Flip it and reverse it: what JFK Jr’s backwards cap signals today

Within the first 20 minutes of Love Story, John F Kennedy Jr is shown wearing five different caps: a Kangol flat cap as he cycles to a newspaper kiosk in uptown NYC to read the latest headlines about himself, a Yankees cap as he runs topless on a treadmill and a navy baseball cap as he joins his mother, Jacqueline, for dinner, where she promptly reminds him “no hats at the table, please”.

Hounded by the paparazzi and tabloid press who nicknamed him “The Hunk” and more often than not “The Hunk Who Flunked”, he might have used hats to go incognito, but he preferred to wear his backwards, pulling the cap downwards over his signature flop of lush black hair and leaving his full face on view.

Just as silk slip dresses became synonymous with Carolyn Bessette, the backwards cap has come to signify Kennedy Jr’s personal style.

United States, New York City

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