Philip Treacy London

Treacy's millinery designs reflect his unquestionably vivid imagination, drawing upon diverse subjects such as surrealism, the dance of Martha Graham, or religious and historical imagery. Creating a hat, Treacy asserts, does not require space age influences; he prefers to plunder the past for inspiration and then make it appear totally new. A floral Treacy hat is a crash helmet covered in flowers and butterflies; a towering turban is created by an intricately wrapped blanket with fringed edging; a large cluster of black coq feathers are tied together with white feathers to form a brim and crown.
Treacy's hats, like those of other British milliners, are often described as eccentric. The designer attributes this eccentricity to the British being associated with idiosyncrasy, but says he does not set out to create deliberately unusual hats. Using what he describes as "boring" fabrics, Treacy begins working upon these materials with different treatments—feathers, for example, are singed so they take on the appearance of very fine gossamer.
An important factor in Treacy's work is his mastery of highly skilled traditional millinery techniques which ensure the correct balance, fit, and proportion for the hat which he concedes are as much mathematical as aesthetic. It is this artisan approach, with the emphasis on craft and technique, that characterizes much of Treacy's work.