In many classic looks of celebrities, hats can play a finishing touch.

In Eastern culture, hats are not worn in some solemn occasions, and hat-taking etiquette is performed.

But in the West, it is just the opposite, especially in the UK, which pays attention to aristocratic social etiquette. In some major social occasions such as the Royal Ascot, Chelsea Flower Show, and Wimbledon Tennis Tournament, guests are even specifically required to wear elegant hats and dresses as much as possible.

As a result, with the advent of the British social season (lasting from April to August), large and small events are launched, and the biggest highlight is the “hat show” and “fashion show” where guests compete with each other for splendor.

In spring and summer, wearing a beautiful hat can not only provide physical sun protection, but also make your look more eye-catching.

So today we will introduce several top hat designers and see why their works are “listed in the fairy class“.

Philip Treacy / Ireland

What does a hat mean to you? Is it a symbol of individuality, a decoration that highlights taste, or an object that expresses emotion?

Philip Treacy has a better explanation for this problem: Wearing a good hat is like having cosmetic surgery using a cheaper and more modern method!

When talking about British design style, many people think of nature, elegance, subtlety and nobility, but Philip Treacy combines conservatism and avant-garde, subverting people’s perception of traditional style .

The tall, thin, and melancholy handsome man in front of you is Philip Treacy.

He spent more than 20 years building his “hat kingdom”, and has loyal fans ranging from the British royal family and aristocrats to Hollywood superstars and celebrities.

He is even known as “the world’s leading hat magician”. For him, hats are weapons of his own creation, the embodiment of his imagination, a name card for his fame, and a weight for his exchange of honor and wealth. And his works are unparalleled works of art for the world.

From a country boy to a fashion darling

Philip Treacy was born in Ahascragh, Ireland in 1967. At five years old he began sewing clothes for his sister’s dolls using feather materials raised by his mother from chickens raised on their family farm – this piece set the standard and laid down his design style foundation for years later.

In 1985, Treacy entered the National College of Art and Design in Dublin before studying under hat designer Stephen Jones for six weeks – marking his professional start-off point. Later that same year he attended Royal College of Art London to major in hat design while receiving his Master of Fashion Design degree; during these studies he continued gaining knowledge, honing skills, and building strength to keep advancing as a designer.

What really changed his life was that in 1989, he sent a hat he designed to Michael Roberts, the fashion editor of the famous magazine “Tatler”, and thus met the famous fashion critic Isabella Blow, who had a profound influence on him. Isabella Blow not only let him use her basement as a hat-making workshop, but also wore the hats he designed on various occasions, helping him to promote them in front of the media, making him famous. In 1991, at the invitation of Karl Lagerfeld (also recommended by Isabella Blow), he designed hats for Chanel’s 1991 Spring and Summer Haute Couture, and from then on began his journey of cooperation with many well-known brands and designers, and made his mark in the fashion industry.

The art of hats that subvert tradition

The reason why Philip Treacy’s designs are unique in the fashion industry is that he completely subverts people’s traditional perception of hats. He designs hats as installation art, and his works are often half buildings and half hats, a wonderful mixture of some kind of building and handicraft.

In terms of material application, he is bold and innovative. He rarely uses traditional hat-making materials, but widely uses non-traditional materials such as peacock feathers, pheasant tail feathers, gauze, film, iron sheets, crystal glass, acrylic, vines and wood. For example, his use of feathers is unique. Feathers seem to be given life in his designs, either light and elegant or unique in shape. Each presentation brings a new visual experience. In his 1996 work, feathers were designed as retro mask-shaped decorations; in 1997, they were decorated on black hats like flowers blooming on the top of the head.

From the perspective of shape, he draws a lot of inspiration from futurism and surrealism, and cleverly assembles and combines the appearance of underwater creatures, animals and plants to form the basic outline of the hat. Those materials that break through tradition are filled in, forming a very individual visual language. Some hats are shaped like giant butterflies, with wings that seem to be gently trembling; some are like strange flowers, blooming with unique charm; and some are even like the entire city landscape, full of fantasy.

