Where did you get that hat?
Aug 5, 2012 11:45:34 GMT
Post by patricklondon on Aug 5, 2012 11:45:34 GMT
"If you want to get ahead, get a hat" - according to a now defunct "gentlemen's outfitters" of the 1940s. In one of the more bonkers events of this extraordinary summer, for four days last week sundry hat designers were invited to decorate some statues of those who managed to get ahead pretty well on their own without the aid of millinery.
Newspaper reports of the event gave most attention to Lord Nelson on top of his column in Trafalgar Square. Being not without a certain vanity, he might have appreciated the new look his old hatmaking company have given to his statue (this picture isn't mine, by the way but, being one of the official photos, gives you a much better idea of what he looked like):
But he was far from alone.
In Trafalgar Square, he faced a little competition. Not only was King George IV sporting a hat - and horse - themed for the Brighton Pavilion:
but the sternly imperial Generals Havelock and Napier were given the Ascot look:
and the day I visited being the opening day of the Olympics, some supporters of the Dutch team got in on the act:
The Duke of Wellington was twice favoured with a new titfer, at Hyde Park Corner and outside the Bank of England:
Likewise, Shakespeare got two hats. Sadly, the Bard's baseball cap barely lasted a few hours in Leicester Square, but in a quiet corner of the City, his hat proclaimed him a "constant sun":
In Bond Street, Roosevelt and Churchill looked as though they had found a new reason to share a laugh:
but, down on the Embankment Gardens, what Burns and Brunel did to deserve a lopsided flower fascinator each, I don't know:
nor why, in Bloomsbury, the great Whig Charles James Fox had a wedding hat or one of the Dukes of Bedford a lurid orange sombrero complete with artificial pigeon:
Beau Brummell's peacockery might not have been out of place in his own day, and still didn't look that odd in Jermyn Street today:
Both Sir Arthur Sullivan's Mikado hat and Captain John Smith's flamboyant feathers made a certain sense, too:
But the Young Lovers outside St Paul's looked somewhat embarrassed:
and Queen Victoria remained determinedly unamused, as well she might:
Newspaper reports of the event gave most attention to Lord Nelson on top of his column in Trafalgar Square. Being not without a certain vanity, he might have appreciated the new look his old hatmaking company have given to his statue (this picture isn't mine, by the way but, being one of the official photos, gives you a much better idea of what he looked like):
But he was far from alone.
In Trafalgar Square, he faced a little competition. Not only was King George IV sporting a hat - and horse - themed for the Brighton Pavilion:
but the sternly imperial Generals Havelock and Napier were given the Ascot look:
and the day I visited being the opening day of the Olympics, some supporters of the Dutch team got in on the act:
The Duke of Wellington was twice favoured with a new titfer, at Hyde Park Corner and outside the Bank of England:
Likewise, Shakespeare got two hats. Sadly, the Bard's baseball cap barely lasted a few hours in Leicester Square, but in a quiet corner of the City, his hat proclaimed him a "constant sun":
In Bond Street, Roosevelt and Churchill looked as though they had found a new reason to share a laugh:
but, down on the Embankment Gardens, what Burns and Brunel did to deserve a lopsided flower fascinator each, I don't know:
nor why, in Bloomsbury, the great Whig Charles James Fox had a wedding hat or one of the Dukes of Bedford a lurid orange sombrero complete with artificial pigeon:
Beau Brummell's peacockery might not have been out of place in his own day, and still didn't look that odd in Jermyn Street today:
Both Sir Arthur Sullivan's Mikado hat and Captain John Smith's flamboyant feathers made a certain sense, too:
But the Young Lovers outside St Paul's looked somewhat embarrassed:
and Queen Victoria remained determinedly unamused, as well she might:
