MANHATTAN — Following DNAinfo.com's coverage of Fashion Week, which noted the knit hat was an eye-catching accessory among attendees, Street Chic hit New York's wintery streets in search of the winter’s statement knit hats, and found a few striking pattern combinations and texture pairings.
The downtown Fashion Week showing of Degen Fall 2013 revealed knit hats with a particular panache for vertical silhouettes, high-contrast color blocking and pom-poms. The knit-interlock was fairly tight with a ribbed detail still allowing the fiber to show through.
Hand-knit weaves with a large bold fiber were the strongest looks Street Chic noted, with colors stuck closely to neutral and muted hues — burgundy, blue-gray, sienna, cement and subtle rose. The knit hat trend is a continuation of the recurring grunge redub in fashion, which is forecast to continue into next fall.
The streetwear vibe with this accessory is its role in a mélange of textures and prints including a few very eye-catching monochromatic looks.
Silhouettes ranged from the hooded to the dome and the unstructured slouch. A knit hooded look highlighting a wonderful mix of patterns in cobalt, gray and yellow was spotted on graphic designer Ian Kleinman in the West Village.
Street Chic also saw the hat worn under the hood of a black faux fur-trimmed parka and a well-coiled hand-knit scarf adding a touch of muted rose to a very urban monochromatic look.
The strongest monochromatic fashions were spotted in SoHo, where a three-quarter length, sleeve-shirred mink jacket in steely grey was paired with long black leather gloves, blue jeans and a dome-shaped blue-gray knit hat. On Broadway heading toward Union Square, we spotted a wonderful ensemble in shades of ivory suede and shearling, a look reminiscent of many of the outerwear styles worn by the attendees at the Manhattan Vintage Clothing Show earlier in February. The hand-knit hat paired with this look was a large-gauge weave hooded look, a striking and bold silhouette resembling a helmet.
Street Chic would be remiss not to mention the black knits worn by the clothes-conscious urban dweller; we very much liked the head-to-toe Ralph Lauren look, highlighting the little hat silhouette and the fitted knit hat with a pom-pom, Ray Bans and a military inspired coat.
