Philip Treacy and His Fabulous Hats--"I like hats that make the heart beat faster"

Please enjoy the video below: Warm Leatherette by Grace Jones, 1980 as you enjoy the rest of the post

Elizabeth Boudreaux was in Louisville last night and I was happy to see her at a mutual friend's for dinner. She doesn't often come to town, but is venturing out of warm New Orleans this winter a bit. We watched Treacy's runway show from about 15 years ago and she asked that I do a post about his more recent work. Here it is, Elizabeth! It was so good to see you.

About the wedding of Princess Beatrice:

"Princess Beatrice is Queen Victoria's great, great, great, great granddaughter and looks like Queen Victoria. I thought of her as a beautiful, exotic, Victorian doll. I thought I was making a hat with a bow on it.

The wedding was the Philip Treacy show with more than 30 of your hats - what did you think of the wedding?

I hadn't slept for three days but it was incredible – a populist moment of emotion. I couldn't be more Irish but I celebrate Britishness through hats. When I met the Queen, at a design evening at Buckingham Palace, she asked: "What do you do?" "I make hats, ma'am." She said: "Am I the only person who wears a hat these days?" And I said: "Ma'am, you have kept hats alive in the imagination of people all over the world." When you meet the Queen, you are not supposed to ask questions. But I thought: what the hell. So I looked her in the eye and said: "Ma'am, do you enjoy wearing hats?" And she stood back and said: "It is part of the uniform."

I hadn't slept for three days but it was incredible – a populist moment of emotion. I couldn't be more Irish but I celebrate Britishness through hats. When I met the Queen, at a design evening at Buckingham Palace, she asked: "What do you do?" "I make hats, ma'am." She said: "Am I the only person who wears a hat these days?" And I said: "Ma'am, you have kept hats alive in the imagination of people all over the world." When you meet the Queen, you are not supposed to ask questions. But I thought: what the hell. So I looked her in the eye and said: "Ma'am, do you enjoy wearing hats?" And she stood back and said: "It is part of the uniform."

The Guardian UK, July 9, 2011--interview excerpt and portrait above.

Princess Beatrice in her "hat with a bow on it"

What else he's been up to in recent years:

The Sunday Times Style UK, October 2013

Vogue Special Edition Metgala 2013

Marie Claire Enfants France, September 2013

Elle US, May 2013

Vogue India, February 2013

Vogue Thailand, February 2013

Vogue Paris, October 2010

Los Angeles Times Magazine, July 2010

Tatler May 2010

V Magazine, Spring 2009

A cannot-be-resisted throwback: Isabella Blow, portrait at Claridges, 1am, 6th May 2002. Styling by Amber Desborough. Disc Hat. Orange Acrylic. Haute couture 2001. Silk Victorian jacket by Alexander McQueen. Vanity Fair, July 2002. Photograph Donald McPherson.

More to come...