Hats: An Anthology By Stephen Jones has been on exhibit at the Queensland Art Gallery in Brisbane since 27th March. This exhibition was first shown in March 2009 at the V&A Museum in London.
Tony Elwood, Director of the Queensland Art Gallery showed great forsight in bringing this exhibition exclusively to Brisbane in Australia.
It will travel to other international venues over the next few years.
For the headwear and hat making profession both in Australia and globally, this is a timely celebration of a very prominant part of our apparel, particularly at a time when younger people are now choosing hats as fashion accessories.
The exhibition draws focus to the culture of headwear design, hat making and showcases a myriad hat styles and techniques across the decades.
Many Australian milliners and headwear industry colleagues were in Brisbane on a balmy March evening to toast the opening of this event and to meet the gracious Stephen Jones.
Brisbane has gone mad about hats.
In just 6 weeks the exhibition has attracted over 100,000 visitors in Brisbane. This is more than visited the exhibition over the entire season at the V&A in London
Miranda Wallace, Curator of the Australian component of the exhibition says,
‘we have had an extraodinary response from a huge range of people, particularly young men. Everybody loves this exhibition’.
With free entry and another 5 weeks to go, I recommend a visit to this eclectic collection of headwear. Check out the Hat Salon adjacent to the exhibition exit. It is displaying and selling the works of both Australian and English hat makers.
Rosie Boylan
Hi Rosie, I was in Brisbane last week. I went to the exhibition four times! I just loved every minute I was there, and every hat I saw (which was every one of them). I was excited to see your Southern Cross hat there.
I also thoroughly enjoyed the video featuring Betty Viazim. What a charmer. What an inspiration. I think I could have sat there for an hour just watching her sewing and threading.
I agree, hats off to Tony Elwood for bringing this important exhibition to Australia.
I bought a copy of the ‘catalogue’ for a 20 year old friend, Nick Watson, in America who is a fan of Phillip Treacey (sp) in particular.
I’ll send you a photo I took on Saturday of Miguel Aquilizan, one of the Children’s Art Centre workers at QAG/GOMA.
Thanks for your comment. This exhibition on closing had over 20,000 visitors which is more than visited in London. Remarkable for the city of Brisbane. There must be some very savvy hat wearers there now!