How a Crocheted Grandma Hat Became a Celebrity Style Grail

BY SAMUEL HINE

Photos by Getty Images, Emily Dawn Long
Collage by Gabe Conte

"The only thing stranger than seeing Lamar embrace a bardcore aesthetic was continuing to see him do so. According to NYC-based artist Emily Dawn Long, who designed the hat in collaboration with the knitwear designer Maria Dora, Lamar has purchased about 20 of them so far. And he seems to wear the hat, which Dawn Long dubbed the “Hat Named Wanda,” just about any time he’s not donning his diamond-encrusted titanium crown of thorns made by Tiffany. Like when he was recording Mr. Morale, and when he hit the stage at Coachella this spring, and then at a Spotify listening party in Ghana. 

Unlike Kanye West, who can single-handedly inspire twenty-something men to leave the house dressed like they’re about to wade through a bog, Kendrick doesn’t rank among pop culture’s top style oracles. He dresses comfortably and casually—sort of like an MFA student with a Grailed account. One gets the sense that he doesn’t take up fashion obsessions easily. His taste for the unassuming bucket hat doesn’t mark the launch of a trend but rather the culmination of one that’s been building since the start of the pandemic. And it has helped turn the Wanda into the most low-key status symbol in fashion."

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