Double recognition from celebrities and awards

Throughout Philip Treacy’s career, his works have been favored by celebrities from all walks of life. Particularly members of the British Royal family who wear his work regularly – Princess Kate being one such admirer who wears his designs on numerous occasions.

These hats not only enhance the princess’s elegance, but also show her fashion taste. Camilla, Duchess of Cornwall, loves his hats so much that she even chooses clothes based on them.

In addition, international superstars such as Lady Gaga, Madonna, Naomi Campbell, Kate Moss, and Sarah Jessica Parker often choose his works to enhance their looks. Lady Gaga has appeared many times wearing hats designed by Philip Treacy. Those unique hats are perfectly integrated with her personality and performance style, creating unforgettable classic looks.

While achieving commercial success, Philip has also won a series of prestigious awards.

Since 1991, Philip has won the British Fashion Council’s Clothing Accessories Designer of the Year Award six times. In 2007, he was awarded the Order of the British Empire.

From a penniless talented boy to a famous hat designer, with whom all major brands and celebrities want to work, Philip Treacy’s experience can be said to be legendary.

Versace once said of Philip Treacy: “If you give him a small needle, he can make an amazing sculpture; if you give him an ordinary rose, he can write a touching poem.”

But behind every legendary life, there is a wild love for his career, Philip Treacy is no exception. It is his love and persistence for design that made him a well-known hat design master. And the legend created by Philip Treacy continues.

Stephen Jones / the UK

Stephen Jones, who is about to turn 60, is already a well-known hat maker in the industry. In addition to designing headwear and hats for major fashion brands’ shows, he founded his own hat salon in 1980. On New Year’s Eve of the same year, this man who once only thought about parties and punk was shaved off by several drunken friends. As a result, Stephen Jones found that his bald head was a nearly perfect model of a female head and he could serve as a hat-fitting model.

In the late 1970s, London street fashion exploded. From rock stars to royal family members, fashion became an important benchmark for going out. Jones also quickly entered the London fashion circle. During the day, he was a student at Saint Martins College, receiving professional training; at night, he went to the Blitz Club with other fashion students .

This legendary club, located between two art schools, St Martins and Central School, attracted countless future fashion designers to its weekly club nights. Their bold and avant-garde clothing made them the “Blitz Kids”.

However, even so, the hats worn on everyone’s head were still traditional and dull, and did not match the avant-garde and trendy clothes. The reason why Jones quickly became famous at that time was also because of his eye-catching hat with unique design. In a crowd, apart from looking at people’s heads, compared to clothes, hats are the items that can attract attention at the first time.

It was his professionalism and the influence of club culture that prompted him to gradually form his own style – elegance that reveals a subversion of tradition, and modernity with a surrealist style.

It was a creative and wild era, and London was the center of wild and unconventional fashion. Young people were keen on pop music and clubbing, and everything was moving forward rapidly in line with the trend of the times, and Jones was part of this torrent.

Jones opened his first milliner salon in 1980, beginning a 40-year storied career in which everyone from rock stars to royalty, from Boy George to Diana, Princess of Wales , credits Jones as the milliner who helped them land splashy headlines.

Jones’s hats are often made of strange and special materials , ranging from exquisite to whimsical designs. His carefully crafted Don Quixote hats represent the fashion atmosphere of the time. For example, marijuana plant leaves, newspapers, doll heads and legs … The materials that can be made into hats are only beyond your imagination.

Among the countless hats, Jones’ favorite is this small velvet hat, with a crown like a rose, which is like a spinning dress, and wearing it is like wearing a feminine and sexy dress. This is Jones’ style, elegant with a bit of humor, whether it is exaggerated drama or luxurious and noble, he can easily create his own style.

Stephen Jones has always worn his own striking hats without compromise since his school days. His millinery designs are both modern and eye-catching. From radical materials to sophisticated, whimsical designs , his quixotic vision puts an exclamation point on every fashion statement.

