Take home Winston Churchill's hat made of fur felt created by Herbert Johnson for the London Olympics!
This hat was part of the bespoke pieces created for the London Olympics inspired event, the London HATWALK 2012. Curated by world renowned British milliners, Stephen Jones and Philip Treacy; HATWALK brought together 21 emerging and established designers to showcase British millinery at its very best. The one day event, which saw bespoke hats designed for some of London’s statues, celebrated London’s standing as a global capital of millinery and emphasized its rich heritage, bringing the sometimes overlooked statues to life in new exciting ways. Boris Johnson said: "You’ve got to take your hats off to London. Our city is a melting pot of creativity right at the forefront of global fashion and design. The cutting edge style and imagination of London’s millinery talent is feted worldwide, and is setting the international catwalks."
Traditional hatters Herbert Johnson were commissioned to create a hat for legendary wartime Prime Minister, Winston Churchill, who sits next to Franklin D. Roosevelt in Bond St. Having dressed the heads of the military and the aristocracy since 1889, the team at Herbert Johnson decided, when faced with the HATWALK challenge, not to abandon tradition but to create a sturdy Homberg for Churchill – in line with his trademark headwear. The Homberg hat was Churchill’s favourite article of headwear. It was also a hat that was introduced to England by King Edward VII who was responsible for the then Herbert Johnson setting up in business, following his visit to the German Spa, Bad Homburg.
For more than a century Herbert Johnson has been producing headwear made to the very highest specification, from the most exclusive of fur felt hats and tweed caps to Officers No. 1 and Service Dress caps that to this day remain unrivalled in terms of their supreme quality, durability and comfort. The military is an important patron. Nearly every regiment patronises Herbert Johnson for dress caps, khaki caps and berets. Bombay bowlers and Polo caps were specially made for Lord Kitchener's troops in the Sudan. The three individuals responsible for producing and creating this article of headwear have between them 75 years of experience within the headwear industry.