Re: Beanie Nation by ManRepeller

Being a follower of Leandra Medine and her blog ManRepeller, I am always excited to read her thoughts.  I was especially excited on Feb 21 to see that she had devoted an entire post the beanie (or if you're from Dudley the toboggan, and yes I am aware that northerners consider a toboggan a sled... all that nonsense aside). I have always been of the opinion that the multifunctional beanie was the perfect way to top of most outfits.  I personally rock a beanie every single chance I get from September to April and on any unseasonably cool day in between and have for most of the fashion aware portion of my life.  I think she was absolutely correct with her assertion that "Beanies are not about snow, they are about our inconspicuous search for the right dose of cool."  That's why I own like 27 in all varieties (except the cat ear type she referred to.  Not a cat person... They go potty in your house, ewww.  Anyways, I digress).  What I was confused about was that this was suddenly a trend.  I think the mysterious appearance of the beanie as the new must have accessory begs the questions, was the beanie ever not a wardrobe staple for the cool and uncool alike? I am almost certain that while hipsters were still embryos the beanie was making appearances, providing that sometimes illusive "dose of cool" to rock stars, movie stars and regular folks alike.  Lets explore a little history shall we...

Late 60's - Patti Boyd with George Harrison.  She was married to a Beatle and a model so I'm going to guess she was pretty cool and liked beanies.

1970's - Ali MacGraw wore a crocheted beanie to the Academy Awards. seriously.

1980s - So I couldn't find a lot of evidence for the 80's.  I'm going to wager a guess that sky high heat damaged bangs just don't mesh stylistically with the eclectic cool of the beanie and instead I'm going to cite Axl Rose with his infamous headband/hat combo... it's beanie shaped. kinda...

1994 - Kurt Cobain, the late reluctant leader of the grunge movement and El Capitan of cool for the early 90's if you ask me, wearing guess what? a beanie in 1994 at a concert in Milan. It appears as though he might also deserve credit for another trend, the oversized cardigan (a.k.a. the boyfriend cardigan that was reintroduced to us a couple of years ago.)

1998 - Britney Spears - She was the height of cool in the late nineties and early 2000's and she wore beanies.

2002 - Season 5 of Sex and the City... really, do I even need to continue.  Carry Bradshaw was the voice and embodiment of all of our fashion fantasies and she wore a beanie.

2003 - Gwen Stefani - I'm certain I could have found a photo of her wearing a beanie for each year, but I picked this one because it has sequins... and I like shiny things.

2005 -Brad Pitt - beanie... lots of beanies.

2007 - Versace runway - yup beanies on the runway back in '07.

 

2009 - Beyonce beanie.

2011 - Jared Leto - Far superior to the silly cat beanie. A. it's pink, B. it has ear flaps and huge pom poms, C. It's not a cat.

2012 - good old K-Stu - It was hard to find a picture of her without a beanie.

In short, beanies have always been around and they've always been cool. To call them a trend is like calling wearing shoes a trend, or eating green beans with dinner a trend.  Somethings are just always awesome.  In the words of the formidable Aretha Franklin "Don't say Aretha is making a comeback, because I've never been away!” 

 

And yes, I wrote this while wearing a beanie. What do you think? Is the beanie a trend or an accessory with overlooked staying power? Comment below! 

p.s. If you want to see where I got these images just click on them and follow the links (lazy way to not plagiarize. don't shoot me.)