Hamish Borris, editor of American Vogue magazine, commented that he is ” a meticulous designer who can give hats fantasy and humor. His talent makes the people who wear hats more mysterious, wise and charming. “

Nick Fouquet / the USA

Nick Fouquet is from Los Angeles, USA. His father is the famous male model Bernard Fouquet. Uncle Bernard is still charming even when he is old. Influenced by his father, Nick also made his debut as a model.

Nick has a handsome appearance, flowing blond hair, sharp eyes, and a high degree of resemblance to the famous movie star Brad Pitt. Not satisfied with the current status of a model, Nick started his entrepreneurial journey.

He is a hat maker, and his designs are bought all over the world. Every order from Nick can be said to be high-end customization. According to the customer’s own requirements, he incorporates animal fur, feathers, etc. into personal style to create a retro feel. Therefore, people would describe him as a psychedelic bourgeois bohemian craftsman.

In 2014, Nick Fouquet wore a hat designed by himself in a Guess advertisement, and the brand became more and more well-known. Today, the hats designed by Nick are very popular among European and American celebrities.

Nick Fouquet will personally measure the head of each customer to customize a hat, and according to the customer’s own requirements, he will incorporate animal fur, feathers, etc. into the hat, which is retro in overall style. The hats all have different small decorations, such as small matches, feathers, etc.

After graduating from university, Nick spent a year on his around the world tour, visiting five continents, including Nepal, Morocco, New Zealand, Peru, Brazil, France, etc. It was these rich travel experiences that brought him creative inspiration.

The unconventional hat-making techniques make his hats even more unique. Nick Fouquet uses fire to bake the hats, sprays them with paint, and even randomly presses the hats to reshape them.

Every year, the brand launches two series of products, and Nick’s celebrity fans also spare no effort to promote it personally. Once upon a time, the young singing Justin Bieber has grown up, and a gentleman’s hat has become more mature.

Nick Fouquet has built a great reputation in the industry over the past six years. The stylish old Bei appeared at the airport with his children, wearing an even more stylish hat on his head, showing his gentlemanly demeanor.

Among his celebrity fans is Pharrell Williams. He wears a Nick Fouquet hat to award ceremonies and fashion weeks, walking the line between retro and modern.

“A good hat will become your soul mate. Finding the right hat is like dating!”

From classic tycoon hats to gentleman hats and tall hats, his designs always combine French style with American elements! Each of Nick Fouquet’s hats is unique, and each design is inspired by nature! So Nick Fouquet’s hat is not just a hat, but also a piece of art from nature!

Reinhard Plank / Italy

This Italian hat maker and hat designer called himself “Mountain Boy.” We found at least two versions of when he made his first hat, one when he was 8 years old and the other when he was 12 years old, both from interviews with the designer himself.

Anyway, you know he discovered “true love” very early. And the hat that seemed to be a flash of lightning and thunder, opening up a new world for little Plank, was of course a tall wizard’s hat that seemed to be full of magic.

Reinhard Plank’s hats are also loved by many stars.

However, Reinhard Plank is not the kind of person who is isolated from the world. He graduated from the University of Applied Arts in Vienna and went to Tuscany at the age of 35 to seriously study traditional hat making techniques.

“Hats are about lightness, about floating in the air, about something that defies gravity. It makes you feel different,” he said.

They insist on pure handmade (a must), and never refer to trends when making hats. The biggest source of inspiration is their hometown – South Tyrol (Autonomous Province of Bolzano), a mountainous province in northern Italy. They said, “The people there are simple and honest, and they stick to tradition. This directly influenced us to use traditional craftsmanship and materials.”

In addition to felt and horsehide, they also collect antique materials, such as old rabbit hair, antelope skin, and beaver skin, to make the hats more unique.

He insists that his hats are simple felt items that the wearer can mix and match, and that’s when the unexpected happens. He wants customers to get involved and become part of the finished design.

He said, “Don’t think that wearing a hat is ostentatious or will make people laugh. Everyone can play with mix and match. The most important thing is that the hat itself is not given any meaning. As long as it can show your truest temperament and be different from others, that’s enough.”

