Field Notes

In 2014, Pharrell Williams walked onto the Grammy stage wearing an oversized felt hat that instantly became a viral sensation. But behind the memes and fast-food chain jokes was a story decades in the making, one that began with Vivienne Westwood’s radical 1982 Nostalgia of Mud collection, passed through Malcolm McLaren’s hip-hop collaborations, and found new life in Pharrell’s homage to street culture and avant-garde fashion. This article traces the Buffalo hat’s unlikely journey from the runways of punk-era London to hip-hop’s golden age, and from there to the red carpet, museum exhibitions, and the annals of pop-culture history.