Okay, I can’t believe I’m saying this, but a bathing cap can look fabulous. An actual bathing cap, people. What comes next? Braces? That might sound like a rhetorical question, but I fear that Marc Jacobs might come up with something next season that will make everybody swoon over metallic bits and pieces. What I’m trying to say is that there are some things in life that are sometimes inevitable and in the same time both terrifying and unbelievably atrocious in our eyes. Braces and bathing capes (alliteration not intended) are definitely figuring in this category. Nobody really wants to subject himself to either of these. Sometimes there is just no way around it. Like when you are a kid and the teacher is merciless when it comes to the rules of his swimming class. Putting the damn thing on is not torture enough, the true humiliation lies in seeing and being seen by your classmates. Everybody, including you, is looking utterly ridiculous. If you have scored some level of coolness until then, you can erase the board. There is nothing left. Understandably the bathing cap has no fervent advocates besides old ladies and synchronized swimmers.

All of a sudden you find yourself saying something that quite honestly borders insanity: the cap has a beautiful vintage appeal and Keira Knightley does make it look like a thousand dollars. That poor kid is quite eager to slap you with his rubber headpiece. What is wrong with you? I can tell you what happened: you watched Atonement yet another time and you can’t help yourself. That’s what great styling is capable of.

Image: Atonement