• Intelligencer
  • The Cut
  • Vulture
  • The Strategist
  • Curbed
  • Grub Street
  • Subscribe to the Magazine Give a Gift Subscription Buy Back Issues Current Issue Contents
    Subscribe to New York Magazine
  • Subscribe
  • Profile
    Sign Out
The Cut
  • Style
  • Self
  • Culture
  • Power
Style
  • Fashion
  • Beauty
  • Parties & Red Carpet
  • Fashion Shows
  • Cathy Horyn
  • The Cut Shop
Self
  • Health & Wellness
  • The State of the Uterus
  • Parenting
  • Advice
  • Sex & Relationships
  • Horoscopes
Culture
  • Books
  • Television
  • Movies
  • Music
  • Celebrity
Power
  • Politics
  • Work
  • Money
  • Rebecca Traister
More
  • Latest Stories
  • Video
  • About Us
  • nymag.com
  • New York Magazine
  • Intelligencer
  • Vulture
  • The Cut
  • The Strategist
  • Grub Street
  • Curbed
trend report
November 14, 2019

Hot Guys and Newsboy Caps: A Tragic Love Story

By Emilia Petrarca

Share

  • Share
  • Tweet
  • Pin It
Photo: Getty Images, SplashNews

There comes a time in every man’s life when he looks at himself in the mirror and thinks: I need a wool pancake on my head. I don’t know if it’s hormones or some sort of existential crisis that spurs this choice, but I do know that every man I’ve ever loved — every hot celebrity I’ve ever swooned over — has at some point worn a newsboy cap and subsequently ruined my life.

This week, that man was Harry Styles. While attending a show of Jeremy O. Harris’s Slave Play on Broadway, the British pop star and objectively beautiful human wore a floppy blue denim hat to match his enormous, wide-leg jeans, which he bundled underneath a Gucci coat. His appearance may have seemed casual, but Vogue called the look that of an “ultimate rock star.” Like Mick Jagger, Elton John, and Bruce Springsteen before him, Styles really did wear the deflated denim muffin-top hat with swagger — so much that it made us reconsider our stance and maybe even want to wear one, too.

The newsboy cap, also known as a pageboy cap, flat cap, paddy cap, pub cap, or just a plain “peaky,” has a long history of sitting atop men’s heads. If you’ve never seen one in the wild before, it’s essentially a baseball cap made of wool, with an extra-long top that extends to its brim. As the name implies, the style was popular with newspaper boys in Europe and North America in the early-20th century. You can imagine its wearer saying something like, “Piss off, mee-stah!” or “Oy! You me dad!”

Over the years, the newsboy cap has retained its old-timey feel. Actors love it. It’s like the black turtleneck of accessories, giving the wearer a false sense of intellectualism. On a musician, it reads as folky. Harry Styles, for example, looks like he hopped out of a time machine and straight onto the back of a train car. On most average human beings, though, the hat just screams: “Dad.”

Yes, the newsboy cap is many things, but one thing it is not is sexy. Why, why then, do so many sexy men choose to wear them on their heads? It’s not like it’s keeping them warm. Do they want to look like ‘ye olde’ dads? Is that sexy? Take a look at the sexy evidence below to judge for yourself.

View
1 / 12 Photos
Brad Pitt and Baby Knox Jolie-Pitt both wearing newsboy caps. Photo: Junko Kimura/Getty Images
Leonardo DiCaprio wearing a newsboy cap on a Citi Bike. Photo: Team GT/GC Images
Oscar Isaac wearing a newsboy cap. Photo: Walter McBride/WireImage
Jon Hamm wearing a newsboy cap. Photo: © LAN/Corbis via Getty Images
Idris Elba wearing a newsboy cap. Photo: Kris Connor/Getty Images
Matthew McConaughey wearing a newsboy cap. Photo: Hollywood To You/Star Max/GC Images
David Beckham wearing a newsboy cap. Photo: Marc Piasecki/Getty Images
David Beckham’s son, Brooklyn Beckham, wearing a newsboy cap. Photo: Ricky Vigil Moran/GC Images
Ryan Gosling wearing a newsboy cap. Photo: Vera Anderson/WireImage
Bobby Cannavale wearing a newsboy cap. Photo: Ben Gabbe/Getty Images
Matthew Rhys wearing a newsboy cap. Photo: Walter McBride/Getty Images
Common and Ryan Reynolds wearing newsboy caps. Photo: Johnny Nunez/WireImage
1 / 12

