in the wrong crowd. The logos and phrases on our hats say a lot about who we are as people and what we’re into. It’s likely the first thing someone notices about you if you’re wearing one, based on the fact that it’s, you know, on your head.

Some more extremely niche examples:

If you’re an owner of the Emily Dawn Long Take Off Your Clothes baseball cap, you’re a cool girl who is very in on the New York fashion scene, or at least doing a good job at making it seem like you are. You likely consider yourself to be a multi-hyphenate creative and have a very active Letterboxd account. It also means you spent $75 on a baseball cap, which is a pretty baller move.

If you have an Electric Lady Studios baseball cap, you like to microdose at jazz bars on the weekends but listen to Gracie Abrams in the comfort of your own corded Apple headphones.

I’ll fall for a Ritz Paris X FRAME collab baseball cap every time, I’ll admit it. I wouldn’t say it exactly means its wearer is super stylish — I mean, they can be! — but I will definitely think you’re wealthy. $150 for a baseball cap is a little rich for my taste, but you know what they say, if you’ve got it…

What’s funny about these is that you don’t need to record at the iconic Electric Lady Studios to own one of the hats, nor do you need to stay at the Ritz in Paris or attend the New York City Ballet — all of these can be bought online. There is a surface levelness to it all that is fascinating to me. Wearing a certain hat alludes to you being in on something or being a part of a certain camp. Like the Cole Escola cap, even if you’ve never seen the play, wearing it signifies that you’re in tune with culture and are in the know about one of the buzziest plays on Broadway right now. And if someone else recognizes it as such, they’ll put you in that camp.

Just like us, celebrities might wear a certain hat to show they’re cultured or charitable or well-read. They may wear one to show that they’re silly and quirky and relatable, à la Jennifer Lawrence and her array of novelty hats, including ones that say Breaking Dawn and Shania Twain. So fun! There is a childlike sweetness to how we choose the hats we wear. We all have our little hobbies and interests, and we want to share them with the world! Maybe even make a friend! And that warms my heart.

For instance, I’ve been wearing my Metropolitan Museum of Art baseball cap rather religiously since its purchase last year — it’s made its way to bars, on shoots, on runs, and too many planes to count. There has seldom been an occasion where it has been entirely out of the realm of possibility of wearing it (I don’t go anywhere all that fancy). This hat is practical: it tames my bob, protects me from the sun, it’s black, so it goes with everything, and in my mind, it shows that I’m cool and artsy and sophisticated. I love art and art museums and New York City, so it feels very personal to me, and I’m proud to wear it! Full transparency, I have been to The Met more times than I can count, but anyone can purchase it online!

It’s also pretty much the only hat I wear these days, so it was time to draft a new player into the rotation, which is where the fun begins.

A baseball cap of this nature, something that feels like me, is not hard to come by; it’s just about finding the right one. For instance, I was at one of my favorite magazine stores, Iconic Magazines in SoHo, a few weekends ago, when I stumbled on its namesake baseball cap collab with Highsnobiety. It’s a status symbol for those who recognize it, the same way a Red Sox cap signifies what team its owner supports. At the end of the day, I couldn’t willingly sport a hat that says “ICONIC” on the front, knowing that 99% of people will not associate that word with the magazine store, and assume that I’m serving up some Jamie Tartt realness:

So I continued my search, and shortly after this experience, I stumbled upon our winner. Behold, the ever-so specific and demure celebrity book club baseball cap:

Whereas some hats, like sports teams, museums, or brand logos, are more of an inclusive, straight-to-the-point operation, you also have the aforementioned if you know, you know category, like the logo of an independent New York City coffee shop, or in my case, a nepo baby’s book club.

When it comes to celebrity book clubs, I tend to oscillate between finding them extremely annoying and unnecessary and impossibly chic and cool. Maybe, that’s just the vibe I intend to evoke. I must’ve been notified of the Library Science baseball cap restock at a moment when I was leaning toward the latter of those two feelings, and the trigger was pulled.

If you’re not familiar with Library Science, it’s Kaia Gerber’s online book club. I’ve been a follower since its launch in 2024 — it’s nothing revolutionary; it’s really just a slowly growing list of book recommendations and the occasional talk with an author or another famous white girl. I’m not sure of the actual public opinion on this endeavor; I don’t think it’s really made any waves at all, but I do know that they recommend some great books! The about page on its website describes Library Science as a book club that covers “fiction, translations, essays, plays, and poetry – intensely focusing on work that could provoke larger conversations around sex, love, girlhood, queerness, grief, addiction, beauty, being… We don’t claim to be academic, we just love to read.” This resonates with me.

Like any celebrity side hustle, the book clubs tend to be very merch-forward. Whereas Reese Witherspoon’s book club is like wearing an I❤️NY baseball cap, Kaia’s is like wearing a Rhythm Zero coffee shop baseball cap. Are we following? As a general rule of thumb, the deciding factor between the two types of book clubs seems to be whether or not their list includes Bonjour Tristesse. Naturally.

What do I hope wearing this hat says about me? Something like, “hey! i like to read books. i know about celebrities’ niche side hustles, and also, despite that i’m wearing the same jeans and t-shirt i wear every day, i’m actually quite chic.” As far as my interests are concerned, this hat ticks a few boxes — pop culture, fashion, books. There’s your sweet spot.

Am I the biggest Kaia Gerber or Library Science fan to ever grace the earth? Not even close. But do I like to read, and do I yearn for the day that someone stops me when I’m wearing my cute new hat so we can talk about books? Why yes, of course. At the very least, it’s a way to express myself, and regardless of whether it explicitly says it or not, that feels pretty ICONIC to me.

xx

- Ally