CORY REYNOLDS | DATE 9/30/2017

What are the possible meanings of the Bucket Hat? MoMA reveals all in 'Items: Is Fashion Modern?'

The Bucket Hat. Sixties sit-com character Gilligan wore it. Seven Samurai director Akira Kurasawa wore it. Paddington Bear wore it. And here, members of the South African Rozary Productions pantsula dance crew wear it in Johannesburg, 2014. Analyzing the hat, known as ispoti in South Africa, Items: Is Fashion Modern? contributor quotes Wanda Lephoto of the Johannesburg design collective, the Sartists: “There are several types of fold[s] regarding ispoti: one to the front, one to the back and several to the sides. . . . These attitudes are usually based on ‘gangster’ mannerisms and wanting to appear as ‘hardcore,’ for lack of a better word.”