Hat

For the American designer Isaac Mizrahi, fashion and fun are two deeply inextricable concepts. This ideology is reflected in the title of his autumn/winter 2009–10 collection, “Smile.” He included several colorways of this suede and leather handbag-hat on the runway, introducing some levity during a moment of anxiety following the global financial crisis of 2008. The nature of the object is contradictory: it is simultaneously functional and impractical, speaking to Mizrahi’s playfulness and ongoing interest in using design as an outlet for commentary and cultural engagement.