UPCOMING HAT EXHIBIT AT THE VICTORIA AND ALBERT MUSEUM IN ENGLAND

Left, Bicorn made of panne velvet and coque feathers- center milliner Stephen Jones - right a Jones hat from the Galliano runway show (Photo: HENRY BOURNE / AP)

Hat Lovers Rejoice, there will be a grand hat exhibit at the Victoria and Albert Museum called, Hats: An Anthology by Stephen Jones. The exhibit (from Februray 24 to March 31) is a collaboration between the museum and hat designer, Stephen Jones. It will take place in the Porter Gallery and will highlight over 300 of Jone’s hats.

Also on display will be an ecclectic mix of headwear, an Egyptian Anubis mask dating from 600BC, a 1950s Balenciaga hat and couture creations by Jones and his contemporaries.

Displayed in a magical, box-hedged, Baroque garden setting, Hats An Anthology will be the Victoria and Albert Museum’s first exhibition devoted to hats, with many pieces from its extensive hat collection on display for the first time.

The exhibit is divided into different sections to show the life and times of hat-making and hat wearing throughout the ages.

Inspiration, the first section of the exhibition, will open with Prince Albert’s top hat and Queen Victoria’s bonnet, and looks at how the past has inspired countless designers. It will show historic and contemporary interpretations of hat styles such as the tricorn, bowler, baseball cap, bonnet, skull cap and many more. It will also look at common themes explored by milliners such as exoticism, modernism and the natural world.

Creation will show how hats are made and the traditions, innovations and practices at the heart of millinery. This area will be set up like a milliner’s workroom with patterns, sketches, materials and millinery blocks.

The Salon will reflect the milliner’s public showcase, featuring hats that show the craft at its sartorial best. On display will be designs by Philip Treacy, Mitza Bricard for Christian Dior, Vladzio d’Attainville for Balenciaga, Claude St Cyr for Norman Hartnell, Chanel and Stephen Jones.

In The Client, visitors will see hats worn by famous clients including royalty and avid collectors Dita von Teese, Gertrude Shilling, Isabella Blow and Anna Piaggi, as well as hats worn by Boy George and Madonna. There will also be hats that have appeared in films including two designed by Cecil Beaton for My Fair Lady, a Balmain hat worn by Ava Gardner and Marlene Dietrich’s beret.

According to Stephen Jones, the curator and mastermind of the show, “A hat is not something you merely put on, but is something you become.” Jones wears a hat at all times.

Hats: An Anthology by Stephen Jones opens at the V&A on February 24 (vam.ac.uk)

Straw boater by Madame Suzy c.1937