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It only takes the blink of an eye to become a different person between the golden walls and showcases. Just as she pushed open the door of the small boutique on London’s Elizabeth Street, the customer was a young woman in leggings, with a bunch of keys and a smartphone in her hand. Now she looks at herself in the mirror in awe. On her head: an elegantly curved hat, the purple fabric surrounds her curly hair and culminates in a kind of bow. She actually just wanted to buy something small, she says, maybe a headband, for a party at the weekend. But now she turns and examines: “I could also choose another dress for this hat.”
After all, the hat isn’t just any hat – it comes from a master whose hats are world-famous: Philip Treacy. There’s no horse racing at Ascot or royal wedding without his extravagant headgear. You can see them on red carpets and haute couture catwalks, in glossy magazines or on the big screen, for example in the “Harry Potter” films.
In his shop in London’s luxury Belgravia district, not far from Buckingham Palace, Philip Treacy, 56, doesn’t just sell hats. Rather, he says, it’s about making dreams come true. Anyone who puts on one of his hats will be enchanted. As pathetic as that may sound, it becomes believable when his fans talk about him: the singer Lady Gaga once said that asking her to take off her Philip Treacy hat was like asking her to remove her liver, at least emotionally. Whether Madonna or Duchess Kate, they all let Philip Treacy protect them.
His designs are as extraordinary as the hatter himself.
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