Awon Golding / Hongkong

Awon Golding, a very beautiful young woman, is currently a hat designer that has attracted much attention in the West. She grew up in Hong Kong and has half British and half Indian ancestry. It is no exaggeration to say that she is a beauty.

After graduating from high school in Hong Kong, she went to Newcastle University in the UK to study philosophy, cosmology and art history. After obtaining her degree, she returned to Hong Kong to work. She has worked as a public relations manager, magazine editor, and even dubbed Barbie dolls.

Ten years ago, when she attended her brother’s wedding, she couldn’t find a suitable hat to wear, so she designed an unexpected hat for herself, decorating Snoopy’s head with a veil made of toilet paper and a beautiful kangaroo. Since then, she had the urge to design hats, and five years ago, she came to London to realize her dream.

Her signature design is the 2014 spring and summer series named after the Italian word for ice cream, Gelato. This series immediately attracted strong attention from the Western fashion industry, and the design elements can make people smile.

Her most satisfying design is the hat she designed for a client to attend the Royal Jockey Club last year. At first, she used an abstract design, but at the client’s suggestion, she changed the hat to a fox head decorated with a circle of bingo balls. Although she has always designed independently, this time she collaborated with a famous puppet designer to make this hat.

Another time, when she attended her brother’s wedding, she designed a hat for herself, a hardshell straw hat with ribbons forming the French word “Bonjour”, to match the wedding held in the south of France in the summer.

She was also influenced by Kim Basinger, a famous Hollywood movie star in the 1980s , and designed an oversized beret made of rubber. Originally designed for media photo shoots, this hat was unexpectedly suitable for many women and immediately became popular.

She describes the hats she designs as modern designs with a mature feminine style and classic designs that can make people smile.

Noel Stewart / the UK

Noel Stewart is the most popular and famous hat designer in the fashion celebrity world today. He has designed catwalk hats for major brands such as Oscar de la Renta and Diesel. He has designed hats for global fashion socialites and brands such as Dior and LV, and his works have been exhibited in the V&A Museum.

Noel Stewart designs hats for leading fashion designers including Roland Mouret, Diesel, Roksanda, Erdem, Hussein Chalayan, Richard Nicoll, Jaeger, Marc Jacobs, Holly Fulton, Sibling, Viktor & Rolf, Ryan Lo and Gareth Pugh , and his ongoing collaborations with these designers reflect his important role in contemporary fashion.

Nole graduated from the Royal College of Art with a degree in hat making and worked as an assistant to Stephen Jones. He has designed hats for major brands such as Oscar de la Renta and Diesel. Even Britney Spears and Madonna specifically asked Noel Stewart to help them match hats for their world tours.

Noel believes that the modern fast-paced life has caused most people to lack the proper attention and respect for hats – ” Perhaps because of the world wars and the ‘love and peace’ hippie movement in the 1960s, people began to dress more simply and casually, and thus looked less solemn .”

Noel finds inspiration from science fiction, modern art, natural scenery and even buildings. He wants to arouse everyone’s love for hats through his designs, whether exaggerated or impractical.

Noel is good at using new materials, and his works always bring surprises from the combination of various materials. Whether it is a colorful multi-dimensional spliced ​​flower, a lily blooming above the head, or a closed curve turning into fireworks above the head, he makes the contradictions and conflicts of the materials themselves have a new and beautiful appearance.

Noel Stewart’s hat works have been exhibited in the British V&A Museum. The exquisite translucent material and colorful color block collage give the hats a strong 1950s feel.

Noel Stewart studied decorative arts at university and worked for Stephen Jones (master of hats) after graduation. During this period, he was exposed to a lot of things about hats and fashion. This gave Noel Stewart an environment to understand fashion. For him, it was like opening the door to the fashion world. It was like a wonderful journey.

Noel Stewart has always been interested in fashion, so three-dimensional hat decoration and fashion design is a good choice. But what makes Noel Stewart most excited about this job is that he can design hats for theatrical productions! Designing hats for those characters that he has always loved.

