Lampshade hats—or sun bonnets—are being called “the hat of the summer.” They are also becoming associated with conservative fashion across TikTok, with some going so far as to label them “fascist” and “MAGA coded,” and others just straight up trolling the aesthetic by slapping literal lampshades on their skulls. The rise of these hats reflects an undercurrent of hyper-feminine and nostalgic aesthetics, and like many wellness and fashion trends on TikTok over the last few years, it is tangled up in the algorithmic spread of conservative ideology disguised as lifestyle inspo.
The bonnets themselves are pleated sun hats that were popularized by Australian designer Lorna Murray. Selling for upwards of $225, they began trending after Kathy Hilton gifted one to each of her Real Housewives of Beverly Hills castmates in an episode last fall (“It’s very big in the South of France,” said Hilton).
Critics are comparing the lampshade bonnets to the ones worn by handmaids in The Handmaid’s Tale. TikTok creator and “trend anti-forecaster” @saltlacroix included them in an April 25 video titled “Random things I think are MAGA coded.”
“The f*ck*ss Lorna Murray lampshade Handmaid’s Tale hat…I am fascinated that something can be simultaneously Australian in origin and deeply southern. MAGA buyers beware that this hat actually does double as birth control and you can take that up with the lord.”
“Anyone else on Republican women lampshade Tok?” asked @verifiedbluecheckmarc in a TikTok video with over 60K likes from April 26, 2025.
@verifiedbluecheckmarc Talk about fetch #lornamurray ♬ original sound – SeatGeek: ITSBETTERLIVE $20off
Comments spanning TikTok under searches for “lampshade hat” (and the related searches TikTok suggested: “Republican lampshade hat” and “Republican bonnet hat”) tie the hat to this dystopia, regardless of whether the video endorsed it or roasted it.
As writer @officialnancydrew pointed out, these prairie or lampshade bonnets “were often worn by upper-middle class women and upper-class women in general because they didn’t want to be tanned by the sun, because that showcased that they were upper class and that they had status.”
“In current times, this is giving Handmaid’s Tale. It’s giving repression of women.”
@officialnancydrew bonnets are the hat of the summer, i am not surprised lol. i write about this topic more of fashion trends and internet aesthetics relating to this on my substack, so if youd like to hear more from me please head there! #lornamurray #fashiontrends #fashiontiktok ♬ original sound – lindsey louise
The comparison might feel a bit extreme until you remember that TikTok’s algorithm (and every social media platform’s algorithm) doesn’t just serve up fashion inspo, it creates pipelines. A young woman who starts following luxury lifestyle accounts may find herself quickly falling into stay-at-home-girlfriend content, then SkinnyTok inspo, then Tradwife aesthetic tutorials and aspirational homesteading and homeschooling videos, ending up fully indoctrinated into alt-right ideology. (Related: 9 out of 10 of the top ten online shows are right-leaning.)
It’s also no coincidence that the aesthetic surge of sundresses and prairie hats is happening parallel to a rollback in civil rights. It makes sense that the lampshade bonnet is becoming shorthand for a certain ideology. Kathy Hilton is a registered Republican who went to President Donald Trump’s Super Bowl party in 2022, and rather than serving as a deterrent, the hat’s $225 price point reframes the aesthetic from quirky beachwear to aspirational femininity at a time when a third of Americans are living paycheck to paycheck.
It doesn’t really matter that the hat’s designer is Australian or whether the women wearing it are intending to project a message. Fashion is a visual language, and that language has always been political.
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