When you wear hats a lot like me, you want to change the look of a hat to keep it looking fresh and stylish. Here are some how to hats tips to change the look of a hat to make it look like a new hat without having to own a ton of hats.

If you follow me on Instagram, you probably know how much I love hats. I wear them a lot! Hats are a stylish way of protecting your skin from the sun and they add a chic element to any outfit. They’re also invaluable on bad hair days! Anyone else who has weather affected hair like mine knows what I’m talking about.

woman wearing a summer hat.

Since I wear hats a lot, I like to change them up a bit. Therefore, I’m sharing 5 easy ways to temporarily change the look of a hat. I say temporarily because any of these can be removed when you want without ruining the hat. There are more permanent ways of changing the look of a hat by gluing on embellishments or bands. I like to change up the look often, so the temporary ways work best for me.

Hat with belt around it

What type of Hat Can You Apply These Style Tips?

Any fully brimmed hat this has little to no embellishment. If a hat has a band, you can accessorize over the band. Straw hats are perfect for accessorizing. You can also change the look of hats made of felt, wool, polyester, cotton, and bamboo.

These tips don’t work well on hats with only a front brim like baseball caps or baker boy caps. And most of these tips don’t work well on hats with no brim like berets or ski hats. The exception is adding a pin to a beret is very doable.

Change the Look of a Hat with these 5 Styling Tips

1. Add elasticized necklaces

I like 2 or 3 or more, but you could add just one if you prefer. The reason the necklaces should be elasticized is if you bend over your necklaces won’t slip off the hat. They should fit snugly around your hat. I added a set of 4 to my hat as you can see in the photo. These necklaces are 16”.

Change the look of a hat by adding elasticized necklaces.

2. Tie a Scarf Around it

This is very simple. You can use a variety of lengths of scarves. The longer ones you can wrap around twice. The way I tie them is a square knot in the back. A square knot is right over left, and left over right. Then, I tuck the tails under the scarf. If you prefer you can tie a bow instead of a square knot.

Change the look of hat with a scarf.

3. Add a Pin

You can either pin to a band that’s already on the hat or you can put the pin through the holes of a straw hat.

Change the look of a hat by adding a pin.

4. Add a Hair clip

You can clip an allegator clip over a band on a hat. Try a rhinestone clip for some pretty bling.

5. Fasten a belt Around

A belt can look good wrapped around a hat. Chain belts work well. Just be careful when you bend over because if the belt is not tight, it may fall off.

Change the look of a hat by fastening a belt around it.

Bonus Tip

You can combine any of the accessories. An example is tie a scarf around the hat to create a band and then add a pin to embellish it more.

How to Change the Look of a Hat for a Dressier Outfit

Any of these accessories can be casual or dressy. For example, a sheer or metallic scarf can dress up the look of a hat. Also tying the scarf in a bow or allowing the tails to fall over the brim of the hat tends to look dressier than the tucked square knot. 

For necklaces, pins and hair clips, if you want to create a dressed up look, consider rhinestones, crystals or pearls.

How to Accessorize a Hat in a Casual Way

Tying a a cotton bandana scarf around the hat is quite casual. To style a hat with a silky scarf in a casual way, use a smaller scarf so the band is fairly narrow. Tie in a square knot and tuck in the tails.

Accessorize a hat with a bandana for a casual look.

For a casual look with a necklace, mixed color beads are great. For a casual pin look, it’s possible to use a pin made of a leather-like fabric or some other fabric.

Change the Look of a Hat When You Travel so You Can Pack Less Hats

These hat tips are great for travel! Hats are difficult to pack for trips, so if you can bring just one hat that you can carry on the plane or whatever type of transportation you’re taking, that’s often best. Then, with the tips of changing the look of the hat, you can create a variety of looks with one plain hat. The accessories used to change up the look of the hat don’t take up much space in your suitcase.

How Much Does It Cost to Accessorize Your Hats?

Tie a scarf around a hat for a different look.

It may not cost you anything. You may have accessories in your closet or jewelry box already that will work well on a hat.

If you buy the accessories, you don’t have to buy expensive items. Elasticized necklaces are generally inexpensive. Even the little plastic multi-color seed bead necklaces look great for a casual look on a hat. Pins are something you might be able to pick up at a thrift store. Unless pins are currently trendy to wear on a blazer or top, I’ve found the thrift stores tend to have a generous supply.

And, if you’re crafty, you can make your own bands for your hats. An elasticized strand of pearls, rhinestones or beads is relatively easy to make. You could also DIY a hair clip or a pin backing.

Hat Options

I have included affiliate links below to some hats. That means if you buy something after clicking one of my links I receive a commission, at no extra cost to you. This helps support my site so I can offer more free content to you. Thank you!

Summer is here so pull out your straw hat and get creative styling it in different ways! 

If you’re looking to buy a summer hat, there are cute hats in straw hats and fabric hats . Below are a few options. Once you find your summer hat, style it with the 5 tips above to change the look of a hat.

Have fun!

straw hat
black straw hat
Straw hat on woman.

For more how to style posts, you might like to read How to Style Clothes You Already Have in New Ways

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