The Pop Culture Pundit

Lady Gaga. Carrie Bradshaw. Joe in You. These are just some of the people or characters that have embraced wearing iconic hats over the years. Well, it seems if there’s one show that should join in on the trend, it’s Law and Order: Organized Crime. As a show that features its main character Elliot Stabler, played by Christopher Meloni, going deep undercover in various organizations/cults/etc., wearing hats makes perfect sense: he’s putting on different personas, so why not have each undercover look be a bold fashion statement? 

In general, the most successful or enduring procedurals seem to have a unique calling card. Will Trent has its adorable, scene-stealing chihuahua Betty. Magnum P.I. had Tom Selleck’s mustache. And 9-1-1 is known for its insane dispatch calls, including a beenado (which is literally a tornado of bees. Now I have something new to live in my nightmares!) With this in mind, it is time for Law and Order: Organized Crime to bring something new to the table. Sure, there’s the ever-present, seemingly endless, will-they-or-won’t-they relationship tease between Olivia Benson (Mariska Hargitay) and Elliot Stabler–but that’s nothing new. The Law and Order franchise has never had any show-stopping fashion moments (at least to my knowledge; it is physically impossible for one person to binge almost 70 seasons worth of television in one day), but now is the time to take risks, especially as a new season of Organized Crime premieres this Thursday. 

Watching Organized Crime I’ve noticed two things: the first is Dylan McDermott was the best villain the series had and needs to come back after FBI: Most Wanted closes its final case on CBS this spring. The second is that Christopher Meloni wears a lot of hats and the show really needs to emphasize this fashion statement. 

Let’s take a look, shall we? 

In the season 2 promo for Organized Crime, we get Meloni-as-Stabler pulling off as own Joe-in-You moment with a nondescript baseball hat: 

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Then, later that season, we get this fun little number: 

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Now, those are two distinct hats, which we absolutely need more of. But we also need more emphasis on the fact that Elliot Stabler is a trendsetter with his default hat. 

What’s Elliot’s default hat, you ask? This well-worn, black beanie, that he wears in many, many, scenes. Case in point:

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He even rocks it in the opening credits:

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Throughout the series, it seems other characters begin to catch onto the fact that this is Stabler’s favorite hat–in fact, so much so that they begin to copy him. Perhaps they are doing this subconsciously, without noticing, or perhaps they want to get promoted and are mirroring Stabler’s fashion choices to give them a better shot. We may never know, but what do we know? The other characters can rock it just as well: 

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Law and Order: Organized Crime has a secret weapon it needs to emphasize: all its characters have hat heads, and given that these characters go undercover on a regular basis, they can use this to their advantage. We could have Stabler rocking a fedora. Jet (Ainsley Seiger) could wear a bucket hat. They could all go undercover in France and wear berets! In a season 3 episode, someone tells Stabler to wear a hard hat–sure, they’re at a construction site, so it’s probably out of necessity, but there’s no doubt it would also be a stylish look. 

While broadcast procedurals are not often known for their over-the-top fashion statements, one example jumps out: Psych. Specifically, the episode “Black and Tan: A Crime of Fashion,” where main characters Shawn and Gus go undercover as fashion models. They don increasingly silly outfits throughout the episode, including one where Shawn turns a matching scarf-and-beanie look into a show-stopping fashion statement. While Psych is a very silly show (it’s about a fake psychic solving crimes for the Santa Barbara Police Department), and Organized Crime is decidedly not a silly show (the amount of main characters killed off!), the latter could embrace some light-hearted moments to add moments of levity. 

Recently, the drama Will Trent used this exact technique: when its titular character was undercover in a cult and drugged by the cult leader, the ensuing drug-fueled dream sequence turned into a 70s disco rave, complete with a choreographed Donna Summer-soundtracked song-and-dance number– with colorful fits for all the main characters. The fact that Will Trent was able to combine a dramatic moment with a more lighthearted one, in part due to its use of unique fashion choices that contrast with the show’s normally-muted palette made it stand out. If Law and Order: Organized Crime does the same thing, maybe it will run as long as its counterpart Law and Order: SVU (or even the original Law and Order). In a world with many, many nondescript baseball caps, Law and Order: Organized Crime could stand out from the crowd and be one of Sarah Jessica Parker’s many Met Gala hats from over the years. With the upcoming season 5, we can see if my hat hopes are realized. If not, there’s always season 6–Peacock, I’m making my plea for renewal now!

Season 5 of Law and Order: Organized Crime premieres Thursday, April 17.