Tags:

  • image gallery
  • gallery
  • fashion
  • style
  • hats
  • trend report
  • More

More Galleries

red carpet June 5, 2022
All the Best Looks at the 2022 MTV Movie and TV Awards  Sydney Sweeney, Vanessa Hudgens, Jay Ellis, and more! 
parties! May 20, 2022
The Bestest Party Looks of the Week  Harry Styles > everyone! 
parties! May 13, 2022
The Bestest Party Looks of the Week  Bury me in Dove Cameron’s Saint Sintra skirt. 
parties! May 6, 2022
The Bestest Party Looks of the Week  Cue the Met Gala after-party FOMO. 
met gala 2022 May 2, 2022
Met Gala 2022: All the Looks [Photos]  Billie Eilish, Kim Kardashian, Michelle Yeoh, Hailey Bieber, Megan Thee Stallion, Cardi B, Blake Lively, and more. 
parties! Apr. 29, 2022
The Bestest Party Looks of the Week  This one goes to Olivia Rodrigo and her sweater vest. 
parties! Apr. 22, 2022
The Bestest Party Looks of the Week  “Fuck those Zoom tops.” 
celebrity style Apr. 18, 2022
The Best Looks From Coachella 2022  From Harry Styles’s sparkling Gucci set to Megan Thee Stallion’s metallic bodysuit. 
style Apr. 13, 2022
A Look Inside the New Museum’s Spring Gala  Featuring all the best looks. 
grammys 2022 Apr. 3, 2022
Grammy Awards 2022 Red Carpet: All the Looks  Lady Gaga, Olivia Rodrigo, Lenny Kravitz, Lil Nas X, Billie Eilish, and more. 
oscars 2022 Mar. 28, 2022
How Were The Oscars After Party Looks Better Than The Actual Award Looks?  Finally, some fun. 
oscars 2022 Mar. 27, 2022
All the Looks From the 2022 Oscars Red Carpet  Zendaya, Regina Hall, Timothée Chalamet, Andrew Garfield, Kristen Stewart, Ariana DeBose, and more. 
style Mar. 22, 2022
Bridgerton Season 2 Premiere: All the Red-Carpet Looks 
style Mar. 13, 2022
BAFTAs 2022: All the Red-Carpet Looks  Florence Pugh, Daniel Kaluuya, Emma Watson, and more! 
celebrity fashion Mar. 6, 2022
Spirit Awards 2022: All the Red-Carpet Looks  Julia Fox, Andrew Garfield, Kristen Stewart, and more! 
Mar. 1, 2022
All of Rihanna’s Maternity Looks  From belly-baring looks to sexy leather dresses. 
Feb. 27, 2022
SAG Awards 2022: All the Red-Carpet Looks  Selena Gomez, Ariana Debose, Daveed Diggs, and more! 
paris couture week 2022 Jan. 27, 2022
Glenn Martens Wows As Guest Couturier for Gaultier Haute Couture It is a sight to behold.
By Vivian Chuang
Dec. 9, 2021
All the Looks From the And Just Like That … Red Carpet  Sarah Jessica Parker, Billy Eichner, Sara Ramirez, and more. 
style Nov. 29, 2021
Gotham Awards 2021: All the Red-Carpet Looks  Tessa Thompson! Kristen Stewart! And more. 
  • Style
  • Self
  • Culture
  • Power
  • Newsletters
  • About Us
  • Contact
  • Help
  • We’re Hiring
  • Press
  • Privacy
  • Terms
  • Ad Choices
  • Do Not Sell My Info
  • Accessibility
The Cut is a Vox Media Network. © 2022 Vox Media, LLC. All rights reserved.