Jean Barthet was born in 1930 in the Pyrenees, France. He arrived in Paris in 1947 and launched his first collection of hats in 1949.
By the early 1960's, he was one of France's most prominent milliners, with a clientele that included film stars and jet-setters.
He is a member of the Chambre Syndicale de la Couture Parisienne, which enables him to provide hats for Haute Couture designers. He provided the fashion designers Claude Montana, Sonia Rykiel, Karl Lagerfeld and Emanuel Ungaro with hats for their collections.

Although Barthet's hats are highly structured, his signature hat is a man's Fedora, scaled down for women.

Brigitte Bardot , Jacqueline Kennedy , Sophia Loren and Catherine Deneuve