When it comes to covering fall fashion in Hawaii, for me it’s once and done. I can talk trends ’til my mouth cramps, but due to the yearlong summer — the mercury just started to drop last week — people take one look and keep on wearing what they’ve worn all year. I’m guilty of sitting out the season as well.

But there’s one item that’s easy to wear, adds a touch of fall style and glamour to your casual summer look and transcends the season to take you into spring: a hat. The fedora, which made its way from celebrity heads to the street years ago, continues its streak, but by now all those accustomed to donning the hat might be ready to graduate to more daring wide-brimmed styles, and designers are providing plenty of options.

A new generation is discovering the romantic and feminine appeal of the large-brimmed hat last popular in the 1970s.

Gucci referenced the ’70s in a collection that featured banded wide-brimmed hats in a rich palette ranging from turquoise to yellow ochre. Stylist Rachel Zoe, famous for her 1970s boho glam look, hails the floppy hat one of five essential accessories.

No doubt designers found inspiration in the fashion icons of the early ’70s as well, from Brigitte Bardot and Cher to a bevy of Rolling Stones muses including Bianca Jagger, Anita Pallenberg and Marianne Faithfull. Who could forget the white, veiled picture hat Bianca paired with a white Yves Saint Laurent jacket during her wedding to Mick Jagger in 1971?

The men of the Stones were no slouches in the hat department, either, donning everything from fedoras to top hats and Renaissance-style caps.

Stateside, the pimp look of a spate of 1970s blaxploitation films — from "Superfly" to "Black Caesar" and spoof films like "Black Dynamite " — also fueled the market for fedoras and floppy hats with feather flourishes.

The large-brimmed hats call for a wearer who’s not afraid to let her outfit scream, "Look at me!" when she enters a room. Model Ashley Casper fits the bill, explaining her comfort with attention by saying, "I’m a Leo.

"I feel so glamorous in a hat, and Hawaii has the perfect excuse to wear them. You can wear them as sun protection when you’re at the beach and wear them in the evening for a glamorous look," she said.

"At night it’s the perfect accessory because it really stands out as opposed to a piece of jewelry. A hat always makes the room."

The wide-brimmed hat is easier to wear than one expects, able to dress up anything from a blazer to maxidress to a basic denim and tee pairing.

AS FOR FINDING the courage to don a hat, take a lesson from presentation coach Pam Chambers, who wasn’t always a confident public speaker.

"I was a shy, introverted person who wouldn’t have worn anything that singled me out for attention. I wouldn’t have worn anything that made me stand out, from the time I was 3 to 27."

She said EST (Erhard Seminars Training) changed her life by making her responsible for her life’s direction and awakening her to the fact that "I didn’t want to go through life being scared and shy and timid."

She’d grown up in Southern California but took up wearing hats while in school in San Francisco as a matter of keeping her head warm. She became accustomed to having a hat on her head and continued wearing them even after moving to Hawaii.

Now she never leaves the house without one of her 40 hats, to the point where "people seem surprised or even somewhat disturbed when they see me without a hat. They say, ‘I almost didn’t recognize you! Where’s your hat?’

"I’ve always admired women who wore hats, like Jackie Onassis and Audrey Hepburn, even men’s hats, like Marlene Dietrich," Chambers said. "I feel like a hat completes my outfit, and I feel they protect me somehow. Maybe I think it’s a helmet or something."

Chambers constantly hears laments from others who say, "I don’t have the nerve to wear a hat," or, "Hats don’t look good on me," but she says it’s worthwhile to keep trying until finding one suitable to one’s face and body frame.

One of her favorite places to shop is Catherine’s Closet, at 125 Merchant St., with vintage hats spanning several decades to the present.

Chambers said she’s elated many more youths, inspired by music and celebrities, are picking up hats.

"I see more men wearing hats, and I just love it. I wish more of them would wear hats. I think it makes them look so handsome. When I see them I always say, ‘I love your hat,’ and they always tip their head and touch the brim. It’s kind of like a little salute. It’s a return to civility."