John Lennon wore many hats in his lifetime, both literally and metaphorically. John was a musician, an artist, an activist, and much more. He was also a style icon, with fans worldwide desperate to imitate his many and varied looks. However, perhaps the most famous of all John Lennon's hats is the leather cap he debuted in 1964.

The leather cap – known varying as the Lennon hat, Bakerboy cap, and more – was designed by Helen Anderson, a childhood friend of Lennon and his first wife, Cynthia. Anderson was a fashion designer by trade and spent the first half of the swinging sixties living and working in Rome for the celebrated fashion house Sorelle Fontana after graduating from the Liverpool College of Art, where she studied with John Lennon. Nice work if you can get it.

Eventually, the siren song of the Mersey tempted Helen Anderson home. She opened a boutique in Liverpool, and the Lennon's were among her regular customers. In this very shop, Anderson created the first trademark leather cap for John. She assumed that, like many of John Lennon's hats, it would be worn for a while, then quietly retired in favour of another new look. Instead, almost six decades later, the legacy of the leather cap made famous by Help! lives on.  

Over the years, Anderson received countless requests to create replicas of the leather cap. In reality, production on these replicas began as soon as 1964. John Lennon's hats had a famously short lifespan on the head of their intended owner, as John was mobbed by adoring fans everywhere he went. This, naturally, resulted in countless items of headwear – including the original leather cap – being snatched and stolen, never to be seen again.

Of course, Anderson replaced the leather cap, with most people assuming it was the same item seen from one occasion to the next. Over the years, she was also asked to create replica leather caps for sale to the general public. Of all John Lennon's hats, this seemed to be the one that really captured the imagination of the masses.

Considering that the leather cap was created long before the laser cutting days, instead crafted by hand, it was a big ask for Helen Anderson to mass-produce the design alongside her other duties. Since 2017, though, new versions of the leather cap have been made and hand-finished in Helen's Liverpool boutique. A small handful are left, so if you're keen to embrace the legacy of John Lennon hats, place an order now!