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<\/p>\nIn our winter 2013 issue of Real Style Magazine, we had the privilege of having Hilary Alexander interview Irish milliner, or hat designer, Philip Treacy. The interview is just as relevant today as it was then, so we’ve decided to repost it in it’s entirety.<\/p>\n
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Hot on the heels of Philip Treacy\u2019s triumphant return to the runway after a 12-year hiatus, Real Style Fashion Correspondent Hilary Alexander met up with the world famous hat designer in his studio in London. From what Kate Middleton\u2019s style has done for the hat world to his love for Lady Gaga, nothing was off limits in Hilary\u2019s exclusive interview with Philip.<\/em><\/p>\n I met you 25 years ago when I was a student and the Royal College at the ICA. You\u2019ve seen all the hats over the years. I like hats that are an event. I\u2019ve been lucky to work with the most incredible designers in the world. When I met you, I was a student looking at these designers in the library, and then the following year \u2013 two months later \u2013 I was working with Karl Lagerfeld at Chanel. I didn\u2019t know whether to call him Karl or Mr. Lagerfeld or sir. It was a little intimidating because I started to work with all those people very quickly, and previously I was looking at them in a library book. It was a little alarming at 23 to find yourself standing in front of them at a table surrounded by Herb Ritts, Anna Wintour and all these people, and Karl Lagerfeld saying, \u201cUm, what about clouds?\u201d And I was like, \u201cOkay.\u201d<\/p>\n For many seasons, I didn\u2019t know what to say to him, but then after a while I began to understand that he is fantastic, and he is the opposite of how people expect him to be. I learned a lot from him. I\u2019ve been lucky to have worked with some of the greatest fashion entertainers of our time from Valentino to Karl Lagerfeld to Armani to Ralph Lauren \u2013 icon designers.<\/p>\n Lady Gaga appeared on the scene a couple of years after Isabella Blow died. I remember watching her on TV one night and she alarmed me because I thought, if Isabella had been a pop star, she would have been like her. It was the way she was dancing with the piano, because Isabella used to dance like that. She was wearing a little boa in her hair, and then a few months later she started to wear hats. It was alarming to look at these pictures because I thought, it\u2019s Isabella! She\u2019s the pop version \u2013 the commercial face of Isabella Blow \u2013 and there was nothing commercial about Isabella. She didn\u2019t like the word \u201ccommercial\u201d and wasn\u2019t interested in the word \u201ccommercial.\u201d Isabella preceded Lady Gaga from that perspective because Isabella dressed for herself; she didn\u2019t dress for other people.<\/p>\n Yes, and she thought fashion was entertaining. So Lady Gaga is sort of the successor to Isabella Blow. I was a bit intimidated by her initially. She indirectly started borrowing hats through stylists, and I\u2019d see her at awards shows in them, and then one day she came to London and she said she\u2019d like a hat made. I started to work with her from then on because I liked her. She\u2019s very talented, and she\u2019s also a very sweet person, and usually entertainers aren\u2019t.<\/p>\n Yes. I didn\u2019t ask her to \u2013 I mean, I was delighted she did! She said, \u201cI\u2019m wearing a brown wig, and I\u2019m channeling Isabella.\u201d She was fantastic. She entertained everybody backstage in a very fun way. It was a trip that she was wandering around in Isabella\u2019s burka. It\u2019s fun to work with icons. I have a very broad customer list. It\u2019s a very long distance between Prince Charles and Lady Gaga, but they still both like hats.<\/p>\n My idea was \u201cAfrican.\u201d I have many different customers, but I noticed over the years that white women, they look in the mirror and they go, \u201cDo I look okay?\u201d And black women look into the same mirror and they think, \u201cI look great!\u201d I liked their attitude, and so I was going with a sort of African sense of exuberance and dressing up and how they\u2019re not apologetic about it. I developed an idea for an African show, bought African tribal music from the internet and then when I got it, I found it a little bit folky. It wasn\u2019t what I was expecting. I love Michael Jackson, and I was playing him one evening and \u201cThe Way You Make Me Feel\u201d came on, and I thought, that\u2019s tribal African! Then I have these friends who do celebrity auctions in Los Angeles. I knew that they\u2019d worked with Michael Jackson, so I called them up and said, \u201cIs there any possibility that I could borrow one of Michael Jackson\u2019s gloves?