Milliner Philip Treacy talks hat history, his latest collaboration with M.A.C, and the influence of Downton Abbey on hat wearing.
Irish bornMilliner Philip Treacy has made hats for pretty much every famous head you can think of: Kate Middleton, Lady Gaga, Madonna, Sarah Jessica Parker, Victoria Beckham. (Fun fact: He also made that famous hat Princess Beatrice wore to the Royal Wedding—the one that launched a thousand memes.) Shortly after the Royal Wedding, in fact, M.A.C approached Treacy about doing a cosmetics collection. Now, almost four years later, the fruits of that collaboration are available in the form of three bright lipsticks, two beautiful fairy dust embossed blushes, three eye liners that would make a peacock jealous, and two shimmery metallic shadows. The collection was inspired by–what else?–three different yet equally stunning hats Treacy created.
Treacy was also a long-time collaborator of Alexander McQueen, and to celebrate the launch of the makeup collection, he led a group of friends (I spotted an under-the-radar Kim Cattrall roaming around) and editors on a private tour of "Savage Beauty," the McQueen retrospective at the Victoria and Albert Museum in London. I'm happy to report that he was just as fascinated watching the Kate Moss hologram repeat on loop as the rest of us, saying at the end, "Now that is how you do it!"
I sat down and chatted with the exceptionally charming Treacy—who has the most soothing soft brogue you'll ever hear—to ask him about what it was like working with McQueen, that time Michael Jackson offered him £25,000, and the influence of Downton Abbey on hat wearing.
So when and how did this collaboration happen?
I was in New York and had a meeting and it kind of started there. It was quite a lengthy process. I selected two archive pieces, and the mask piece we created specially. They were chosen because they accentuate different features. One accentuates the eye, one accentuates the lips, and one the cheekbones. The colors came from those. And you always choose your favorite colors, right? I love beautiful rich fuchsias and pink and red, and M.A.C helped me to not go for the most obvious tone of the color, otherwise it could have ended up looking like those wild women in Miami in the '70s, which I quite like, but no one really wears that anymore. I think everybody diplomatically and gently angled for a certain direction that was commercial but strong, because neon yellow is not everybody's cup of tea.
Did you want to do neon yellow?
No, but I like beautiful colors, rather than natural tones. It's not that I don't like them, but I don't see the point.
As an American, I don't understand how to wear hats. Please give me some advice.
You start out with a very simple hat. A trilby, a man's hat on a girl, can look great. There has to be an element of daring, but it has to feel good. Not that you're suddenly trying to be Cleopatra. It depends where you're going. I sell hats in America and I work with a lot of American women but they always say, "I only wish there was somewhere to go in them." But I think it could change.
Do you have a favorite piece from your career?
I've got a ship hat. It looks like a sailing ship. Isabella [Blow] wore it and it's like a poetic idea of a hat. Bruce Weber shot it. Michael Jackson wanted to buy it from me for £25,000 20 years ago. I love Michael Jackson, but I just thought, I need that hat. It kind of travels now. It's in St. Petersburg at an exhibition at the moment. It's a hit. Everyone remembers it.
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