Y2K Hat

For a few years the cap was the most expensive thing on a 2000s head and the cheapest, at the same time: Von Dutch trucker hats on every celebrity, five-dollar mesh copies at every gas station. Y2K Hat gathers fourteen Y2K caps and winter hats, from the trucker joke and the city fitted to the studded, horned and fur-wrapped versions the mall-goth and McBling corridors added.

Trucker and City Caps — Mesh Backs, Collegiate Type and Scratched Script

The Sicko Cap is the Y2K trucker hat exactly: foam front, mesh back, an absurd slogan, the Ashton Kutcher object. The Compton Cap stacks its city in bold collegiate type, the rap fitted on a cap. The Camo Baseball Cap stitches a confident claim over woodland print; the Streetwear Cap tags scratched gothic script across the crown, the Y2K cap of the skate park. The Vintage Baseball Cap fades a star patch into a soft wash, the Star Cap distresses a denim-look crown, the worn-in pair that looks found rather than bought.

Hardware and Rhinestone Caps — Studs, Spikes, Butterflies and Flames

The Studded Cap covers the crown in a full grid of metal pyramids; the Y2K Studded Cap lines it in rainbow spikes. The Rhinestone Baseball Cap lands a single oversized crystal butterfly on the front, the McBling cap, the one for a rhinestone belt and a baby tee. The Flame Cap licks hot-rod fire up from a bold red base. The Horn Cap points two small sculptural horns from the crown, the plainest cap turned into a silhouette. These are the streetwear caps that replace jewelry: with one on, the rest of the head stays bare.

Winter Y2K Hats — Sherpa, Chapka and Trapper

The 2000s wore winter hats in any weather. The Sherpa Cap wraps a baseball shape in soft winter pile. The Chapka Hat signs cursive across a fur trapper front; the Y2K Trapper Hat keeps the full winter coverage plain and functional. Fur flaps down over a puffer in January, flaps up over a hoodie in October, worn indoors either way: the trapper was the decade's unlikeliest streetwear hat and the most photographed one.

How the 2000s Wore a Cap — Brim Flat, Tilted, Over a Beanie

Trucker hats sat high on the head, brim curved, slightly off-center. Fitteds and city caps went brim flat, sticker on, pulled low, the Y2K hat men wore to the show. Studded and rhinestone caps went straight and centered so the hardware read. The skate park wore a cap over a beanie in winter; the McBling side wore it with hair pulled through the back and tiny sunglasses on the brim. Trapper and sherpa went with a puffer and a chain. A Y2K cap finished the outfit from above the way the belt finished it from the middle.

Why the Cap Defined 2000s Headwear — Von Dutch, Fitteds and the Mall Spinning Rack

The trucker hat's 2004 moment came from Von Dutch and the paparazzi, and it collapsed as fast as it rose, which is exactly why it is Y2K. The fitted cap came from rap and the baseball stadium and never collapsed at all. The mall added the studs, the rhinestones and the slogans on a spinning rack by the register. Y2K hats today are any of those three: the joke, the city or the hardware, worn with the brim deciding which decade you mean.