bucket hat
/ˈbʌkɪt hæt/
CommonA soft, wide-brimmed hat with a downward-sloping brim all the way around, associated with hip-hop, rave culture, and 90s nostalgia.
Bucket hats cycle in and out of mainstream fashion but have a consistent home in hip-hop and festival culture. The same hat worn to a 90s hip-hop show and a current music festival.
| # | Example | What it means | Source |
|---|---|---|---|
| 01 | LL Cool J was putting people onto the bucket hat before any of us were born | LL Cool J helped popularize bucket hats in hip-hop long before the current trend. | tiktok, 2023 |
| 02 | every festival outfit I see this year has a bucket hat in it | Bucket hats are a dominant trend at music festivals. | instagram, 2024 |
| 03 | corduroy bucket hat for winter, cotton one for summer, that's the system | The person has a seasonal bucket hat rotation by material. | reddit, 2023 |
| 04 | Supreme bucket hat just dropped and it's already gone | The Supreme branded bucket hat sold out immediately after release. | x, 2024 |
Use it when
- Describing the round downward-brimmed hat style.
- Referencing hip-hop or festival headwear culture.
- Talking about 90s nostalgia in fashion.
Do not use it when
- You mean a structured baseball cap style.Use “fitted-cap” instead.
- You mean a wide-brimmed sun hat for outdoor utility.
Bucket hat vs dad hat
bucket hat
Bucket hat has a full 360 downward brim and a rounder crown, with stronger hip-hop and festival associations.
dad-hat
Dad hat has a forward-facing curved brim and a softer, more baseball-cap profile.
Origin and context
Originally used by Irish farmers and fishermen in the early 1900s. Adopted by the US military in the 1960s. Entered hip-hop culture in the 1980s through artists like LL Cool J and Run-DMC. Became a rave and festival staple in the 1990s and revived in mainstream fashion in the 2010s.
- First seen
- early-1900s
- Confidence
- medium
Cite this page
Use this stable URL to reference the entry.
https://slang.fyi/bucket-hat