\u201d And they said, \u201cActually, we\u2019re selling all of his clothes. Would you like them?\u201d I said yes because I love Michael Jackson. He was the ultimate entertainer of the 20th and 21st century. He had it all: image, talent, he could dance, he could sing.<\/p>\n Original sense of style. Nobody looked like him. I learned from these people that he had his own personal couturiers, so that they could only work with him for 25 years. They made everything \u2013 shirts, trousers, whatever he wanted! It was beyond Marie-Antoinette. The clothes arrived, and they were like an energy. We built this room in the basement because we had to get so much insurance in case somebody ran off with it all.<\/p>\n Yes, \u00a310 million. They were in this room. We had them for a month. Occasionally, when I\u2019d go through the room, there was just like a ray of pop relics. They were instantly recognizable clothes that you\u2019d seen a million times in a million different magazines.<\/p>\n I felt there was energy from these clothes because we\u2019ve all seen old clothes or costume clothes, and they seem so remote because it\u2019s so long ago. I like that you get a sense of somebody, whereas these clothes had his makeup on them, his perfume on them. His Billy Jean trousers that he performed Billy Jean in. His gloves covered in Swarovski. It was interesting. They were unusual these clothes because they were jumping. I thought about doing the show \u2013 just black girls \u2013 but we couldn\u2019t tell these girls that these were Michael Jackson\u2019s clothes in case they started Twittering it to people. When they found out they were the clothes, some of the girls were crying. He\u2019s a fantasy character, Michael Jackson. He\u2019s not real.<\/p>\n Yes. She has a different license than most celebrities because Sharon Stone pitching up in that hat isn\u2019t really saying anything, but Sarah Jessica Parker can get away with it. It matched her — her persona on her program was extra as well. She can get away with more.<\/p>\n For the Harry Potter movies I made various hats for the Beauxbatons. One day it\u2019s Harry Potter, one day it\u2019s a mom going to her child\u2019s wedding, one day it\u2019s Armani, one day it\u2019s Lady Gaga, one day it\u2019s a Royal person, one day it\u2019s a collection \u2013 it\u2019s varied.<\/p>\n The thing is, I love Andy Warhol. I viewed it from Warholian perspective. It\u2019s pop culture. I couldn\u2019t really sit at home crying. If they didn\u2019t like it, they didn\u2019t like it. It doesn\u2019t work like that when you make things. It is what it is. It\u2019s the most famous hat in the world\u2026 and nobody died.<\/p>\n Of course, because Royal women have always helped hats, especially young royals, because they are the new ones, and she looks fantastic in hats. The Royal family have kept hats alive in the imagination of people all over the world. They are actually responsible for that sense of wearing a hat at an ultimate moment because part of their role is an aspirational one for the public.<\/p>\n Every day brings a new project \u2013 a new project, a new torture, but I love it, and I\u2019m in fortunate position of being able to influence how people see hats in the 21st century. When I met you first when I was a student, people would say, \u201cWhy are you making hats? Old ladies wear hats these days.\u201d I thought that was ridiculous. Everybody has heads, everybody has the potential to wear a hat one day. I\u2019m preaching hats worldwide. Every time we make a hat, I\u2019m trying to say, \u201cHats are okay! Hats are good!\u201d<\/p>\nWe\u2019ve known each other for quite some time.<\/strong><\/h2>\n
How did you come to meet Lady Gaga?<\/strong><\/h2>\n
And she also loved to take risks.
\n<\/strong><\/h2>\nShe opened the show you did at London Fashion Week.<\/strong><\/h2>\n
What was the inspiration behind your last show?<\/strong><\/h2>\n
A wonderful sense of style\u2026<\/strong><\/h2>\n
That has to be worth millions!<\/strong><\/h2>\n
Did you feel Michael\u2019s spirit was coming through?<\/strong><\/h2>\n
You\u2019ve done hats for Sarah Jessica Parker \u2013 the amazing one she wore to the London premiere of Sex & the City.<\/strong><\/h2>\n
What did you do for the Harry Potter movies?<\/strong><\/h2>\n
Speaking of Royal persons, how did you cope from the fallout from the famous \u201cpretzel hat\u201d that went viral?<\/strong><\/h2>\n
Do you think the Duchess of Cambridge, Kate, has had a big impact on hats again?<\/strong><\/h2>\n
So after 25 years, Philip, what still has to be done and what\u2019s next?<\/strong><\/h2>\n