A $250 Straw Hat Is the Choicest Sunblock Money Can Buy

There’s no such thing as a neutral hat, or so the saying goes, and never are the sartorial stakes higher than in summer. Hot days demand a topper that blocks the sun without locking in the temperature. Enter Janessa Leoné, an English major-turned-designer whose eponymous Los Angeles-based brand sells straw fedoras, boaters, and more that are handwoven in the U.S. Her $250 Eloise hat is wide enough at the brim to offer shade—or privacy, for the chic introvert—but light enough to give it a breathability normally achieved by mesh alone.

• With prices starting at $49, Wyeth, also based in L.A., has a wide variety of beach hats and crushable derbies with sweet details like raffia crochet strips and grosgrain ribbons.