In the words of the late, great Nietzsche (sure it was him): "never underestimate the power of a cap". Because, in just one bad hair day, you've the ability to totally manipulate the perceptions of a very judgy world. Stamp a subtle designer brand on a baseball cap, and you're a high-low king. Go red and jingoistic, and you can inspire a far right movement. Go for a flat cap, and you're an immediate Peaky Blinders fan. Matt Damon however hasn't fully realised this power yet.
Leaving his home in LA, the 50-year-old was pictured by sleb-starved photographers in a cap that can create the illusion of a workwear sage. This trucker cap is from Pike Place Fish Market, which (after a cursory Google search) is a popular go-to for all things subaqueous and delicious in Seattle, Washington. And it looks really good.
In the vein of Hugh Jackman's accidentally great dog walking sweatshirt, it's a trinket that cements consumer merch from unexpected places as fashion apparel proper. Struggling drinking holes and restaurants, like London's Taiwanese hotpot Bao, and Harry's New York Bar, have made up for the Covid-induced shortfall with limited edition T-shirts – and gained a foothold in a saturated menswear market. Vintage Lakers jerseys are valuable players on Depop. Even the NHS scored a hypey sell-out thanks to a charitable crossover with Blacksmith. And the biggest grail from the collection, you ask? A baseball cap.
Damon's plug of Pike Place sits firmly within the workwear camp. Trucker caps, once sullied by early-Noughties brand Von Dutch (and bootleggers with disastrously-named 'Von Bitch' patches), are on the ascendance again. Though in 2020, they're more practical, less Paris Hilton. This stuff isn't changed for menswearheads. You'll find worker jackets and the like on actual carpenters and the graphic designers who emulate them. Nothing is changed, workwear remains functional, Pike Place Fish Market becomes an unintentional hype shop.
Well, not just yet. A single trucker cap does not a Mecca make. But just as consumer merch accidentally finds itself with a vault full of menswear currency, Damon, perhaps accidentally, became a man with A Very On-Trend cap. Plus, it's pretty dadcore, and that's always been a bit cool.
See! Powerful stuff!
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