Isabelle Marant / France

“For me, sexiness has nothing to do with the skin you show. It’s about your attitude and your personality and temperament. True elegance is when you feel good about yourself, as we often say, ‘feel good in your skin’. This sense of freedom transcends your body line and posture.”

——Isabel Marant

Isabel Marant, born in 1967.

Isabel Marant has a mother of German descent (designer Christa Fiedler), a French father, and a stepmother from the Antilles. Her multi-ethnic background is reflected in Marant ‘s clothing designs, making the brand’s fashion a mixture of the past and the present, interweaving the unique styles of the three cultures of Africa, India, and the Antilles.

In 1987, Isabel Marant graduated from Studio Bercot, a fashion design school in Paris, and began to study with Bridget Yorke as an assistant under the Yorke and Cole brand. Before opening her own clothing store, Isabel Marant also worked with Chloé, Yohji Yamamoto, and Martine Sitbon’s artistic director Ascoli.

Isabel Marant’s design features lie in the use of fabrics, detail production, dyeing, embroidery and other technical skills. Isabel Marant ‘s style is not loud and amazing, but a low-key French fashion bloom.

Design style

Isabel Marant always pursues natural, comfortable and free-spirited design.

The washed texture with a little wrinkle and faded fabric, the bright color brings out the effect of dyeing, the seams retain the raw edges, the hems are slightly worn and distressed, and other details are unforgettable at first sight.

Stella McLaren / the UK

We all know that the late Queen Elizabeth II has always been a “hat lover”. In various public occasions, she likes to match gorgeous hats with suits of the same color, which has almost become her fashion “business card” during her lifetime.

The boldly coloured, ornate hats, which feature everything from florals to feathers, are the work of London milliner Stella McLaren, who designed hats for the late Queen for more than three decades.

In addition to designing hats for the Queen, McLaren also designed clothes for her in the later period because she knew the Queen’s preferences too well. At the same time, she also made hats for other members of the British royal family, such as the late Princess Diana.

McLaren recalled that Queen Elizabeth always had two different milliners so that she could change her style at any time. In recognition of the outstanding contribution of the royal milliner, Princess Anne awarded her the Royal Victorian Medal (RVM) in 2023.

Sally Victor /the USA

Sally Victor:February 23, 1905- May 14, 1977

She was a prominent American milliner from the late 1920s to the 1960s, and her designs were popular with many famours Hollywood actresses such as Irene Dunne, Helen Hayes and Maile Oberon, as well as First Ladies Mamie Eisenhower and Jacqueline Kennedy.

Today, let us learn about her life history and appreciate her hat works.

Sally Victor was born Sally Josephs and moved with her family from Scranton, Pennsylvania, USA when she was 8 to New York, where her aunt operated a small store where Sally first discovered design as an interest.

As most children do, I enjoyed imitating adults, so it came naturally for me to start creating doll hats out of scraps of felt and ribbon for my dolls. Later, my aunt taught me how to help mend clothes as she made customer hats; then later still I also began creating my own custom designs hats to wear myself or give to friends.”

At 18, she began working in Macy’s millinery department as an assistant buyer; within one year she became assistant buyer; three years after that she was hired as head millinery seller by Bamberg’s Department Store of Newark and eventually retired briefly before marrying milliner wholesaler Sergiu F. Victor in 1927 with whom she gave birth to son Richard before briefly retiring again.

However, she quickly returned to work and soon after became chief designer for Victor.

In 1934, she established a fashion brand under her own name and opened a hat salon on East 53rd Street in New York. Then her hats began to be sold in many well-known stores, including Lord&Taylor on Fifth Avenue.

Fortune magazine published articles comparing her works with LillyDaché’s and Mr. John’s and Victor’s were widely considered more creative, and her hats were still popular even after her retiring in 1967. Alongside Lily Dache and Mr. John, Victor is widely acknowledged as one of the finest artisans during this era.

