Thick in the middle of the monsoons, we've been having a heady fashion summer this year, no? The sun hat at Wimbledon, the MAGA baseball cap at Trump rallies, the sun visor on people so posh they won't be caught getting photographed. And now bandanas flying around, with Alia Bhatt even creating the bandana 'n' lehenga combo that's being hailed as the unexpected boho twist. The humble rag becomes couture, and suddenly everyone's pretending they've known it all along.

On the surface, these are 'mere' accessories, bits of fabric or material on the head, shading us from the sun. But fashion is never only about fabric or function. Post-pandemic, nobody wanted to go straight from the intimacy of face masks to a bare, naked face. A halfway house felt necessary. Cover the mouth, then cover the eyes, and the forehead becomes the new stage for cultural meaning.

Four items - sun hat, cap, visor, bandana - all shading the brow, yet each under a different sky. So, do you know your head rules?

∙ Sun hat Main character energy: Catherine Windsor a.k.a. Princess of Wales nee Kate Middleton.

Wimbledon is as much about millinery as it is about match points. The wide-brimmed linen sun hat reigns - effortless, moneyed, and deeply exclusionary. Catherine's poised return to public duty after illness was greeted with applause for her hats as much as her health, making it about personal as well as titled grace. Each brim also whispered approvingly: she's one step closer to the crown.

But hang on, the sunhat is not all gentle femininity. It's also the accessory of cigar-clutching old boys who will bore you to death on the distinction between a Panama and a Fedora. Hedge funds, whisky, cigars, hats - all props in the same dusty theatre of masculine gatekeeping.

Side character energy: Melania Trump a.k.a. FLOTUS, whose inaugural hat was seen as less Jackie Kennedy and more MAGA cosplay of European royalty.

∙ Baseball Cap Main character energy: Donald Trump a.k.a. Orange-utan. He shows off the merchandise to visiting heads of state, and the red cap breaks yet another market record.

The baseball cap has completed its evolution from sporty casual to blunt instrument. MAGA caps are less accessory than uniform: militaristic minimalism in six stitched panels. The genius - if you'd like to call it that - of the MAGA baseball cap is its violence through simplicity. A single colour, a single slogan, and suddenly your forehead is a billboard. Assertive, masculine, aggressive, it's the crash helmet of populism.

Side character energy: MAGA supporter. Wear one and you belong to the tribe. Refuse one and you're the enemy. Sun protection has nothing to do with it. Protection from liberals - everything.

∙ Sun Visor Main character energy: fashionistas.

This year US lifestyle mag Town & Country gave it its editorial blessing. Which means the visor is now luxury with a wink. Rihanna is an early backer of the visor. It claims gender neutrality, androgyny, irony.... But in truth, it only signals that you have the time to play under the midday sun while others are in office cubicles.

Neither full hat nor bare head, hovering somewhere in fashion limbo, visor is the ultimate pretence: privileged, yet feigning sportiness, casual yet screaming leisure time. And also ironic if it wishes.

Side character energy: boring corporates golfing in Gurgaon once the water has drained away.

∙ Bandana Main character energy: Alia Bhatt, the new golden girl of high fashion brands.

The bandana has lived many lives: the Bombay bhai's scarf, gang member's badge, cowboy's dust shield, rapper's signature... It has been rebellion knotted in cotton. And sometimes the same square of cloth is high fashion.

It refuses to stay put. Headscarf, forehead wrap, neckerchief, wrist tie - it can be rough, delicate, ironic, or romantic, depending on how you tie the knot. Informal but intentional, it's global street style in one cheap square, endlessly available yet newly subversive each season. As a drape closest to the traditional Indian style of the chunni, it is rebellion rebranded.

Side character energy: Lalu Prasad Yadav, spotted one winter with a Burberry tied around his head like a milkman.