Warning: Spoilers ahead for HBO’s Industry.
The opening scene of Industry’s third season begins not on the trading floor of Pierpoint & Co. but on the coast of Mallorca. A boat, the “Lady Yasmin,” bobs in the distance. The illusion of a joyous European holiday is quickly shattered, and we’re snapped back into the life of Yasmin Kara-Hanani, the striking, rich heiress to her father’s publishing empire.
In the second season of the HBO drama, most of the young employees of the fictional London-based investment bank continued on their respective paths, while Yasmin’s journey on the floor ended and her time in personal-wealth management began. With the career change came some explosive family drama, but it’s no secret that her strained relationship with her father is something she’s been dealing with her entire life.
Six weeks pass after we meet her on the boat, and Yasmin is in London, this time at the forefront of her father’s embezzlement scandal while he is nowhere to be found. Even though she’s been born into exuberant wealth, her father’s dark past continues to haunt her, whether he’s present or not. She’s back on the trading floor, shaking under the pressure of having to answer for her dad’s crimes. While her looks have always been her saving grace, she’s now forced to compromise them and hide, attempting to make herself as unattractive as possible to anyone willing to make a buck off of spotting her. After dodging the paparazzi, Yasmin scuttles into work, her choice of disguise a dark-gray baseball hat with the words “Cresta Run ’09 St Moritz” embroidered on the brim. Nearly every time Yasmin is outside or in a public space, the collar of her Burberry coat is tugged up high and the hat is perched firmly on her head.
For someone like Yasmin — whose initial character tagline was “Vulnerability disguised by Prada” and who regularly wears brands like Hermès — the addition of the baseball hat is a stark contrast to her usual couture style. She knows better than anyone that British tabloids, which are notoriously harsh, are especially cruel to young women. But for Yasmin’s attempt to avoid the public eye, this choice of headwear still feels a tad out of touch. Leave it to this nepo baby to think she’s ditching quiet luxury for something normcore, when in reality, the hat advertises a luxury resort town in Switzerland, a place I’d like to imagine the Kara-Hanani family probably frequently visited for holidays. Another layer: the hat’s Cresta Run emblem, which represents an elite toboggan run made of natural ice in St. Moritz.
What’s meant to be a casual accessory for Yasmin is one from a place so obscure it’s nearly impossible to find a purchasable replica online, unlike the Aimé Leon Dore x New York Yankees hat I think her New York counterpart might wear in a similar situation. While Yasmin may want to run from her past, she either can’t let it go or simply doesn’t know how — a habit I hope we get to see affecting her future on the trading floor and beyond.
