Never say the British are stodgy, an appellation that has been applied to them (mostly by Yanks) over the years. They do so have a sense of humour, and they’ve got style to go with it. Witness the “Hatwalk”, commissioned by the Mayor of London and created with the collaboration of the British Fashion Council and Grazia magazine.
Employing the talents of a group of Britain’s best milliners, both established and emerging, some of the city’s most famous statues were wearing the most amazing hats when the sun came up on Monday 30 July. In an irregular procession from Hyde Park to the Square Mile, 21 historical figures were crowned with hats ranging from elegant to wacky, with wackily elegant predominant.
The creations, curated by top milliners Philip Treacy and Stephen Jones, are part of a central project called Surprises, and surprising they are to most Londoners. Unfortunately somebody seems to have nicked Shakespeare’s baseball hat, and the cleaners removed Beau Brummel’s vari-coloured turban, but it wouldn’t have been as easy to get at Lord Nelson’s magnificent headgear.
Set on his 170-foot-tall head by a crane in the dead of night, the bicorn came from Lock & Co, who made the original over 200 years ago. For a celebration of British fashion, innovation and the 2012 Olympics, hats off to the Hatwalk.