On May 14, 1977 she died at a hospital in New York.

Sally Victor takes inspiration from various sources, including Native American art, Chinese lanterns and Japanese armor as well as fine artists Henri Matisse, Piet Mondrian Rogier van der Weyden and Frank Lloyd Wright – who all exhibit remarkable talent in their artworks.

She has innovated by blending synthetic materials with more conventional hat materials.

Some of her popular product lines include Baby Bonnets, Pompadour Hats, Greek Pill Boxes, Honey Hives and Tubers etc.

Victor designed several hats for First Lady Mamie Eisenhower, one of which was the “Airwave” she wore at her husband Dwight’s inauguration ceremony in 1953.

In the 1950s, former First Lady Eleanor Roosevelt also liked Sally Victor’s hats. Victor later designed works for Jacqueline Kennedy.
Throughout her career, Sally Victor emphasized creating attractive hats rather than trendy or avant-garde ones.

Benjamin B. Green-Field / the USA

Benjamin B. Green-Field

1898-1988

Benjamin was born in Chicago. When he was six, his father died and his mother, Ida, started a millinery business to support the family. After dropping out of high school, Greenfield also started working in the hat trade.

In 1920, Greenfield and his sister Bessie opened a hat boutique on Chicago’s State Street, naming it Bes-Ben (she was “Bes,” he was “Ben”), and within eight years the duo had grown the business enough to open four more stores.

Like many milliners of the time, wartime rationing led Green-Field to use unconventional materials. In a World War II interview, the designer said, “Anything in the history of the world that is laughable at this moment in time can have its own excuse. ”

By the 1940s, Bes-Ben’s style had moved away from traditional, fashionable hats to surreal and playful designs. His sense of humor combined with his great design skills and use of unique materials made his work highly sought after.

Known as “Chicago’s Mad Hatter,” he made whimsical yet elegant hats for Hollywood celebrities such as Lucille Ball, Marlene Dietrich, Carol Landis and Elizabeth Taylor, as well as Chicago socialites.

Besben hats are often decorated with objects such as kitchen utensils and napkin rings, or characters such as miniature animals, cigarette cases, bugs, skyscrapers and doll furniture. The hat Greenfield made for Hedda Hopper to wear at the premiere of The Razor’s Edge even had a real razor on it!

The signature Bassbon style also extended to Greenfield’s personal style. He loved to dress up, favoring brocade jackets, cashmere and jewelry. He was known for his extensive wardrobe and decorative items collected during his travels. His Michigan Avenue shop, filled with pillows he brought back from all over the world, was a popular social spot.

Greenfield was not only a talented milliner, he was also a savvy businessman who knew how to market his hats. “Every summer, he would have a sale where everything was $5, which was an amazing deal considering most of his hats cost over $100.

“People would line up in the middle of the night for a chance to grab a hat that Greenfield himself would throw into the crowd. It would take him an hour and a half to clear the entire store of about 400 hats, and then the store would be closed for a few weeks while employees took leave. Then Greenfield would go on one of his famous around-the-world shopping trips. He was said to have traveled around the world more than fifty times.”

Greenfield was a prolific designer, and many of his hats still exist. If you want your own Bes-Ben, it shouldn’t be too difficult to source one from an online antique dealer.

Prices vary widely, and some Bes-Ben designs remain in high demand among private collectors. One of his pieces, “Independence Day,” sold at auction for a record-breaking $18,400! The hat is adorned with an unfurled American flag, complete with red, white and blue firecrackers and stars.

Over the years, Bes-Ben millinery has also been collected and preserved by the Chicago Historical Society. They first held an exhibition of 200 Greenfield pieces in 1976. In 1984, the Society sponsored another exhibition, “The Wit and Fantasy of Benjamin Greenfield,” which included pieces from his memorable personal wardrobe, household items, and hats. In 1988, the Historical Society was renovated and expanded to include a new Benjamin B. Greenfield Gallery, which houses a collection of his hats in its warehouse.

Which hat designer captures your heart most? Hat lovers, collect them now!