How do hats define London?
If you think of all the images of London on postcards it’s busbies and beefeaters, policemen and military kinds of hats. The Queen always wears a hat, [they] used to be everywhere. There’s so much power in a hat, it’s the most powerful place to accessorise, on the head. This is the Stained Glass Window hat. It references Coventry Cathedral. To the right of the main entrance is the baptistery window designed by John Piper, it’s these square blocks of stained glass and then concrete. It blew my mind. We made the hat with acrylic squares which I hand-painted and then we interspersed it with beads. It’s not too heavy because it’s just thin plastic really. We closed the V&A’s Fashion In Motion show with it. This is the Smashed Helmet Cocktail Hat. It’s a combination of acrylic, felt and a couture jacquard that I designed with Kirsty McDougall of Dashing Tweeds. It has a modernist feel but at the same time is soft and angular. We’ve combined shiny black plastic with a traditional felt hat. I
