Couture Hats: From the Outrageous to the Refined - Tapa dura

Since the recent royal wedding, couture hats and headpieces are gaining more attention than ever before. Featured on guests from Victoria Beckham to Sarah Ferguson’s daughter, Princess Beatrice, whimsical and sculptural hats are now splashed across the pages of fashion magazines, advertisements, and blogs. The trademark accessory of fashion muse Isabella Blow, couture hats were among the most talked about elements of the recent Alexander McQueen exhibit at the Met, and a Stephen Jones Couture Hats exhibition is running at Bard from September 2011 to April 2012.

Couture Hats, a luscious gallery of modern fashion designs, will be unlike anything else on the market, artfully showcasing the most innovative work of master milliners around the world, including the likes of Stephen Jones, Philip Treacy, Anthony Peto, and Nasir Mazhar, designers who have all constructed numerous hats and headpieces for members and guests of the royal family, as well as celebrities like Lady Gaga, Katy Perry, and Daphne Guinness.

Already endorsed by the creative director of Givenchy, each chapter of Couture Hats is devoted to a particular designer or design house, providing biographical information, professional philosophies, trade secrets, and intimate interviews. With hundreds of full-page, full-color photographs, these gorgeous modern hats include gravity-defying sculptural shapes to delight and inspire refined women, modern fashionistas, designers, students, aspiring milliners, and costume lovers. Even for those without the gall to wear such daring pieces, these hats will fascinate all creative minds.

Among the designers included are:

Philip Treacy for Alexander McQueen
Philip Treacy
Stephen Jones
Noel Stewart
House of Flora
Heather Huey
Tour de Force
Àngel Coll
Manuel Albarran
Claudia Schulz
Edwina Ibbotson
Tolentino Haute Hats
Charlie Le Mindu
Simon Ekrelius
Piers Atkinson
Emma Yeo
William Chambers
Ellen Christine
Anya Caliendo
Dinu Bodiciu
Gustavo Adolfo Tari
Irene Bussemaker
Dayna Pinkham