Pussy Power Hat thumbnail 1
Not currently on display at the V&A

Pussy Power Hat

2017
Artist/Maker
Place of origin

This knitted pink hat was worn by one of the estimated 500,000 people who took part in the Women’s March on Washington on 21 January 2017, the day after US President Donald Trump’s inauguration.

This hat was knitted by Jayna Zweiman, Los Angeles based co-founder of the Pussyhat Project. The Pussyhat Project initiators encouraged people to knit hats from a simple pattern disseminated online, and either wear it to the march or donate it to others marching.

The project aimed to turn the Women’s March into a ‘sea of pink’, a striking visual statement of solidarity. The hat’s cat ear design is in part a response to the infamous recording of Trump, released during the 2016 US presidential election campaign, in which he claimed to ‘grab [women] by the pussy’, a claim he later put down to ‘locker room banter’.

The project started at the Little Knittery yarn store in LA before gaining global popularity as people shared the pattern and photos of their hats on websites such as Ravelry and Instagram.

The pussy hat was acquired as part of Rapid Response Collecting.


Object details

Categories
Object type
Materials and techniques
The object has been knitted by hand
Brief description
Knitted 'Pussy Power hat', Jayna Zweiman, 2017
Dimensions
  • Width: 240mm (Note: Top width)
  • Width: 220mm (Note: Bottom width)
  • Height: 200mm
Production typeUnique
Gallery label
From The Future Starts Here Pussy Power Hat Pussyhat Project 2017 A KNITTING PATTERN THAT DEFIED A PRESIDENT In January 2017, over 500,000 people took part in the Women’s March on Washington to protest the inauguration of US President Donald Trump. Before the event, participants were encouraged to download a basic open-source knitting pattern to create their own pink pussyhat to wear at the event. The pussyhat, a response to Trump’s boast of grabbing women ‘by the pussy’, became an internationally recognised symbol of female solidarity against the President’s administration. Knitted wool Pussyhat Project founded by Jayna Zweiman and Krista Suh, pattern designed by Kat Coyle, knitted by Jayna Zweiman V&A: CD.5-2017 (May 2018)
Credit line
Given by Song Oh
Summary
This knitted pink hat was worn by one of the estimated 500,000 people who took part in the Women’s March on Washington on 21 January 2017, the day after US President Donald Trump’s inauguration.

This hat was knitted by Jayna Zweiman, Los Angeles based co-founder of the Pussyhat Project. The Pussyhat Project initiators encouraged people to knit hats from a simple pattern disseminated online, and either wear it to the march or donate it to others marching.

The project aimed to turn the Women’s March into a ‘sea of pink’, a striking visual statement of solidarity. The hat’s cat ear design is in part a response to the infamous recording of Trump, released during the 2016 US presidential election campaign, in which he claimed to ‘grab [women] by the pussy’, a claim he later put down to ‘locker room banter’.

The project started at the Little Knittery yarn store in LA before gaining global popularity as people shared the pattern and photos of their hats on websites such as Ravelry and Instagram.

The pussy hat was acquired as part of Rapid Response Collecting.
Collection
Accession number
CD.5-2017

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Record createdFebruary 6, 2017
Record URL
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