Designer Hats Steal the Show Celebrating this Elegant Fashion Statement

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WORDS Tina Meunier

Annually, the city of Chantilly (the horse training Mecca of France) hosts the horse racing event Prix de Diane. Also known as the French Oaks, the race is held in July and forms part of a carnival that kicks off the French summer racing season. However, the event is not only for avid horse race fans. On the contrary, fashionistas can also have their moment as the event provides the perfect arena to show off the most beautiful, and sometimes outrageous, hats.

The dramatic hat worn by Alexia for the competition took a week to make. The designer used wire strips to create the shape and decorated with hand-painted flowers. Photo: Alexia Maceron

But how did horse racing and fashion become interlinked? In Europe, during the early 1900s, horse racing was an exclusive sport aimed at society’s elite. It provided the wealthy with a chance to flaunt their prominence and status through couture hats. Some women changed their hats several times a day in order to be noticed and to show their prosperity. The hat was part of an exclusive dress code and not wearing it could be frowned upon. Nowadays, hats worn at the races are a form of art and expression, showcased by anyone with a flair for extravagance!

A chic accessory

This year at the Prix de Diane, almost 30,000 spectators relaxed on the grass, enjoying live music and a picnic, admiring not only the horses but also the majestic hat-wearers roaming the event. Feathers, tissue, flowers adorn all kinds of heads. Previous sponsors such as Revlon and Hermès have ensured that the women with the most stylish hats are rewarded in the Elegance Competition, which takes place at the end of the day. Since four years, Longines is the new sponsor of this price. This year, Sophie Thalmann, Miss France 1998 presided over the jury.

This compact hat can be made fairly quickly, but it is still elegant. The hairstyle plays an important role in the final look for this head-piece. Florists during this time are extremely busy with the commissions from clients. Photo: Tina Meunier

However, the determination to make an attention-grabbing fashion statement can put pressure on those with an artistic flare to find the right hat. Some ladies prepare months in advance to find the perfect adornment for their head.

This year, Alexia Maceron, a French student who loves fashion, participated in the hat competition. In the previous years, she was spotted by photographers and it tempted her to formally participate this time. In the morning, women must register to be in the competition and then during the day, every contestant is photographed. At the end, the jury whittle it down to ten women, who then parade along the stage. A few minutes later, the winner is selected from this final ten.

Two months before the event, Alexia called Celine, a hat designer from Impertinence Création and explained the colours she wanted, but nothing more. The designer would do the rest. ‘For me it’s even more exciting not to know the exact result, it’s a mutual agreement of confidence,’ she said. In the meantime, Alexia shopped for shoes, a dress, a clutch bag and accessories. ‘For me the ideal hat must be impressive. It needs to be spectacular,’ said Alexia.

The arrangement of colourful flowers on a wide-brimmed straw hat resemble a French garden. Flowers must be picked at the last minute to ensure the hat doesn’t wilt during the day. Photo: Tina Meunier

Creating the masterpiece

When she came to order her hat, Alexia hadn’t chosen her dress so the hat maker gave herself no limits and thought about a bold, creative piece. The first challenge was to match all the colours that Alexia had specified. Electric blue, fuchsia, pink and yellow are not easy to fit together. After that, Celine spent the night thinking about the design, the materials and the shape. Celine gave Alexia some indications about the hat such as the materials and the style and once Alexia approved, the hard work began. Every single petal was painted by hand with at minimum of two colours per flower. At the end, Celine built a prototype with 450 pins and sent a picture to Alexia. Luckily, she loved it.

The length of time to finish not only a hat but a flamboyant masterpiece depends very much on the inspiration of the designer. In this case, Alexia’s head-candy was ready in one week. The next challenge was to deliver it in tact, as there were delicate silk flowers and metal wiring in the structure for the shape.

This butterfly hat is really dynamic. The butterflies are fixed on wicker stalks, which give the effect that they are flying around the wearer’s head. This design makes good use of your imagination. Photo: Tina Meunier

Celine has experience making all kinds of hats, from the decorative to the more sober and in her opinion, to win the elegance competition, the hat in itself is not enough. The wearer must carry it off. The wearer must radiate an energy to compliment the whole outfit. Celine indicates the hat mustn’t overshadow the lady, if she is petite. And the hat mustn’t hide the person’s face.

At the Prix de Diane, every style of hat is accepted and admired. It doesn’t matter who is the winner of the Elegance Competition because spectators can enjoy the show of style and refinement all around the event. This is a true celebration of the creativity amongst hat designers and every year the competition intensifies, limited only by the designers’ imagination.

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