The master milliner speaks! The Financial Times's Nicola Copping has an article about the Victoria & Albert Museum's new hattery exhibit, Hats: An Anthology by Stephen Jones. Brownie points to any mad hatters who go visit and can give us a report back on how mad the hattering really is at the V&A! For the rest of us, here's a link to the exhibit at the museum website -- I would pay money to see Beatrice swan out in some of these at Royal Ascot this year.
Copping's article talks about the place of the hat in the modern world and how the economic downturn has affected the millinery business. Shocker: hat sales are holding steady! And, no surprise, it's all because of the royal family:
“Around the world, hats are perceived as an English thing, which comes from the royal family,” says Stephen Jones. Go figure: the Queen barely leaves the palace without a pastel confection gracing her grey waves; the Duchess of Cornwall pole-vaulted from fashion nobody to fashion somebody, courtesy of a splendid Philip Treacy feather hat worn to her wedding, and even the young royals – Beatrice, Zara, Eugenie – experiment with more accessible styles, including the cloche and the beret, on and off the regal circuit."Experiment." Indeed ... though funny that the butterfly masterpiece wasn't mentioned as one of the more accessible styles. ;)
3 comments:
Have you watched the video on the exhibition website on how a hat is made? It is truly a labour of love. I also like the youtube video of Stephen Jones talking about his work and the exhibition. Definitely worth viewing.
Did you make it to the exhibition? Ever since writing about the exhibition and gala party on my blog, I've become enchanted with hats all over again.
I didn't ... sadly, I don't live in Britain anymore, otherwise I would have been at the V&A in a hot second! I'm definitely going to check out the recap on your blog!
My husband and I just got back from London - we were there for a family party - I spent three days working with Rose Cory, a milliner who used to make hats for the Queen Mum(in addition to lots of other people). We went to the V&A hat exhibit, which was filled with lots of royal hats(including the beautiful bronze feathered headband that Camilla wore at her wedding), historic hats from the V&A collection, lots of John Galliano and Stephen Jones' hats(including one made with tiny Brillo boxes) and lots of hats that I'd call 'art to wear'. The exhibit is actually quite small and only takes up a space of about 30'x50', but they have an amazing collection there.
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